You can see the burntish bits!
I made this very-bad-for-you slice for morning tea at work this week. It’s from the April 2013 issue of Super Food Ideas.
Speaking of magazines, Australian Good Taste, the Woolworths-affiliated food magazine, is ceasing publication shortly – they announced this on Facebook but with no actual reason, so I’m not sure if it’s a financial-based decision or what. It is a great magazine, that I have been buying each month for about 10 years – but I don’t think it’s the “best” – too many of what I call “human interest” stories. I just like my food magazines to have lots of recipes, and I don’t mind advertising at all, as long as the ads also feature a recipe using their product. Gadget reviews are okay by me too, but I can’t stand “meal planners”, letters to the editor, stories about farmers growing their produce, and monthly shopping lists etc. No one ever makes every single meal or recipe in a month, from one magazine – apart from not liking them all (or their kids not eating them all), if they’re that stumped for ideas of what to cook and need it spelled out for every day of the month, they are probably not the type who would buy a food mag in the first place. Just my 2 cents worth anyway…..
So, back to the slice…..once I’ve got it in my head to make a specific recipe NOW, I do not like to be thwarted – but I could not find caramel bits, nor are Scalliwag biscuits anywhere to be seen around here. For those of you not in the know, Scalliwags are the politically correct version of what we all grew up with as Golliwog biscuits! Despite the name change, they are not easy to find, not here in Perth anyway. They are fairly plain biscuits, a bit like Teddy Bears, so I figured I could use any plain biscuit and settled on Malt-o-Milk. For the caramel bits I used choc bits.
The slice was very easy to make, but I overcooked it a tad as my overly-hot oven has a mind of its own sometimes, and the edges came out quite browned. When I took the slice out of the fridge the next morning, to cut up, it was SO heavy – felt like a brick! I thought, uh-oh, this is going to be as hard a rock and break people’s teeth! I even cut off the harder brown edge bits and threw them away, worrying about it. In fact it was great and received lots of praise (although I think my fellow co-workers will eat anything sweet and are quite often just being polite, to make sure I keep making stuff haha).
Caramel, Macadamia & Coconut Slice
250 gm pkt chocolate Scalliwag biscuits (OR whatever plain sweet biscuits you like)
125 gms butter, melted
395 gm can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups desiccated coconut
100 gms macadamia halves
250 gm pkt caramel bits (OR use choc bits)
Line a 20cm x 30cm lamington/slice pan.
In a food processor, process biscuits until they are fine crumbs. Add melted butter and mix well. Press mixture into base of pan. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 160C (140C fan forced).
Combine condensed milk, coconut, macadamias and caramel bits in a large bowl. Spoon over prepared base and spread evenly with the back of a spoon, pressing down to level slightly.
Bake for 30-35 minutes or until top is golden and just firm. Cool in pan. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or until set.
Cut into squares to serve.
Makes 24 pieces.
Happy Fooding!