curry almond squares
I was recently on a stroll in my neighborhood on a warm day, ready to take my end of day meeting outside. I decided to finally visit our local chocolate shop, Turtle Alley. I have to say, I’m no chocolate addict, so I really have to have a craving to go buy chocolates or truffles. Any time I walked by during the last year, the 3-person capacity was already full, so I would tell myself, “That’s okay, some other day.” Finally, my chance had arrived! I decided to buy an assortment of mostly chocolate covered caramels. The one that first caught my eye ended up being the same one that I completely forgot about when I sat down to sample them all. My boyfriend took a bite and said, “WHOA". Much to his surprise, he had eaten a chocolate covered curry caramel. I quickly grabbed it and took a bite. Where the hell had this been all of my life?! It was so unexpected, so balanced... I had never had a sweet with curry in it before, and while it should be an obvious choice considering all of the warm spices it’s usually comprised of, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it sooner. Genius, honestly.
There is a recipe that I have been testing over the last several months and I decided it would be fun to add curry to the caramel portion of it. Just like that, a star was born. It is inspired by bienenstitch (bee sting) flavors of almond and honey, but much simpler (aka faster). The stovetop caramel comes together in minutes and the delicate shortbread crust can be made with your hands. If you don’t have curry powder, you don’t have to use it here, but it really makes the dessert special in my eyes. If you want to try another flavor, I have added fresh thyme or rosemary to the crust with great success.
curry almond squares
yield: 16 small or 9 large-ish squares
shortbread crust
10 Tb. (142 g or 1 1/4 sticks) (just slightly cooler than) room temperature butter
1/2 c. (100 g) sugar
a nice pinch of kosher salt
1 3/4 c. (210 g) flour
In a small bowl, measure out the flour, sugar and salt and stir with your fingers to combine. Next, cube your slightly firm room temp butter into even pieces. Size doesn’t really matter here. Drop the butter cubes into the dry mix and toss together to coat all of the butter cubes. Once coated, rub the butter pieces between your fingers, smooshing them to break them into smaller bits. Continue to do this until you see no more large pieces and the consistency is sandy (like breadcrumbs). You should be able to take a handful of dough and clump it into one piece. Dump your mixture into a greased metal 8x8” square pan and gently press the mix into an even layer. Place the pan in the fridge while you make the caramel and preheat your oven to 350 F.
caramel topping
4 Tb. (66 g) butter
3 Tb. (37 g) sugar
2 Tb. (42 g) honey
1 Tb. (15 g) neutral liquor (I used Licor 43, which is a citrusy vanilla-y spirit)
1 tsp. curry powder
pinch of kosher salt
splash of vanilla extract
3/4 c. (67 g) sliced almonds + 1/4 c. (36 g) sesame seeds, or 1 1/4 c. (107 g) sliced almonds
Put all of the ingredients in a small saucepan over low heat. Once the mixture comes to a gentle boil, cook for 2 minutes, then remove from the heat. Remove your pan from the fridge and pour the hot caramel mixture over the crust. Spread the nuts/seeds into an even layer. Do not worry about going all the way to the edge of the pan- this will happen naturally in the oven. Bake on the middle rack for 20-25 minutes, until the topping just starts to darken at the edges. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before removing from the pan. Cut into squares. I like to do smaller squares as these bars are rich, but by all means you can cut them to any size. Squares! Rectangles! Triangles! Whatever you please. Store airtight- these will last for several days.
