Chai Glazed Cookie Bars with Blackberry Cabernet Sorbetto - Oh yeah!

I've been researching blogging conferences - so I can take better photos, add some variety to my yummy adjectives, and learn how to get more traffic to my blog. The conference at the top of my list is the International Food Blogger Conference (IFBC), hosted in Seattle in August. There is also the BlogHer Food '10 Conference in San Francisco in October. Yay! I have friends in both cities and I'm looking forward to a west coast vacation.

While browsing some of the blogs hosted on BlogHer, I found this recipe for Chai Glazed Cookie Bars. That same day, I had my first taste of Blackberry Cabernet Sorbetto from Ciao Bella Gelato

and knew that these two things would be a perfect pair. Although you can buy Blackberry Carbernet Sorbetto from your favorite trendy grocery store (find store locations here), I did find a recipe for it. That took me straight to Craigslist to look for an ice cream maker. No luck yet, but perhaps it's a little too early in the spring cleaning season and Wedding Gift Craigslisting season has not yet started. If anyone has an ice cream maker they want to part with, I'll gladly take it. Though I'll warn you - you may want to hang on to it. I plan on posting several alcohol infused ice cream recipes this summer. I haven't tried this sorbetto recipe, but it looks pretty easy. I will definitely try it once I get the ice cream maker and when blackberries are in season. And just to clarify, I'm looking for an electric ice cream maker. I have hand cranked enough ice cream in my younger days. My family used to participate in historical re-enactments, including making ice cream without electricity. This photo from flickr gives you an idea of what I was subjected to at a young age. I think I had that outfit the little girl on the right is wearing.

I did make the Chai Cookie bars. They were easy and straight forward. I did a little research on allspice, one of the spices in the bars. Originally I thought that allspice was a combination of several spices like cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. It didn't make sense that you would need cloves, nutmeg and allspice. But, I learned that allspice is the dried fruit of the evergreen myrtle plant Pimenta Dioica . and is also known as Jamaica Pepper. Allspice is native to the Carribean, Mexico, and Central America. It is called allspice because it tastes like cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Some sites recommend substituting 1/2 teaspoon each of cinnamon and cloves, along with a pinch of nutmeg for 1 teaspoon of allspice if you don't have any allspice on hand.

Garam masala is not a staple spice for most people unless you are heavy into Indian cooking. You could try substituting a mixture of cardamom, coriander, or curry powder. Or increase the some of the other spices. In all honesty, I think the spices in this recipe could use a little tweaking to get it closer to the chai taste but tastes great as is.

Chai Glazed Cookie Bars
From: The Crepes of Wrath

Ingredients
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark or light brown sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 egg, room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon garam masala
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Glaze Ingredients
3 tablespoons honey
1 cup powdered sugar
2-4 tablespoons milk (start with 2 tablespoons, add more as needed)

Instructions
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and grease and/or line a 9x13x2 pan.
2. Beat together the sugars and butter until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes.
3. Beat in the egg and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
4. Add in the flour, salt, ginger, cinnamon, garam masala, cloves, pepper, allspice and nutmeg and beat gently until everything is thoroughly combined. Don't over-mix.
5. If everything isn't quite coming together in your mixer, finish it up by hand. The dough will be very similar to a cookie dough.
6. Press the dough into the prepared pan. I find using the back of a soup spoon is the easiest way to press dough into a pan.
7. Bake at 350 degrees F for 22-25 minutes, until the dough no longer wiggles when gently shaken, and the dough is a very light brown.
8. Allow to cool completely before finishing up with the glaze.
9. To make the glaze, combine the three tablespoons of honey and powdered sugar, then beat together until combined.
10. Add in the milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the icing is a consistency that you like. The thicker the better, in my opinion.
11. Pour the glaze over the bars and allow to set. You speed this up by putting the bars in your refrigerator.

Blackberry Cabernet Sorbetto
From: Danilo Zecchin of Ciao Bella — New York, NY
Adapted by StarChefs  
Yields: 1 pint

Ingredients
1 cup water
½ cup sugar
¾ cup cabernet wine
2 cups blackberries
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 egg white, whipped

Instructions
1. In a bowl of cold water, gently clean the blackberries. Be sure to remove all debris and any soft or discolored berries.
2. In a food processor or blender, combine the berries, water, sugar, lemon juice and wine. Process or blend mixture until smooth. Add the whipped egg white and stir until thoroughly blended. Chill mixture.
3. Freeze (churn) cooled mixture in an ice cream machine, according to the manufacturer’s directions. 4. Garnish with fresh blackberries and mint leaves.