Crème de Menthe Bars

By LAURIE STUART

Crème de Menthe Bars are a three-layer confection whose bottom layer is a moist cake, middle layer is a mint butter cream frosting and top layer is a rich chocolate icing. While it might seem like a lot of work, each layer is relatively simple and the result is an amazing delightful culinary treat.

This recipe came to me around 1984 from Lillian Hector, then the Kindergarten teacher at Narrowsburg Central School. Lillian was married to Claude Hector, the editor of the Delaware Valley News, Narrowsburg’s original paper that was sold to the Hawley Eagle in 1974, and the proprietor of Delaware Publications, the letterpress shop that occupied the space where the offices of The River Reporter now reside. (The sale of the paper created the perfect storm for the birth of The River Reporter.) But I digress.

Lillian was a very good gardener and often had perennials to share. One afternoon, when visiting at her new home in the Dexter Development across the river in Berlin Township, she gave me Rudbeckia and lamb’s quarters plants for flower beds that I was creating at my newly purchased 1900s farmhouse. She also gave me a stack of old Woman’s Day magazines. In one of those magazines, I found the recipe for Crème de Menthe Bars. They soon became a Christmas favorite.

When that farmhouse burned in 1986, the recipe was lost.

Some 10 years later, while attending a caroling party at a friend’s, I was overjoyed to find Crème de Menthe Bars on the buffet table. The recipe, courtesy of Mary Greene, returned to me and the tradition of making and sending these lovely morsels to family and friends continues still. I pass it on to you.

For the cake layer

1 cup sugar

1 cup flour

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 eggs

1 16-ounce can of Hershey’s syrup.

Using an electric mixer, cream butter; add sugar, salt, vanilla, eggs and chocolate syrup. Blend until smooth. Add flour and mix until incorporated. Pour into greased 9 x 13 pan and bake in a 350 degree oven for ½ hour. (There is no leavening, and while the cake might be puffed when taken out of the oven, it will become flat as it cools.

Mint Layer

2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

½ cup butter

2 tablespoon crème de menthe

Cream butter, beat in sugar, crème de menthe and two drops of green food coloring. Spread evenly on the cooled cake.

Chocolate icing

6 ounces chocolate chips

6 tablespoons butter

Melt butter in saucepan and add chocolate chips. Stir until smooth and totally melted. Let cool 10 to 20 minutes in the refrigerator, (I use the back porch), and spread evenly on top of mint layer.

Cut into one-inch squares or one-inch x 1½ rectangles. Be careful when cutting; dipping the knife into hot water periodically will help keep the squares neat.

These bars ship well, and last for several weeks in the refrigerator. Best when served at room temperature.