chocolate sandwiches

Ok, so I am a bit ashamed that I needed DH mag to give me the inspiration to stick nutella on bread and toast it. But that is indeed what happened here. On page 43 of issue 51, in the Cheats + Quick Fixes, Short Cuts section, you can find, chocolate sandwiches.

What you will need is baguette slices, I used my humble homemade wholemeal bread. There is no way I am going to find baguettes here unless I make them, which I might do one day. Spread these, on one side with softened butter or, if you are me, margarine. Then spread the unbuttered sides with chocolate-hazelnut spread. Why she doesn’t just say nutella is beyond me, but you get the general idea. Then, I just love this. Donna Hay says to heat a non-stick fry pan, yay for her!! I am so glad that she didn’t say, now plug in your sandwich maker.

So you cook the sandwiches on the frypan until golden. Now this part is very important, don’t jump right in and take a whopping big bite even though you might be tempted, because these little guys are incredibly hot when they first come off the fry pan. Practice a little self-control and wait a bit before you hoover it.

Enjoy the crunchy golden toast oozing with rich chocolate hazelnut delight.

jam coconut slice

This little beauty once again attests to the ease and brilliance of the humble slice. I made this when my father in law came for a visit the other week and it not only fed him and us several times but was also perfect for a nice morning tea with friends.
This baby can be found on page 146 of DH mag issue 51.

Once again the base is a rather simple but delectably important part of the whole. You will need; castor sugar, desiccated coconut, plain flour and melted butter. Of these four ingredients I can only claim that I had two, which fit the bill entirely. Yes, you guess it. I had to substitute raw sugar for the castor sugar and margarine for the butter. I don’t reckon it made any difference. So you combine the above ingredients, press them into a slice tin and bake it.
Next you spread your jam on top of the cooled base. This recipe says raspberry, I used strawberry and I reckon any type of jam would do, probably not marmalade though, but I might be wrong.

For the topping one needs shredded coconut. Now for this one I did something a little out of the box, but it would be considered completely normal here. I used freshly scrapped coconut. I would do the same thing again next time, but I think first I would toast the coconut. It was a bit too moist and the slice was rather messy to eat. The second ingredient is eggwhites. Mix those together, pop it on top of the jam and whack it back in the oven until done.

Hmmm Yum!!

chocolate caramel slice

This amazingly rich and incredibly delicious slice was so easy to make. It survived the hot tropics, a two hour flight and then I took it to a picnic lunch and everyone loved it! Of course you can only have once piece before you start feeling sick, but that means you can share it with more people :^)

The base is nice and firm without being too crunchy but still having a crust texture. The caramel centre is so silky and sticky sweet and topped off with a hard chocolate coating, it is kind of hard to keep it all together when you biting into it but that just makes the experience all the more enjoyable. Probably not a slice to take on ones first date though, if you are trying to impress the person with your refined eating style.

So what one needs for this indulgence is first, a DH mag, issue 51, which has a whole section on slices. I have decided that I love slices, they are very easy to make and you don’t have to roll out individual cookies and they still feed a tribe, without it having to concoct a special occasion, that one feels one needs for cake. Turn to page 146 and you’ll find the recipe.

Starting off at the base of the slice with plain flour, sifted of course, this has become very important to me living here. Sifting flour not only insures that I don’t get rock hard lumps as I have had to keep the flour in the freezer until I use it, but it also gives me peace of mind that some poor person isn’t going to crunch into a weevil. Desiccated coconut, is the next key ingredient to this base, I think the coconut really adds flavour and texture to the base. Brown sugar and melted butter hold it all together, mix all these up and press them into a slice tray. Then you have to bake it so that it becomes all lovely and crusty.

Now for the caramel filling, this is the easiest part, you take golden syrup, butter and sweetened condensed milk, melt them all together on the stove and then pour it over the cooked base and pop it all back in the oven. Now just make sure that you don’t over cook the caramel. I made the mistake of trusting the temperature dial on my oven, which doesn’t work and when I checked the slice the caramel was bubbling away furiously at an incredibly hot temperature.

The topping is great; chocolate and vegetable oil. Melting chocolate has always been a bit tricky for me, but I think the oil really helps in this case but you still have to keep a close eye on it.

Now you put the topping on the slice when it is fully cold from being in the fridge, this helps the chocolate to set fast. So, what I did was as soon as I put the topping on I took a sharp knife and cut the slice up so that I was cutting into soft chocolate coating and not a crunchy hard one that would snap.

And there you have it, a delectable sticky mess, make sure you take some wet wipes with you on the picnic!