These mocha bars are based on a recipe from Debbi Fields’ Great American Desserts and they’re essentially a once-baked biscotti (I wonder if that makes them a cotti?).
The recipe makes four logs of dough – one to bake for immediate eating and the rest to stash in the freezer for an easy treat at a later date. The Dutch-processed cocoa powder imparts a dark chocolatey flavour that is particularly appealing…
- 125g (½ cup) unsalted butter
- 55g (½ cup) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
- 3 large (59g) free range eggs
- 150g (¾ cup) white sugar
- 100g (½ cup) brown sugar
- 20ml (4 teaspoons) vanilla extract (I use homemade)
- 40ml (8 teaspoons) Tia Maria
- 375g (2½ cups)plain (AP) flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder, sifted
- good pinch of fine sea salt
- 180g (6oz) white chocolate chips (I used Callebaut white callets)
- 180g (6oz) semisweet dark chocolate chips (I used Callebaut Fairtrade 811 54%)
- 100g (3½ oz) bittersweet dark chocolate chips (I used Callebaut 70%)
1. In a large glass or Pyrex bowl, melt the butter in the microwave. Add the cocoa powder and stir until smooth.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk or sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
3. In a large bowl and using an electric mixer, beat together the eggs and sugars for several minutes until well combined and light. Add the melted butter and cocoa mix and beat well until smooth, scraping down the bowl as needed. Add the vanilla and Tia Maria and beat in well.
4. Add the flour and mix gently until just combined, then add the chocolate chips and mix on the lowest speed until the chips are just mixed in. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for a couple of hours or overnight.
5. Preheat the oven to 160C with fan and line an oven tray with parchment paper. Divide the cold dough into four pieces and shape each into a 4cm thick (diameter) log. Wrap any logs that you don’t plan to bake straight away in parchment paper and then foil, and store in the freezer until needed.
6. Place the log(s) to be baked on the tray, leaving room for spreading. Bake for 25 minutes or until the tops have cracked and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out cleanly. Allow to rest for 10 minutes on the tray before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. With a sharp knife, cut the log into thick slices before serving.
It’s been a while since I last made these, and I’d forgotten how delicious they were – the first baked log was hoovered up within the hour, which meant I had to bake a second one the same day. Pete asked me to wait a week before baking anymore, as he’s finding them hard to resist!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Hey Celia, food!! They look delightful:)
Ha! I knew you’d all get sick of the photo posts.. :)
Oh yes please! I’ll give these a go this coming week! Thank you!
Thanks Jennifer! Hope you like them!
I don’t suppose you could give the American measurements for these? I started to do the metric to imperial transposing and – well I got stalled.
Heidi, I’ve updated the post for you. xx
Thanks, Celia! I’m going to have to substitute some coffee syrup for the Tia Maria- but I’m going to make these today!
You’re holdin’ out on me, woman!
Um…they didn’t leave the house, sorry love.. :)
I think I’d find them hard to resist too! They look great.
Suelle, I still have one log hidden in the freezer. I wonder if Pete will let me bake it yet.. :)
Fantastic recipe Celia. I be making these “Scottis” I think
http://www.mykitchenstories.com.au
Tania, we really like them. They’re dark and grownup!
How delicious! I’m a huge fan of biscotti, however my womanly curves are now so womanly, that these treats must remain on the back burner for the present. LOL. Gorgeous recipe, Celia.
Thanks Lizzy! That’s the nice thing about making the four logs and freezing three – we’re not stuck with eating the whole batch in one sitting!
Yum, these look gorgeous, although I might make them with Cointreau instead. Not keen on coffee. (Although, on second thoughts maybe I should stick with the coffee flavour to avoid eating them all myself.)
I’d love to know how they go, Amanda! I’ve never thought to change the liqueur flavour…
Wow. These look really good Celia! I love that crispy, papery texture they have on the outside. Are they similar to biscotti or chewier? Can’t wait to try them :)
Emilie, they’re more like a thick cookie than a biscotti – crumbly and oozy. Hope you like them!
I love the mochacotti. I also like Amanda’s idea of Cointreau. I SHOULD like Lizzy’s self control. I’ll probably make them just like you did.
Maureen, if you make them, you can freeze three of the four logs and just eat one. The nice thing about having these logs frozen is that they make a very nice dessert, not just a good afternoon tea, if that makes sense…
Are they squidgy Celia – I’m partial to a good chocolate squidge.
Jan, not so much squidgy as crumbly and oozy, like a cookie…
Hi Celia. I haven’t got any Tia Maria but am itching to give these a go this afternoon. Do you think I could substitute with percolated coffee?? Also, I only have raw cocoa at the moment (I’m waiting impatiently on a delivery!), do you think that would work?
Pam, I think you could certainly try with both coffee and raw cocoa (do you mean natural cocoa?). The original recipe specified unsweetened cocoa powder – the Dutch cocoa is my substitution.
Yes Celia, I do mean natural cocoa. That’s it, challenge has been set for this afternoon :)
Another Heidi who appreciates the measurement conversion! They look yummy!
Thanks Heidi! Hope you like them!
Another dangerous recipe Celia! They are so tempting on this long cold afternoon…. Maybe I’ll just turn the oven on to help warm the house up…..
Becca, the nice thing is, you only have to bake one log! I like keeping a stash of this dough in the freezer for “emergencies”..haha
So I made a few changes to the recipe to suit what I had on hand (will blog later). Oh my! It is definitely fortunate that I only baked 1 log. I didn’t even wait for it to cool before cutting it and nearly ate the whole thing on my own. Very dangerous!
Pam, look forward to reading about it! I’m so glad you liked them.. :)
OH yum yum yum yum yum yum! Stopped by hoping for inspiration and looks like I’ve found it!
Hi Mrs Bok! Hope you and the fam and all the chookies are well! :)
These look delicious but I don’t think I would be able to keep chocolate in the pantry long enough to make them. You must have incredible restraint Celia!
Nah Jo, no restraint, I just buy massively more than we could possibly eat, so there’s always some around.. ;-)
These mocha bars look delicious Celia. I love your presentation of them and the colour is fabulous xx
Thanks Charlie, and please remind me to ask Carl for tips on photographing brown food when I next see him. I really struggle with it..
Celia, how ever do you stay so slim? Lovely recipe.
:-) Mandy
Oooh Mandy, you’re kind, I’m not slim, the photo is actually fibbing a bit. Notice you only get to see my head? ;-)
That’s too funny that you had to bake another one the same day. They must be truly delicious!
They also look like serious dunking biscuits.
Brydie, they’re not really for dunking – they’re not rocky hard like a biscotti is and the choccy is a bit oozy. But they are very delicious.. :) xx
You made me laugh, Celi. Just as I was thinking a once baked biscotti would be a cotti, I read that you thought the same thing. These sound delicious but I don’t think I could resist them at all. I’d have to bake them and send them out the door as soon as they were cooled. They’d never make it until sundown otherwise — and I live alone.
John, maybe you could make the dough and just freeze it in even smaller logs? Then when you go to visit your mum and the zias, you could take some over for them.. :)
What’s Tia Maria?
Coffee flavoured liqueur! :)
I’ve never attempted making biscotti because the twice baking has scared/put me off. I might have to try my hand at cotti though. I don’t blame Pete for finding them irresistible!
You’ve given me a new ‘baking’ idea, Celia – I’ll bet that there are many cookies that require some labor intensive handling that could instead be formed into a log and baked off as you’ve done with this one! Yeah, why not?
you knew we ‘d all get sick of those photo posts!!! :)
you tempted me to prepare your mocha bars in the mid of our warm summer (40 degrees celsious …)! yesterday i prepared brydie’s banana cake and we ate it all, while we were sunbathing on our beautiful island beach!!
so, i”ll give it a try, girl, with your bars this time!
can i use amaretto liquore iof Tia maria?
cool kisses and hugs! gina :) B-)
Dreamy … as in I’ll have to dream about these lovlies. I wouldn’t dare make them because Mr Misky would be whimpering.
Wow, that’s a dangerous recipe ;)
It’s so indulging :)
WOW! I wished to fly now :) So delicious… Thank you dear Celia, love, nia
Those look wonderful, Celi :D
Haha.. Scotti.. Well, perhaps they could be called “uniscotti”? (It took me a moment, but I finally got it;) These look lovely as they are, but I bet they’d be great twice baked as well because they’re so moist! Lovely.. I’d have to make them bi-weekly as well! xoxo Smidge
They look amazing Celia – definitely bookmarked. I love the idea of once-cooked (bis)cotti – very clever (and much less hassle)!!!
Caroline, they’re a really good one person bake, as you can just bake one log at a time and freeze the rest!
They do look delish…I keep saying that I wish you were my neighbor. I think I will look through your recipes for the new 5 star makeover…It’s english tea and I am sure you have a few scone recipes. You know I cannot bake, but I will try…have to think of something different…
Norma, it would be lovely to be neighbours, wouldn’t it? :)