Almond Chocolate Caramel Bars

Needless to say, these cookies are a true treat for any chocolate lovers, but they are so darn sweeeeeeeeeet.....that would even satisfy the utmost sweet-tooth craving. Except that, I can't really complain having these caramel bars with a couple of glasses of bone dry sparkling Riesling in the afternoon.

Crust	Chocolate Caramel
150 g Unsalted butter, room temperature 50 g Light brown sugar 160 g German #405 flour 1/4 tsp Salt	300 g 50% Sarotti half bitter chocolate 300 g Granulated sugar 60 ml Water 90 g Unsalted butter 1 cup Heavy cream 1/2 tsp Salt 100 g Almond, roasted and roughly chopped(optional)

1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Spread the almond on the baking tray and bake for 10 minutes until they are fragrant. Remove, cool and roughly chop the baked almond.
   
2. Line a 28cm square baking pan with baking paper and grease the paper with butter. Beat butter and brown sugar on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add flour and salt, and beat until just combined. Press dough evenly into pan, and bake until lightly browned, about 30 minutes. Remove and set aside.
   
3. Cut the chocolate into the smaller chunks and place in a medium bowl. Heat granulated sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium heat until amber, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from heat. Add butter, cream, and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring until smooth. Cool briefly.
   
4. Pour over chocolate. Let stand for 2 minutes. Stir to combine, and let stand until cool, about 10 minutes. Pour mixture over crust. Sprinkle the chopped almonds on top. Chill at least 4 hours, or overnight. Cut into 24 bars.

General Tso's Chicken 左宗棠鸡丁

General Tso's Chicken is not really a Chinese dish, but actually an American creation. It is a sweet deep fried chicken dish served in American Chinese restaurants.

	Sauce
250 g Chicken breast, cut into inch dices 1/4 tsp Salt 1/2 Egg, lightly beaten 1 tbsp Cornstarch 1 tsp Minced garlic 5 Dried chillies 1 stalk Spring onion, cut into chunks 1/3 Red bell pepper, cut into smaller pieces 50 g Cornstarch for coating Oil for frying	1 tbsp Light soya sauce 2 tsp Rice vinegar 1 tsp Jiafan rice wine (or sherry) 1 tbsp Sugar

1. Rinse the chicken breast and pat dry with kitchen paper. Cut into the inch dices and place them in a bowl. Add in salt, egg and 1 tablespoon of cornstarch. Stir until well mixed and set aside for 20 minutes. Mix the ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl and save for the later use.
   
2. Fill a large skillet with enough oil and heat until very hot. Coat the chicken dices with cornstarch and deep-fry until golden and crispy. Drain on paper towels.
   
3. Leave a small amount of oil in the same skillet and heat until hot. Stir in garlic, chillies and spring onion chunks. Stir-fry briefly. Return the chicken, bell peppers to the skillet and pour the prepared sauce over. Stir until all well combined. Remove and serve with steamed rice.