Make It Perfect

When Simone posted a photo of her delectable Caramel Slice on her blog I just had to ask her to be a Recipe Monday Guest Blogger! How good does it look? I struggle to make a good Caramel Slice so am excited to give this one a go – thanks Simone!!

I feel very honoured to be featured as a guest on ‘Recipe Monday’. It makes me look like I can cook….. okay lets not get carried away.

I cannot take complete credit for this slice as the recipe originally came from my sister Jessica who got it out of one of her Donna Hay recipe books. But I can say that this slice makes you look like a FANTASTIC cook. The base is never crumbly, the middle is never too gooey and the top is always smooth. It has NEVER failed and is a hit for every occasion, whether casual or classy.

Caramel Slice
Base:
1cup of plain flour
1/2 cup of coconut
1/2 cup of brown sugar
125g cooled melted butter

Mix all together and press into greased and baking papered tin. Don’t use a lamington tin as the slice won’t be high enough. Use a smaller biscuit tin size. Put in oven for 15min on 180 degrees.

Middle:
1/3 cup of golden syrup
2 cans of condensed milk
125g of butter

On stovetop over low heat, melt butter and add condensed milk and golden syrup. Stir until mixed together and a nice brown caramel colour (approx 7 mins.) Pour over base that has just come out of oven and pop back in oven for another 15min. Take out when caramel filling has bubbled nicely and top and is not runny anymore. Let cool slightly before putting top on.

Top:
3tsps vegetable oil
1 big block of cooking chocolate (or you can use real choc if you like). I just use the homebrand one.

Mix together on stovetop in bowl placed inside saucepan. Pour over slice and put in fridge to set.

Tip- to make sure slice does not crack when cutting it, take out of fridge when it is JUST set (approx one hr) anf cut from there. Alternatively using real chocolate on top decreases the risk of cracking when cutting into squares.

Orange and Poppy Seed Biscuits
2Tbs poppy seeds
2Tbs finely grated orange rind
1 Tbs fresh orange juice
250g butter
1 1/3 cups caster sugar
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups plain flour
1tsp bicarb soda

Icing
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
1 Tsp butter
2 Tbs fresh orange juice

Preheat oven to 180°C. Line baking trays with non-stick baking paper. Combine poppy seeds, rind and juice in a bowl. Set aside for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, use an electric beater to beat butter, sugar and eggs in a bowl until combined. Use a wooden spoon to stir in flour, bicarbonate of soda and poppy seed mixture until just combined.
Drop heaped teaspoonfuls on lined trays, 5cm apart. Bake in the preheated oven, swapping trays halfway, for 12-14 minutes or until golden. Set aside for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool. To make the icing, place icing sugar, butter and juice in a bowl and stir until smooth and glossy. Ice cold biscuits.