Candied Ginger Cardamom Bars Recipes

GINGER AND ALMOND BARS

Steps:

• Center a rack in the oven. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Line the pan with baking parchment, letting the parchment hang over the sides. (This will make it easier to remove the dessert once baked.)
• Prepare the base:
• In the saucepan, melt the butter. Add the almond meal, fresh ginger, honey, egg, salt, and vanilla. Stir until well combined. The mixture should be thick and sticky.
• Turn the mixture out into the prepared pan. To help make a level and even base, place a piece of plastic wrap on top of the base. Using a flat-bottomed glass (or your fingers), smooth out the base by pressing gently to evenly cover the bottom of the pan. Remove and discard the plastic wrap. Bake until the base is slightly firm, 12 to 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, prepare the topping:
• In the same saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Add the almonds, candied ginger, honey, salt, and vanilla. Stir just until the ingredients are incorporated.
• When the base is baked, spread the topping evenly over the base and bake until the topping is dark and sizzling, 12 to 15 minutes. Do not underbake.
• Transfer the pan to the baking rack to cool. When the dessert is completely cool, remove it from the pan using the overhanging parchment as handles and cut it into 16 even squares.
• Do Ahead
• Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
• Variation:
• Chestnut Honey Squares: For the base, replace 1 cup (90g) almond meal with 3/4 cup (120 g) unbleached, all-purpose flour and use a strong honey, such as chestnut, in place of the mild honey. For the topping, replace the candied ginger with organic candied orange or lemon peel, cut into tiny cubes.

CANDIED GINGER - CARDAMOM BARS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 deg F.
• Grease a 9 inch square baking pan.
• Ok here is the hardest part -- finely chop crystallized ginger and set aside.
• In a food processor add flour, sugar, cardamom, cinnamon, and salt. Pulse to combine.
• Cut butter into half in cubes.
• Add butter to processor and mix into a coarse meal forms.
• Beat egg and add 2 tablespoons to processor and mix until a moist crumbs form.
• Add ginger and blend until moist clumps form.
• Press dough into pan.
• Brush the rest of the egg over the top.
• Bake 40 minutes.
• Transfer to rack and let cool completely in pan.
• Cut into 18 pieces.

CANDIED GINGER-CARDAMOM BARS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 9-inch square baking pan with nonstick spray. Blend flour, sugar, cardamom, cinnamon, and salt in processor. Add butter; using on/off turns, process until coarse meal forms. Add 2 tablespoons beaten egg; blend until moist crumbs form. Add ginger. Using on/off turns, process until moist clumps form. Press dough evenly over bottom of prepared pan. Brush remaining beaten egg over dough. Using small sharp knife, score top of dough with diagonal lines spaced 1 inch apart. Repeat in opposite direction, forming lattice pattern.
• Bake until pastry is golden and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Transfer to rack; cool completely in pan. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.)
• Cut pastry square into 3 long rectangles. Cut each rectangle crosswise into 8 rectangular bars, making 24 bars total.

CRANBERRY TANGERINE AND CANDIED GINGER TART WITH CARDAMOM CRUMBLES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
• For the tart dough: Combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl. Add the cold butter and toss to coat. Pinch the butter and flour together until the butter is flaky. Start to rub in between your fingers until it looks like coarse cornmeal.
• In the center of the bowl pour the cream. Using a rubber spatula, turn the flour over in the bowl repeating until the cream is absorbed. With your fingers press the dough to form a compact disc. Remove the dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill, about 1 hour.
• Working quickly, roll the dough into a 13-inch circle and carefully place it into a greased 10-inch tart pan. Gently fold the excess dough against the sides creating a reinforced crust. Press down the dough, trimming if there is extra that extends beyond the pan. Chill for an additional 30 minutes.
• Place kitchen parchment paper over the chilled dough, fill with weights, beans or raw rice are prefect. Bake, 15 to 18 minutes. Reduce the oven temperate to 350 degrees F. Carefully remove the parchment and continue baking until the tart shell is golden brown and fully baked, 10 to 12 minutes. Set aside and allow to completely cool.
• For the cardamom crumbles: Begin the cardamom crumbles in a bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, with the sugar and tangerine zest. In the palms of your hands, rub together the sugar and zest to release the tangerine oils. Add the flour, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger and salt and mix at medium speed until small clumps of dough form. Dump onto a sheet pan. Chill until needed. This can be made up to 2 days ahead.
• For the cranberry tart: In the palms of your hands, rub together the sugar and zest in a large bowl. Add the cranberries, candied ginger and brown sugar and toss well. Fill the baked tart shell with the cranberries, top with the cardamom crumbles and bake until golden brown and the cranberries begin to bubble up through the crumble, 45 to 50 minutes.
• Remove the tart from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature. I prefer waiting an hour or longer before cutting the tart. This gives the very juicy cranberries time to cool, allowing the tart to set up. I've even let it sit all night on the counter.