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T he 2210 Patisserie owner’s recipes for her trademark dotie bars, gluten-free brownies, cookie sandwiches and lemon squares
Sweet Therapy: The Joy of Baking
Gluten-free Sea Salt and Caramel Brownies
Gluten-free Sea Salt and Caramel Brownies
The most-asked question every day in 2210 Patisserie: “What is a dotie bar?” Well, a dotie bar is a little invention of my own. We were a few weeks into Covid lockdown in 2020 and I had just started the online postal side of the business. I was sending out boxes of brownies, blondies, chocolate biscuit cakes and cake jars, but I wanted another option! I wanted something unique to 2210.
I was coming up with ideas that were just not working. Then, one night, I was lying in bed thinking of some of my favourite things. I love the biscuit base of a cheesecake, and I love a sweet, fudgy topping. So off I went the next day into the bakery and tried and sampled about 10 different ways of bringing this bar together.
I wanted different flavours on top, so we started with the Nutella and white chocolate, and then the Oreo and white chocolate — still our two bestsellers to this day. It just worked, and people love them. The name ‘dotie’ comes from my granny — everyone knew her as Dotie (Mary was her real name). Now I get to hear her name every day, and it is so special. Did I mention Granny had the biggest sweet tooth, so I don’t think she’d mind that I called these bars after her.
Ingredients 375g digestive biscuits 170g melted butter 2 x 397g tins condensed milk 2 egg yolks 1 batch Kinderwhip (See recipe below) 3 tbsp Nutella 100g white chocolate chips
Method 1. Preheat the oven to 165C. Line a 20cm x 20cm baking tin with baking parchment. 2. Crush the biscuits in a food processor, or put them in a Ziploc bag and bash with a rolling pin. Put the crushed biscuits in a bowl and add in the melted butter. Mix well until fully combined. Transfer to your tin and press down to cover the base evenly. Pop into the fridge for a few minutes to chill while you prepare the filling. 3. Whisk the condensed milk and egg yolks together in a bowl and set aside. 4. Make a batch of Kinderwhip and don’t chill or allow it to set. Set aside three tablespoons of it for the top layer, then pour over the biscuit base. Pour over the condensed milk and egg mixture. Finish by pouring over the three tablespoons of Kinderwhip and three tablespoons of Nutella. Swirl the mix with a knife or skewer. Scatter the chocolate chips on top. 5. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes until firm on the sides, but still slightly wobbly in the middle. 6. Allow to cool down fully, then chill in the fridge for an hour. Remove from the tin in one piece, transferring to a board, and cut into squares. 7. Store in an airtight container for up to five days.
Ingredients 220g white chocolate, chopped 90g butter 1 heaped tbsp hazelnut praline 1 heaped tbsp smooth hazelnut butter 1 tsp vanilla extract
Method 1. Place the chopped chocolate in a medium-sized bowl. 2. Melt the butter in a small pan until boiling. Pour the butter over the chocolate and stir until the chocolate is fully melted and the mixture is nice and glossy. Alternatively, you can place both the chocolate and butter in a microwave-safe bowl and pop into the microwave for 30 seconds at a time. 3. Remove and stir after every interval until you have a smooth sauce. Add the hazelnut praline, hazelnut butter and vanilla and mix through. 4. Pour the mix into a jar or airtight container and allow to set slightly. Store in a cool, dry place for up to a week.
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Gluten-free Sea Salt and Caramel Brownies
Ingredients 1 batch of our gluten-free brownie batter (See recipe below) 130g caster sugar 55g butter 80ml cream 1 tsp sea salt flakes
Method 1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a 20cm x 20cm baking tin with baking parchment. 2. Start by mixing the batter for our gluten-free brownies. 3. To make the caramel, put the sugar in a clean, heavy-bottomed, medium saucepan and place on a medium-high heat. Stir the sugar with a wooden spoon or a heat-resistant spatula. The sugar will first form clumps and then melt into an amber-coloured liquid — this will take around 8 minutes. Be very careful not to allow your caramel to burn at this stage. 4. Once there are no clumps of sugar and the mixture is completely melted, carefully add in the butter. The caramel will bubble up immediately, so be very careful as you stir it through. 5. After the butter is fully melted and combined slowly, add in the cream and continue to stir, then remove from the heat and stir in the sea salt. 6. Pour the caramel mix over the batter in the tin and swirl using a knife or skewer. 7. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the sides of the brownies have set, but the middle is still wobbly. Leave to cool in the tin, then remove in one piece (this should be easily done by lifting the parchment), place on a board and cut into squares. 8. Store in an airtight container for up to five days — or these can be frozen.
3 eggs 400g light-brown sugar 150g butter 150g dark chocolate 200g ground almonds 2 tbsp cornflour 3 tbsp cocoa powder 170g chocolate chips
Method 1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a 20cm x 20cm baking tin with baking parchment. 2. Put the eggs and light-brown sugar in a large mixing bowl. Whisk until the mixture is light in colour and doubled in volume. This should take about five minutes. 3. Place the butter and dark chocolate in a separate microwave-safe bowl and melt in the microwave for 30-second intervals. Remove and stir occasionally to prevent the chocolate from scorching. 4. Add the warm melted butter and chocolate to the whisked eggs and continue to whisk until combined. Stir in the ground almonds, cornflour, cocoa powder and chocolate chips and transfer to the tin.
What is better than a delicious fudgy cookie? I know — two of them sandwiched together with a yummy filling in between! You can really experiment here with some of your favourite flavours. I love a cookie that is crisp on the outside and soft and chewy in the centre. Here are a few tips for you to get them just right.
To keep all cookies even in size, use an ice-cream scoop to scoop the raw batter — approximately 70-75g of dough — and then slightly press down with your hand (I like to add some extra toppings, like chocolate chips, before they go into the oven). The cookies will spread when baking, so leave plenty of space to allow for this.
What’s the best way to tell your cookie is baked? This is a difficult one as cookies will continue to bake when taken out of the oven and sitting on the hot tray. The cookie should not look wet and dense in the middle. It should be crisp on the outside and still slightly rising and baked in the middle. When you take it out of the oven, the centre should fall slightly but the outsides should stay crisp.
If your cookies are browning too quickly on the outside and not fully baking on the inside, turn down your oven a notch and this should help. Like everything, practice makes perfect — you just need to get used to how your equipment and oven work, and find the texture you prefer for your cookies .
Store your cookies for up to five days in an airtight container in the fridge.
Ingredients 1 batch of our brookies, baked and cooled down (see recipe below)
For the filling: 200g white chocolate, broken into pieces 60g butter A drop of vanilla extract
Ingredients 60g butter 230g chocolate 2 large eggs 200g light-brown sugar A drop of vanilla extract 100g plain flour 1 tsp baking powder 2 tbsp cocoa powder 85g chocolate chips
Method 1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Line two baking trays with baking parchment. 2. Start by melting the butter and chocolate in a pot over a low heat or in the microwave (checking at 30-second intervals). 3. Whisk the eggs, sugar and vanilla extract together in a bowl until a little frothy. 4. Mix the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder together in a large bowl, then pour in the butter and chocolate mixture, followed by the eggs and sugar. Stir for a few minutes until everything is combined. 5. Fold in the chocolate chips. I like to place the batter in the fridge for about 30 minutes — this is not essential but makes it much easier when scooping out the cookies. If you choose to do this, postpone preheating the oven until this point. 6. Using an ice-cream scoop or two spoons, scoop out evenly sized dollops of the mixture onto the baking trays. Make sure the heaps of batter are well spaced out from each other to allow them to spread while baking. 7. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the cookies are puffed and cracked on top. The edges should be set but the middle of the cookies should still be slightly soft. 8. Remove from the oven and allow to cool down fully before removing from the trays. Store your brookies in an airtight container for up to five days.
1. Make the filling. Put the white chocolate and butter in a microwave-safe bowl and pop in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time, removing and stirring each time until fully melted and combined. Add in the vanilla and set to one side until the mixture sets slightly. 2. To assemble the cookie sandwiches, place a tablespoon of the filling in the centre of half of the cookies. Then place the second cookie on top and press together.
I put some of my favourite tray bakes into my book, and it was really hard choosing which ones to use. In the end, I decided to go with ones that had more of a biscuit or cookie base. Shortbread is the most delicious, buttery, sweet biscuit if you can get it right. I use a basic shortbread and it works every time. Just be sure not to overwork your dough.
For the shortbread: 175g plain flour 90g cornflour 85g caster sugar 20g icing sugar 180g butter A drop of vanilla extract
For the lemon filling: 2 x 397g tins condensed milk Juice of 2 lemons Zest of 1 lemon 4 tbsp double cream 1 tsp sea salt flakes ½ tsp vanilla extract
Method 1. Line a 20 x 20cm baking tin with baking parchment. 2. Put the plain flour, cornflour, caster sugar, icing sugar, butter and vanilla extract into a food processor and blitz until a dough is formed. 3. Gently knead the dough together on a clean worktop dusted with some flour. Shape it into a rectangle and roll it out before pressing it down into your tin. Prick the dough all over with a fork and then place in the fridge for about 30 minutes to chill. 4. While the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 170C. Take the dough out of the fridge and bake for about 20 minutes until just golden brown on the edges. 5. While the shortbread is cooking, whisk all the ingredients for the filling together in a bowl until smooth. 6. Pour the filling over the cooked shortbread, return to the oven and bake for 15 minutes until the filling is set and does not jiggle. 7. Chill in the fridge for a few hours, then remove from the tin, place on a board and cut into squares. Any leftover shortbread can be crumbled on top. 8. Store your lemon squares in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days.
Sweet Therapy: The Joy of Baking
Sweet Therapy: The Joy of Baking by Una Leonard is published in hardback by Hachette Ireland, €20.99, available from Easons
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