This is a baked good you can find in almost any German bakery: Nussecken. They are triangle shaped nut bars and their corners are covered with chocolate. Almost everybody I know loves them. And you will, too. Nussecken are very easy to prepare, you make a crust, roll it into a rectangle, place it onto your baking sheet and then whip up the topping: ground and slivered nuts mixed with sugar and margarine. Once baked and dipped into chocolate their flavour is overwhelming. Seriously, you can’t get enough of them. As I found out this weekend, they are the perfect brunch food too. I brought 36 small bars to a brunch and I left with an empty box.

Recipe adapted from a cookbook. It can also be found here.

Nussecken

(makes 18 bars or 36 small bars)

crust:
1 3/4 cup flour + 1 T
1 T chickpea flour (or soy flour, corn starch)
1/2 cups sugar
1 t baking powder
1 t vanilla extract
1 T ground flax seed mixed with 3 T water
1-2 t soy milk
7  T margarine, at room temperature
1/4 t salt

3 T apricot preserves

topping:
1 cup + 2 T margarine, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 t vanilla extract
3 T water
2 2/3 cup ground hazelnuts (substitute almonds)
1 cup slivered almonds

7 oz. semisweet chocolate

Grease a 12×12 inch (or similar) baking sheet or line with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350°F.

To make the crust:

Mix flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add remaining ingredients and mix with your hands, until everything is well combined and mixture turns into a smooth dough. Transfer to lightly floured working surface and roll into a rectangle of the size of your baking sheet. Transfer to sheet and spread with apricot preserves. Set aside.

To make the filling:

Combine margarine, sugar, and water in a small saucepan. Over medium heat, melt margarine and stir until well combined and sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and add vanilla extract and nuts. Spread mixture on top of the crust. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the topping looks golden brown and crispy. Remove from oven and carefully cut into 3 x 3 inch squares and then cut the squares into triangles.If you want smaller bars, you can cut the triangles in half to get 36 bars)

Transfer to cookie rack to cool.

Melt the chocolate and dip the corners of the bars into it. Transfer to cookie rack one more time until the chocolate is cooled and hardened.