Wednesday Recipe: Bajadere

Around Christmas time I found a couple Croatian cookbooks online and ordered them. Andre and I have been married for almost 9 years, and I've never cooked anything from his native country so figured it would be a nice gesture to have a couple cookbooks with recipes he grew up with translated into English.

While looking through the book, he came across a recipe for Bajadere (a.k.a. Chocolate Walnut Bars) and asked me if I'd try to make this sometime. Looking at the recipe, I thought it looked difficult and didn't really want to risk it. But, this weekend we had a baptism at church and everyone was supposed to bring a Croatian dish, so I decided it was time to attempt it. Surprisingly, it was fairly easy to make. The transcription from "The Best of Croatian Cooking, Expanded Edition" follows:

This is a very easy and economical recipe to make. It is served in small thin slices, as it is very rich! The alternating layers make this recipe look more difficult than it is. A great addition to your holiday treats selection! Once you make these you will definitely do so again! The name actually comes from that of a famous layered chocolate treat produced by Croatia's top chocolate company.

Not exactly the "small thin bars" the recipe says to cut it

 in, but you get the general idea.

Makes approx. 4 dozen

Ingredients
2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/4  cup (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, creamed
3 cups ground tea biscuits
3 cups ground walnuts
3 squares (3 ounces) semisweet chocolate, grated
1 teaspoon rum extract (optional)

Glaze
3 tbsp milk
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp butter
6 squares (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate
chopped walnuts (optional)

In a medium-sized pot, bring 1 cup of water to a boil and add sugar, simmering until thickened slightly. Then add the butter, tea biscuits, and ground walnuts. Mix all ingredients well, until dough forms. Remove from heat and divide into 2 equal halves. Knead the grated chocolate and rum extract into one of the halves of dough.

Press the chocolate dough into a greased 11x13" baking dish. Sprinkle some water on your hands to keep the dough from sticking to them. Spread the lighter batter on top of the chocolate, press eveningly covering chocolate.

GLAZE: in a small saucepan on the stovetop heat the milk, sugar and butter. When the butter has melted add the chocolate squares. When the glaze is smooth, pour over top of the dough in the baking dish. Sprinkle finely chopped walnuts over top. Refigerate for at least 2 hours. cut into small thin bars.

The recipe was surprisingly  easier than I thought it was going to be, but it did take a little while to put together. Like it says, it is very rich. However, it is not very sweet. It is definitely something we will make again, but not something I'd necessarily want to have all the time. For these reasons I'm giving it a rating of B. Hope you enjoy!