Chocolate Caramel Almond Cookie Bars | Baked with Traditional Black Sugar Powder and Raw Cane Sugar

A good cookie bar is all about layers.

This one has a cocoa shortbread base, a crisp layer of caramel almonds, and a dip of dark chocolate with chopped nuts on top. Break one in half and you can see each layer clearly.

The sugar

Traditional Black Sugar Powder (古法黑糖粉) is fine, dark, and full of molasses. Raw Cane Sugar (原蔗糖) is golden and granular, with a clean cane sweetness.

Each sugar has its own layer. The black sugar powder goes into the base, where it deepens the cocoa and gives the shortbread a toasty edge. The raw cane sugar goes into the almond topping, where a lighter sweetness lets the nuts and caramel turn golden without becoming heavy.

Shop Traditional Black Sugar Powder | Shop Raw Cane Sugar

What makes it work

Mix the butter and black sugar powder until smooth before anything else goes in, and add the egg in stages so the dough does not split. Fold the flour in gently. Working the dough too hard makes the base tough instead of short.

Roll the dough between two sheets of baking paper so it stays even and does not stick, then prick it all over so it bakes flat. Cut the bars while they are still warm; once cool, they hold their shape and break less.

Recipe

Chocolate Caramel Almond Cookie Bars

Ingredients

For the base

• Softened butter 90g
• Ship Brand Traditional Black Sugar Powder 45g
• Beaten egg 25g
• Cake flour 150g
• Cocoa powder 8g
• Baking powder 1g

For the almond topping

• Egg white 25g
• Ship Brand Raw Cane Sugar 20g
• Cream 10g
• Melted butter 15g
• Cake flour 12g
• Sliced almonds 75g

To finish

• Dark chocolate 25g
• Coconut oil 3g
• Chopped nuts

Method

1. Mix the softened butter with the black sugar powder until smooth.
2. Add the beaten egg in stages, beating well after each addition.
3. Sift in the cake flour, cocoa powder and baking powder. Fold gently into a dough without kneading hard.
4. Roll the dough between two sheets of baking paper into an even sheet. Transfer to a tray and prick all over.
5. Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for 18 minutes.
6. For the topping, whisk the egg white with the raw cane sugar. Mix in the cream, melted butter and cake flour.
7. Stir in the sliced almonds until coated, then spread them over the baked base.
8. Bake again at 170°C for 25 minutes.
9. Turn out, flip, and cut into bars while warm. Let cool completely.
10. Melt the dark chocolate with the coconut oil over a water bath. Dip each bar, then sprinkle with chopped nuts.

Closing

Crisp almonds over a tender cocoa base, finished with a thin snap of chocolate. They keep well in a tin, though they rarely last long.

Ship Brand (帆船牌) is the retail line of Yuen Tung Sugar Factory Industrial Company Limited. Sugar refined in Hong Kong since 1987. Shop the collection.