4 Ingredient Brownies

Yes, I said 4 ingredients! Actually it was supposed to be 3 ingredients but that just didn’t work for me.

The original idea for this recipe came from another of those facebook-posted easy food ideas. The recipe said you could do this either as a slab or as individual muffins, so I decided to go for muffins.

It looked so great in theory, but my first attempt was a disaster. Even reducing my oven by 20 degrees, knowing how hot it is, I burnt the crap out the muffins! And not just a little burnt on the bottom, but super duper burnt all through the middle, burnt! Plus, the mixture only made 8, which isn’t really enough to take to work for morning tea.

I’m much happier with my second go. I changed the quantities, changed the type of flour from plain to self-raising, added a little milk to make the mixture a little runnier, and made it as a slab to cut up as a brownie slice.

Nutella is the pits to handle, I have to say – very thick and stiff, and a complete bugger to wash off the dishes – sticks like crazy and just doesn’t want to come off. So instead of mixing in a bowl by hand, which is a little too much arm power for my weak wrists to handle, I threw it all into the food processor. Well worth it, apart from the washing up.

This is not low-fat, not dairy-free, not nut-free and not gluten-free.  It does, however have great flavour – not too sweet – and a good texture. It was easy to cut up, too.

Nutella Brownies

400 gm jar Nutella

1 cup SR flour

2 tbsp milk

2 eggs

Mix all ingredients together in food processor. Pour in greased/lined slice tin (approx 20 x 10 cm) and bake at 180C (or 160C if your oven is as hot as mine) for 25-30 minutes until cooked and wrinkling on top.

Cool and cut into pieces to serve.

Makes 24 pieces.

Happy Fooding!

A Sweet Old Favourite – It’s a Date!

Date slice, that is…..when I was in Melbourne recently, my mum made a delicious old family favourite that she used to make in the 70s. I don’t remember having it before so it was like discovering something new. Really yummy!

DATE AND WALNUT SLICE

1 cup SR flour

½ cup chopped walnuts

½ cup coconut

½ cup chopped dates

1 egg OR 2 tbsp milk + 1 tsp baking powder

120 grams butter

½ cup sugar

Mix flour, coconut, sugar, dates, walnuts with melted butter, then add beaten egg.  Spread on greased (or baking papered) scone tray with fork and cook 15-20 minutes in moderate oven (180C).

When cold, ice as desired – in this case lemon icing and a sprinkling of extra coconut.

Cut into slices.

Makes 24 pieces.

The photo above is my mum’s production – when I made it last week to take to work, I needed to alter it to make it suitable for a couple of people who can’t eat eggs. I substituted milk & baking powder, and it worked just fine, so that’s handy to know.

Egg-free version

Happy Fooding!

Peppermint Slice

Well it’s back to reality and work, here – am back in Perth (40C every day, loving it!) and Christmas is all over for another year. I got some great food-related presents for Christmas – you can never have too many gadgets!

5 of us girls went to see Les Miserables on Boxing Day. Not a dry eye in the house! Amazing movie and a great way to finish off the festive season. I have a friend coming over from the UK in a couple of weeks, and it hasn’t opened there yet, so I’ll be forced to go again to accompany her to see it….not hard!

I have had another go at the Caramello Slice, because I wasn’t happy with the stickiness. After reading reviews and different variations, I did it like this:

Peppermint Slice

200 gms condensed milk (skim)

220 gm block Cadbury Dairy Milk Peppermint Chocolate

1 tbsp butter

250 gm pkt Granita biscuits

desiccated coconut

In a microwaveable bowl, place the condensed milk, chocolate (broken up) and butter. Cook on Medium until melted (for me this was 2 x 20 second bursts), stir until smooth then add the biscuits, crushed quite finely.

Mix until well blended then place in your usual slice container/tin. Sprinkle coconut over the top and refrigerate for several hours/overnight to set firmly. Cut into squares.

Makes 24 pieces.

I am still using a very old laptop while my Macbook Pro is at the doctor’s, and it is quite frustrating – I cannot find the photos of this peppermint slice anywhere!

Happy Fooding!

Caramello Slice

Gooey! That’s the only word to describe this rich, caramel slice. As with the M&M slice, this is from the 4 Ingredients: Kids cookbook, and is no-bake and super simple.

I made this to take to work, as at home there is no one to eat up all the sweet stuff. It was VERY sticky underneath, so I think next time I’ll sprinkle some extra coconut on to the base of the slice container, to make it not stick to the bottom. It was, however, very popular and was all eaten by the end of the day, despite the sticky fingers!

I did some searching and found that there are a few variations of this slice around, including a variation using peppermint chocolate instead of caramel. I also found slightly different quantities, which might make a difference to the stickiness.

I think my colleagues are going to have to be guinea pigs again next week – I don’t think they’ll complain…..

Caramello Slice

250 gm block Caramello chocolate

1/2 cup butter

200 gms Marie biscuits, coarsely broken

1/2 x 400 gm tin sweetened condensed milk

Melt chocolate and butter in microwave; stir in condensed milk and biscuits.

Press into slice container/tin (I use a Tupperware Slice N Stor) and sprinkle with coconut. Place in fridge to set.

Cut into 24 pieces.

Happy Fooding!

M&M Bars (Sort Of)

How about this for a slice so easy your kids could make it in a flash! This was in a magazine recently, promoting the 4 Ingredients Kids cookbook, and in fact only has 3 ingredients. It is quite sweet to taste, so for most of us one piece would be enough (I say MOST lol).

I prefer Smarties to M&Ms so I used those instead. You could use peanut M&Ms if you prefer, and I reckon you could easily add some chopped walnuts, almonds, raisins or coconut, or top the slice with melted chocolate. Using Malt-O-Milk biscuits would be good too.

Start with these basic 3 things and then experiment. You don’t have to be a kid to like quick and easy baking!

You can find this recipe and a heap of other 4 ingredient recipes here.

M&M Bars

250 gm pkt plain sweet biscuits (ie Marie, Arrowroot)

400 gm can condensed milk

1 cup M&Ms or Smarties

Preheat oven to 160C. Line a 16 x 26cm baking tray with baking paper.

Blend the biscuits to a fine crumb, in food processor. Add remaining ingredients and combine well.

Scrape the mixture into the baking pan and bake for 20 minutes.

Cool, then cut into bars to serve.

Happy Fooding!

Not Quite a Sweet Success..

An almost-flop on the weekend….I recently borrowed the new “4 Ingredients: Christmas” cookbook from my library (which is also my casual job workplace – it is huge fun getting to see all the new release books coming across my path – I have enough books reserved to last me ’til the end of my days!). There are loads of simple, festive recipes in this book, a continuation of the 4 Ingredients series of books.

I decided to try the Rocky Road Bon Bons, only cut into squares rather than long rectangles wrapped in cellophane, for a bbq we went to. WELL, it didn’t quite turn out like it was supposed to – I had some milk cooking chocolate leftover from something else, so decided to use that. Not sure if it was a bit “old” or what, but it refused to melt properly in the microwave, and started to do that cooked/curdled thing that chocolate has a tendency to do if you’re not careful. It wouldn’t melt to a smooth liquid, so I threw in the other ingredients and hoped for the best – but it then wouldn’t mix together like it should……in desperation I added a 100g block of Lindt dark chocolate, put aside for my favourite chilli recipe (don’t think I’ve shared that with you yet) and a bit of butter, and threw the whole lot back in the microwave. I cooked it on Medium until the new lot of chocolate had melted; however, this meant of course that the marshmallows and turkish delight had also melted!

So what I ended up with was a sort of fudge/slice “thing”. Same flavours as the original, but the only lumpy bits were the macadamias. Also it was a bit skinny, so I should have used a smaller sized tin than the more lumpy version called for, to make it higher.

Oh well. Very rich tasting and chocolatey, so no problems with the flavours, but next time I will use fresher chocolate……

Here is the original, Christmas recipe anyway…..

Rocky Road Bon Bons

250 gms chocolate (dark, milk or white)

100 gms macadamia nuts, roughly chopped

1 cup marshmallows, cut in half

150 gms Turkish delight, roughly chopped

Break chocolate into pieces and melt in a microwave safe dish on Medium-High heat, stirring every 30 seconds. Allow to cool slightly before adding remaining ingredients. Mix until well combined. Line a 9cm x 13cm loaf tin with baking paper, pour the mixture into it, neaten edges and refrigerate until set.

Remove and cut into 8 rectangular slices. Cut in half again and wrap each in clear cellophane. These make a beautiful handmade Christmas gift tied at each end with a pretty ribbon.

Happy Fooding!

No-Bake Slice Using Mint Aero!

How about this for a delicious, no-bake slice! This literally took 10 minutes to make…..the only way I deviated from the recipe was that I added 2 tablespoons of condensed milk instead of 1, as it seemed a bit dry when I mixed it together.

Makes 24 pieces (I made it in a Tupperware Slice N Stor container).

Happy Fooding!

Easy No-Bake Choc-Mint Fudge

Yum, this is so good and so simple!  When Miss Spanah and Master Dorbit were little they always requested this to take to kinder/school when it was their birthdays, to share with the class instead of cupcakes. As it is quite rich, you can cut it into very small squares, so enough pieces to go around a roomful of kids.

You can use orange essence instead of peppermint, for a jaffa flavoured version, and I have actually made it with strawberry essence as well.

Choc-Mint Fudge

500 gms milk cooking chocolate, broken into pieces

400 gm can condensed milk (I use skim)

60 gms butter, chopped

1 tsp peppermint essence

Place chocolate, condensed milk and butter in a microwave-proof bowl.  Cook on MEDIUM for 2-3 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds, until the chocolate and butter is melted.  Add the peppermint essence and stir rapidly until the mixture is smooth and glossy. Pour into a rectangular container (I use the Tupperware Slice N Stor) or a 19x29cm lamington tray (if using a tray, line with baking paper).

Refrigerate until set (overnight is good). Cut into small squares (size is up to you) and pig out!

Happy Fooding!

Marvellous Mars Bar Slice

Simple and easy, this slice is always a crowd pleaser and can be whipped up in just a few minutes.  It is also suitable for your gluten-free friends.

Mars Bar Slice

3 Mars Bars (based on the old 60 gm size – so just use however many of varying sizes you need, to get about 180 gms altogether)

1 tbsp golden syrup

1 tbsp butter

3 cups Rice Bubbles

200 gms milk cooking chocolate

1 tbsp butter, extra

Break the Mars Bars into rough pieces and place in a microwaveable bowl, with the golden syrup and butter. Cook in microwave on MEDIUM, in 30 second bursts, stirring in between, until chocolate is melted; mix well until mixture is smooth.  Add Rice Bubbles; stir until well mixed and place in a rectangular container (I use the Tupperware Slice N Stor, which is 28 x 17 cm).

Refrigerate for a few minutes.  Melt chocolate and extra butter in the microwave and spread over the base.  Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight, then cut into squares to serve.

Happy Fooding!

A Bit of Sweet Stuff….

Sweet & Decadent!

Last weekend I made some morning tea for a lace day I went to.  Apart from Hedgehog, which I made a complete botch of (when I share that recipe with you, it will be complete with a photo of my mum’s efforts, not my own dreadful attempts!), I made this yummy slice, which is a no-fail one that a friend in South Africa gave me a few years ago.  I love making this, and an added bonus is that a pkt of licorice allsorts is 450g….meaning you can be very evil and taste-test the packet contents along the way…..

Licorice Allsorts Slice

1 pkt Marie biscuits

125 gms butter

250 gms licorice allsorts

100 gms condensed milk (half a standard size can)

1 tsp olive oil

125 gms milk cooking chocolate

hundreds & thousands (optional)

Crush Marie biscuits in food processor. Finely chop licorice allsorts and mix with biscuit crumbs in a bowl.  Melt butter with condensed milk, in microwave, and pour over dry ingredients. Mix well. Place into slice tin/container (11”x7”) and refrigerate for about 10 minutes.

Melt oil & chocolate together in microwave, and spread over slice.  Refrigerate until set, and cut into 24 pieces to serve.

Optional – sprinkle with hundreds & thousands before chocolate sets.

Happy Fooding!

Enjoy with a cuppa....