Cheer-Me-Up Chocolate & Caramel Slice

 

Don’t even think about it Peter. I’m watching you.

Hello again my dears. I hope your day has been splendid so far!

For me, it was one of those days where I woke up in the doldrums and couldn’t drag myself out. As I mentioned in a previous post, baking is one of my favourite ways to distract myself when I’m feeling this way. Even if it doesn’t necessarily make me feel better, I at least have something delicious at the end of it, and it gives me a tiny speckle of satisfaction that I did one productive thing during my day. The recipe I’m going to share with you today is my all-time favourite treat to bake. I hope you enjoy it!

First Things First: Choose Your Baking Soundtrack

This is a very important step. The recipe simply won’t work without it. Am I the only one who likes having YouTube videos playing as background noise? I guess it’s weird but I really enjoy having “daily vlogs” playing while I bake – YouTubers such as Zoella and SprinkleOfGlitter have lovely chatty videos that just make the house feel less empty if I’m home alone. I don’t actually watch the videos whilst baking, I just like the sound of laughter and chatter filling up the kitchen. Anyone else do this? …anyone? No? Ok, I’ll shush now.

Another thing I love to listen to while I bake is a podcast called The Unbelievable Truth. It’s a radio game show hosted by David Mitchell and each episode has four different British comedians as contestants.You can find it here if you’re interested, it’s very entertaining and quite educational! (I learned from this podcast that the Danish word for “timetable” is “fartplan.” You’re welcome).

Basically, just blast whatever you damn well please, whether it’s hardcore death metal or the soundtrack to Frozen. Baking is always more fun with background noise!

And now for the actual recipe (307 words later):

Base:

• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup desiccated coconut
• 100g (3.5 oz) butter
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

Filling:

• 30g (1 oz) butter
• 2 tbsp golden syrup (you can use corn syrup as a substitute)
• 400g (12 2/3 oz) sweetened condensed milk

Topping:

• 200g (7 oz) dark or milk chocolate
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Line a 28x18cm (11×7 inch) tin with foil.

2. For the base, sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl and stir in the coconut. Melt the butter and brown sugar together until the sugar has dissolved and pour into the dry ingredients.

3. Mix until you end up with a bowl of slightly weird-looking crumbly little blobs (legit scientific description) and press these blobs into the tin. Bake for 10 minutes until slightly gold around the edges.

Because you know I’m all about that base, ’bout that base, nooo crumble.                   …Sorry.

4. For the filling, combine the butter, golden syrup and condensed milk in a saucepan and heat until smooth. Continue heating for about 10 minutes until the mixture boils and browns slightly.

5. Pour over the base and bake for 15-20 minutes until the caramel is bubbling and golden brown.

The edges look burnt, but just trust me. It will be ok.

6. When the caramel has completely cooled, melt the chocolate and oil together in a microwave-safe bowl in 20 second bursts. Pour this melty goodness over the slice. I like to let it drizzle over the edges too, but you don’t have to. (I’m just a rebel I guess, I live life on the edge. I laugh in the face of danger and caramel-slice-boundaries). If you’re feeling extra showy-offy, as I was this evening, you can pop some melted white chocolate into a ziplock bag, snip off a corner and drizzle over the top.

Someone got a little overly enthusiastic with the drizzling. Definitely wasn’t me.

7. Ta-daaaaa! There you have it. Coconutty, caramelly, chocolatey deliciousness. Good luck having just one piece.

I hope you enjoyed this post, and please let me know if you’d like to see more baking posts in the future! I know it wasn’t really related to my usual content but I think it’s nice to mix things up once in a while. Remember you are all wonderful human beings, even if you’re having a less-than-wonderful day. Hugs are coming to all of you from me (although I’m currently covered in flour and syrup so I won’t be offended if you decline…)

Thanks for reading,

All my love,