Ingredients
6 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp molasses
2/3 cup dried apricots, chopped
1/3 cup pitted prunes, chopped
3 cup bran flake cereal
Directions
Grease a shallow 11" x 7" baking pan with butter; line bottom with
parchment or waxed paper. Melt chocolate, butter and molasses
together in a bowl placed over a pan of gently simmering water.
Remove from heat. Add apricots, prunes and cereal to chocolate
mixture; mix thoroughly. Spread in prepared pan, smoothing top with
back of spoon. Refrigerate 1 to 2 hours or until firmly set. Loosen
mixture from pan by running the tip of a knife around the inside
edges of pan. Turn out onto a board and remove paper; turn mixture
over. Cut in 24 pieces. Arrange bars neatly on a serving dish or
store in an airtight container in a cool place for 2 to 3 days.
Source: "The Book of Cookies" by Pat Alburey. HP Books.
Servings: 24 servings
Chocolate-Bran Bars Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Chocolate; Cookie; Dessert
The History of Recipes
We are able to follow the history of written recipes back into ancient history, at least as far back into history as the Egyptians, and quite possibly further than that. Having said that, generally, these ancient cookbooks were just very simple pictorial, hieroglyphic or cunieform instructions for meal preparation.
The truth of the matter is, the oldest recipe discovered so far, according to experts in ancient history are some tablets in ancient Sumerian describing the preparation of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as making those who drank it feel blissful and exhilarated. Later on, in The time of the roman empire around 25BC a man called Apicius created some documents describing recipes prepared by the Romans. In his scrolls, he recounts how the meals were split into hors d`oeuvres, entrees and desserts, a style of dining still practiced today. He also recounts how the Romans used many different herbs and spices, including a few that are still present in modern kitchens like thyme, fennel and dill. As we move on, we have a couple of interesting books from the fourteenth century ; a book titled `Forme of Cury`, and another called `Curye on Inglish`. Perhaps surprisingly, these books have no connection with the indian curry that is popular today, but rather recipes for the types of food prepared for the nobility of the period. Later, in the fifteenth century, knights returning from the crusades brought back many foods, spices and herbs from Arab cuisine, including spices like rosemary and coriander. These new foods and spices caused an outbreak in recipe books, many of which still exist in private libraries. During the following few hundred years, the rich families of the West competed with each other to offer the best banquets, and because of this the best chefs and their recipe collections increased in prestige. Nevertheless, it wasn`t until the 1800s that cookery and recipe collections really came of age. The Famous Mrs Isabella Beeton in the UK, and the equally well-known Fannie Merritt Farmer in the US, devoted their lives to collating, verifying, and recording recipes to help cooks of their time. By the time we get to the 1900s, cooking publications were in great demand, due to higher levels of literacy, people having increased free time and a general increase in wealth. The arrival of television brings us TV cookery programs and the spin-off recipe books. And that pretty much brings us to the present day and the invention of the internet, permitting everybody to access thousands of recipes like those on our web site. |
We hope you enjoy this Chocolate Bran Bars recipe.
