Chocolate, caramel and hazelnut slice

My favourite recipe as a kid was Mum's chocolate and caramel slice. After recently digging out the recipe, I decided to give it my own twist by adding hazelnuts. If you're not a fan of hazelnuts, you can leave out the nuts and replace the hazelnut meal with more coconut instead.

What makes this recipe so simple is the caramel Top' n' Fill. There are plenty of recipes out there for your own caramel, but this stuff is just as yummy and saves time on making the caramel, which can be a bit fiddly.

Ingredients

Base
130g butter
1 cup plain flour (I used wholemeal, but you can also use white)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup desiccated coconut
1/2 cup hazelnut meal

Filling
1 - 2 x 100g can Top' n' Fill

Topping
300g dark chocolate, roughly chopped (you can also use milk chocolate)
A handful of hazelnuts, chopped



To make the base, preheat your oven to 180°c and line your baking tin/dish with baking paper. I like my slice quite thin, but if you'd like yours thicker, just use a smaller baking dish.

In a bowl, melt your butter in the microwave. Add all of your dry ingredients and combine until the mix resembles breadcrumbs. The mix smells delicious!

Press the mix into your baking dish. Use the back of your spoon to ensure the mix is packed down firmly and evenly.

Pop the dish into the oven for 15-20mins or until it's golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Once cool, spread the caramel over the base using the back of your spoon. I only used one can but if you're a caramel fiend, you can use two.

Roughly chop your chocolate and melt. I melted mine in the microwave, stirring every 10-15secs. Make sure you use a metal spoon and keep any moisture away to stop the chocolate from seizing.

Working quickly, use your spoon to spread the melted chocolate over the caramel. This part can be a bit tricky and messy! Be careful not to let too much of the caramel mix with the chocolate, otherwise your chocolate will start to go lumpy and will not spread well.

Sprinkle with your chopped hazelnuts and pop the slice into the fridge to set.

Once the chocolate has set, remove the slice from your dish and, using a warmed knife, gently cut your slice into squares.

Your slice is now ready to eat! Make yourself a cuppa and enjoy one (or two, or three...).

When life gives you lemons...

With an abundance of fruit on our lemon tree, we’ve been making lemon flavoured everything lately. 

My favourite thing to make is lemon meringue pie and, since I know quite a few people with a sweet tooth, I’ve been whipping up one every week or two. Not good for the waistline but in order to use up those lemons, it’s a sacrifice we’re willing to make.

Here’s a recipe that I discovered a few years ago. The sweet meringue with the tangy lemon filling makes a great combination.

Also attempted to make a batch of lemon butter but we accidentally sealed the jars while the mixture was still hot and it failed to thicken. Never fear, we used the mix as lemon sauce and saved the cute little jars for next time.

Lastly, I've been making batches of lemon shortbread. While the first batch wasn't quite right (someone might have used cornflour instead of icing sugar!), the next attempts came out great. Yum!