This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe from Dorie’s Cookies was one I’d been intrigued with since I saw the name. Anytime it’s “mum” as opposed to “mom”, you know it’s got something to do with England or Australia. And, indeed, Natasha (of the recipe’s name) is Australian. And this recipe is her mum’s.
Dorie says:
I was puzzled by the word “bread” in the title. And what about the fact that there are no egg yolks or butter or oil? And all that dried fruit? I’ll confess that I held out no hope for them. But the recipe came to me from my friend Natasha Johnson, whose “mum” made the bars regularly in her native Australia. Knowing how good these turned out to be, I’ll never turn down a recommendation from Natasha, and I’ll certainly never reject one from her mother. Despite their name, these bars are not bready at all, although they are slightly firm. They’re rich — it’s all those walnuts and dried fruit, which also make the bars a little chewy and give them so much flavor.
Now, yes, the “bread” part of this recipe name (when the photo looks like biscotti) had me thinking back to a recipe that my mum used to make. I had a vague recollection of a recipe in my collection of mum’s photocopied hand-written recipes and, lo and behold, there it was when I went searching…
Ok, so Natasha’s mum’s recipe doesn’t include the “store for a few days, slice thinly and dry off in oven to crisp” step but essentially this is a very similar iteration. In fact, I seem to remember calling biscotti “almond bread” when I was growing up too!
Dorie and Natasha’s mum’s version makes a shiny stiff meringue with the egg white and sugar and uses fruit as well – I went with Natasha’s mum’s glacé cherries (with some dried apricots) and used almonds because that’s what I have a lot of on hand (I also love the look of almonds and the fruit).
These came together very easily and with just a few ingredients, it’s the perfect recipe to make pretty much anytime! These are super tasty, too and have the PERFECT texture. Kind of cakey, kind of like a cookie and very reminiscent of a biscotti! I absolutely LOVED these, from the story behind them to the ease of making them to the way they taste – I’ll be making these again and again!
Get the recipe for Dorie Greenspan’s Natasha’s Mum’s Fruit and Walnut Bread Bars on p 90 of Dorie’s Cookies!
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Disclosure: I was provided with a copy of “Dorie’s Cookies” for review purposes. I was not asked to write about the book, nor am I being compensated for doing so. All opinions 100% my own.
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How fun to discover an old favorite!
These were good, weren’t they – and yours are so pretty! These are way nicer than biscotti.
They do look very nice don’t they? Very appealing.
they look like stained glass with those pretty bright fruits! that handwritten recipe card is a treasure.