Bakeries aren’t all that common here in Thailand. So my husband and I were quite surprised to walk by one here in our town one day. We were even more surprised to see that it was set up like a European style bakery/café.
The selection was exquisite. Aside from all kinds of breads they had many small whole cakes to take home, sliced cakes to enjoy at the café, and many options for already packaged one-serving treats. They even had what looked like chocolate cake balls.
Although it was tempting we couldn’t try everything at once. Both of us have actually started losing weight here and we wouldn’t want to reverse that all in one day.
So aside from a sliced bread we decided on a cashew coffee cake bar for a sweet treat. It was already conveniently boxed so we waited until we got home to enjoy it.
The base was a raisin coffee cake topped with chopped cashews and brown sugar. We really enjoyed the flavor and texture of the soft base with a crunchy topping.
For our palates that didn’t have many baked desserts aside from cookies for quite a while it was a real treat. However, I suspect that it wasn’t freshly made that day or the one before. Which really made me wish I was able to re-create a home baked version of it.
Since our oven-less situation hasn’t resolved yet, all I can do is day-dream and research recipes. I found a recipe for very similar cake bars with great reviews and with just a little tweaking it becomes a
Cashew Coffee Cake Bars Recipe
The delicious coffee cake bars with raisins and cashew nuts make a nice breakfast treat or can also be enjoyed as dessert or with coffee in the afternoon.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 1/2 cup chopped cashews (can be natural or salted)
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- 4-1/2 teaspoons heavy whipping cream
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Combine the flour, sugars, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the eggs and beat just until combined. Fold in the raisins.
- Spread batter into a greased 8-in. square baking dish. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the top springs back when lightly touched.
- In a small bowl, combine the topping ingredients. Spread the topping over the cake.
- Put the pan back into the oven on the broil setting for 1-2 minutes or until bubbly and lightly browned. Cut into bars while still warm. Cool on a wire rack.
