Almond Roca Bars

My husband Eric introduced me to these Almond Roca Bars when we had been dating about 2 months. I broke up with him that morning, and then a few hours later he showed up at my apartment with a plate of these.

They were so good I took him back. Just kidding, turns out he didn’t realize I had broken up with him, and he was bringing me a snack just for fun (because again…he thought we were still together.) I was thinking, wow, this is amazing, a guy who still wants to be friends after the breakup??

We figured it out eventually, and eventually DID get back together for real, and we will publicly credit Almond Roca Bars at our Thank-You speech when we have our 60th wedding anniversary party someday.

Almond Roca Bars are, by far, the most made dessert in the extended Gifford family. Okay mayyybe Chocolate Chip Cookies would win, but these are a close second because they are SO fast and SO easy. When you need something baked to be in your mouth STAT, there is nothing faster than these Almond Roca Bars. Cookies need to be baked in batches, but not this one-pan wonder.

You need these bars in your life

The recipe is simple: a fudgy brown sugar and almond extract shortbread layer is slightly under-baked, then topped with chocolate chips that you spread out after they melt. The original recipe (which my mother-in-law Kris got from her college roommate) calls for topping the chocolate with toasted sliced almonds. But when Kris was baking these for her kids back in the day, nobody liked nuts, so she left them out. And now we do too (even though it actually is really good with the almonds)

The key to this recipe is under-baking. If you bake too long, you will end up with a dried out shortbread layer that is crunchy, not soft and bendy. If you under bake, they will stay soft for days. All the better for you to slice a square for yourself every time you pass through the kitchen for the next couple days…if they last that long. My family of 6 polishes off an entire pan in 1 night usually these days.

Key ingredients

I have the ingredients to make these in my pantry exactly ALL the time, which means I can make them at midnight on a Tuesday if I want to. Here are the few stars:

• brown sugar adds a caramel-y, molasses-y depth of flavor in the shortbread, plus makes the cookie bars extra moist.
• almond extract is the queen. She gets us that “almond roca” flavor we’re going for
• chocolate chips make up about half the bars, so get a high quality brand!! I personally love Ghirardelli semi-sweet, it’s the best.

How to store leftovers

The easiest way (and what I do most often) is to tightly cover the 9×13 pan with plastic wrap, and leave it on the counter. It’s as simple as that! If you have pan with a lid, that will work too. What you really want is to make sure whatever covering you use is airtight, otherwise the bars will dry out. You can leave the pan out on the counter for 4-5 days, but you have much greater willpower than I do if you can get them to last that long!

Can you freeze them?

Yes, freezing is easy. You can freeze the whole baked pan or as individual slices. Wait for the pan to cool completely. For individual pieces, add cut pieces to a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet and flash freeze for 30-45 minutes, then transfer the pieces to a freezer ziplock bag. To freeze the whole pan, wrap it really well in 2 layers of plastic wrap, and then a layer or two of foil.

Frozen bars will last in the freezer for 4-6 weeks. After that, they may start to dry out and lose quality. To thaw, you can set the pan on the counter for several hours or until the chocolate is soft enough to cut through. An individual piece can be put on a plate and warmed with a cover over it in the microwave at 50% power for a minute or two, until it’s as warm as you like it.

I posted this recipe in 2012

Here’s what was going on back then!

We had Charlotte’s first birthday party! It was a crazy weekend, and so much fun. Eric’s parents and sister were in town staying in our apartment. My sister-in-law Reesy and I decided to throw ourselves the most epic first birthday party ever.

You will note that I did not claim it as Charlotte’s party. Let’s be honest, Charlotte won’t remember it. But we wanted to throw a fun party, so why the heck not?

Reesy is an amazing graphic designer. She thought it would be fun to design everything for the party, and who am I to say no to stuff that would have cost a fortune if I had bought it?

The day of the party was insane. I ran around like a crazy woman all morning, finishing up everything for Charlotte’s party. Our apartment is small, so we decided to have it at Reesy’s house, an hour away.

We were about 10 minutes from arriving when I realized with a horrible gut wrench that I had forgotten the cupcakes. Kind of major for a birthday party. I started freaking out. Eric, being the amazing man that he is, offered to drive back to get them. (In retrospect, this is insane. We should have headed to the nearest bakery. I obviously wasn’t thinking.)

About 15 minutes after he left, Charlotte needed a diaper change and I realized that the diaper bag was still in the car with Eric. So Reesy ran to the store for diapers and wipes while I tried to force Charlotte to eat something (oh did I mention that she was sick with the flu?) Then I get a text from Eric that says: I made a sandwich and forgot the cupcakes. I’m turning around now.

I totally thought he was joking. Nope. He drove all the way home (1 HOUR). Made a sandwich. And forgot the cupcakes. And made it halfway back before he realized that he had forgotten the cupcakes. And that was when I finally started laughing instead of attempting to tear my hair out.

Happy birthday Charlotte! And happy sandwich, Eric! I hope that PB&J was worth the effort.