By The week before Christmas week. Teddy and I made the buche de Noel via video call — the chocolate sponge cake rolled with cream, covered in chocolate ganache scored to look like bark, meringue mushrooms on the side. It took four hours and three phone calls, one of which was a brief crisis when the cake cracked during rolling (you wet it slightly before rolling, which I remembered too late to tell him, which he found in the recipe himself before I could get there). The final product, in his photo, looked genuinely beautiful. He seemed very pleased with himself in the careful way he's developed. Understated. Earned.
Made my last batch of cookies this week — the ones I give away rather than keep: tins for Ted Marchand, tins for the Hendersons, a tin for the postmaster in the village who has been doing an unreasonable amount of package management for me this year. I baked for two days and the house smelled like the season for the full stretch.
Sarah called about the Christmas logistics. Jim's parents are coming, which means seven adults and two boys, which means the long porch table inside and every chair in the house. She said: do you want me to bring the folding table? I said: I have a folding table. She said: right, where? I said: barn. She said: of course it's in the barn. Where else would it be.
The gift for Finn this year: a children's cookbook I found, specifically designed for six-year-olds, with simple recipes and big illustrations. For Teddy: a proper kitchen timer and a notebook for recipe notes. I keep these practical. Teddy has reached the point where tools matter more than toys.
After watching Teddy pull off a four-hour buche de Noel with nothing more than a recipe and a phone signal, I found myself in the kitchen the next morning with a different energy — something quieter, more settled. The cookie tins were already going out to Ted Marchand and the Hendersons, and I wanted something layered and chocolatey to round out the last of the baking, something that didn’t demand quite so much from me but still felt worthy of the season. These Chocolate Ribbon Bars were exactly that: the kind of recipe that lets the kitchen do its work while you stand back and let the week settle around you.
Chocolate Ribbon Bars
Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 30 min | Total Time: 50 min | Servings: 24 bars
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, divided
- 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter (for chocolate layer)
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat and prepare. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan and set aside.
- Make the base dough. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 2–3 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla and mix until combined. Gradually stir in the flour mixture until a soft dough forms.
- Press in the base layer. Reserve about 1 cup of the dough. Press the remaining dough evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan to form a uniform base layer.
- Make the chocolate ribbon filling. In a small saucepan over low heat, combine 3/4 cup of the chocolate chips, the sweetened condensed milk, and 1 tablespoon butter. Stir constantly until melted and smooth, about 3–4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in nuts if using.
- Layer the filling. Pour and spread the warm chocolate mixture evenly over the dough base in the pan.
- Add the top ribbon layer. Drop small spoonfuls of the reserved dough across the top of the chocolate filling. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips over everything.
- Bake. Bake for 25–30 minutes, until the top is lightly golden and the edges are set. The center may look slightly soft — it will firm up as it cools.
- Cool and cut. Allow the pan to cool completely on a wire rack before cutting into bars. For clean cuts, refrigerate for 20 minutes before slicing.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 195 | Protein: 2g | Fat: 10g | Carbs: 26g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 75mg