Quick Mix Slice

If you want to bake something in a hurry, you can’t go past this Quick Mix Slice. You can make it as fancy as you like with whatever ingredients you have. I just happened to have a few macadamia nuts in the pantry and the last bit of white chocolate which I melted and topped the slice with. It was so good.

I’ve got all the fancy cookbooks you can think of but the one I refer to most is my high school Home Economics cookbook “Day to Day Cookery”. It’s got all your basic recipes in it including one for this Quick Mix Slice. It’s seriously so, so easy. Melt and mix, just the way I like it. It’s very much like a cookie recipe but baked as a slice and cut into bars. 

Just mix the dry ingredients together, crush the weetbix cereal bars into it, melt the butter and mix.

You can create cookies if you like by taking small spoonfuls of mixture and squeezing them into cookie shapes on a baking sheet but the easiest way to cook this recipe is to press it into a slice pan 20x25cm.

Bake for approximately 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.

You can eat it like that or top it with icing or melted chocolate like I did. The flavour combinations are endless. This is a great recipe for using up all those bits and pieces you have lying in the pantry. Dried fruit, nuts, sprinkles, lollies/candy, chopped cookies or chocolate, chocolate chips can all be used in this wonderfully easy recipe.

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Quick Mix Slice

A quick melt'n'mix slice that can be made in no time. A great recipe to use up all those bits and pieces lying in the pantry.

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 18

Author Anne

Ingredients

• 1 cup self raising flour
• 1 cup coconut
• 3 weetbix breakfast cereal bars crushed
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 125 gm butter melted

Instructions

1. Mix dry ingredients together.
2. Add any additional ingredients, eg roughly chopped macadamia nuts, dried fruit, chocolate chips etc
3. Add melted butter and mix well.
4. Press mixture into a 20x25cm slice pan lined with baking paper.
5. Bake for approximately 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown in a 180 deg C oven.
6. Top with icing or melted chocolate.

Recipe Notes

Possible flavour combinations:
White chocolate and macadamia
Sultana, dried apricots, dried figs, other dried fruit
Chocolate chips or chunks
Lollies/candy
Nuts of any kind

Chunky Monkey Bars

What are Chunky Monkey Bars you ask? They’re my latest creation using the new look, new taste and improved performance Nestlé  Baker’s Choice range. A combination of a dark chocolate infused crunchy biscuit base, topped with a fudge-like banana and white chocolate centre dotted with dark chocolate chunks and topped with the smoothest of dark chocolate ganache. A really indulgent treat but not overly sweet. Nestlé Bakers’ Choice set me the #BakeItYours Challenge and I accepted. You don’t have to ask me twice to bake something with chocolate. I used the dark chocolate melts, dark chocolate chunks, white chocolate melts and delectably rich 100% sustainably sourced cocoa. All chocolate products have a real chocolate flavour not like that cheap chocolate flavour that you sometimes get with baking chocolate. The chocolate melt products melt really well and the chunks and chocolate chips hold their shape when baked in cookies for example.

A Dark Chocolate Biscuit Base

I’m a ‘melt and mix’ baker. No having to worry about creaming butter and sugar together for the biscuit base. Melt together the Nestlé Dark Chocolate Melts and butter in the microwave. Depending on the wattage of your microwave, I always advise to cook at 30 second bursts to avoid chocolate ‘siezing’. I know that I can melt my chocolate in the microwave for 1 minute and I’ve never had a problem. Mix in the sugar until dissolved. Allow the mixture to cool slightly and add a beaten egg. I don’t worry about sifting either. It’s just one less you have to do when you’re a busy Mum. Add the flour and the Nestlé 100% Cocoa. Mix well until a firm dough is formed. Check out that glossy dark biscuit base. So full of chocolate-y richness. Remember, it doesn’t have too much sugar in it and by using dark chocolate, there is less sugar in that too. Press the biscuit dough into a 20x25cm slice tin and bake for approximately 15 minutes.

A Fudge-like Banana & White Chocolate Centre with Dark Choc Chunks

Next step is to make the middle banana layer. Forget banana bread. This will be my new ‘go to’ recipe when I need to use up ripe bananas. Just mash together 2 medium sized bananas and set aside. Melt 3/4 cup of Nestlé White Chocolate Melts in the microwave (at 30 second bursts). Remember that white chocolate is made from cocoa butter so has a different ‘melting point’ to dark or milk chocolate so extra care should be taken when melting it so it doesn’t sieze.  Add 1/2 cup of melted butter to the melted white chocolate and mix well. Allow mixture to cool slightly and mix in 1 beaten egg, 1/2 cup of sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Add the mashed banana. Add in 1 3/4 cups of plain flour and a pinch of salt. Combine until a smooth batter is formed. (Note to self: Don’t taste test or else you will eat the lot before it’s baked.) And this is where the ‘chunky’ part comes into it. Add 1/2 cup (or a big handful) of Nestlé Dark Chocolate Chunks to the batter and pour

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over the cooked biscuit base. Smooth over and bake for approximately 30 minutes.  It will be a fudge like consistency like a gooey browney. If you like it a bit firmer, cook for a further 10 minutes. The chocolate chunks hold their shape really well when baked. They’re perfect for Chocolate Chunk Cookies or Muffins. Set baked slice aside until completely cool. [Tweet “Chunky Monkey Bars #NestleBakersChoice #BakeItYours”]

Topped with Dark Chocolate Ganache

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need cream to make a nice chocolate ganache. I used butter mixed with the dark chocolate melts to make a rich but not sweet, smooth delectable topping for these Chunky Monkey Bars. I’ve even made ganache using Greek yoghurt and it turned out wonderfully. To make the ganache, melt together 125gms butter and 125gms Nestlé Dark Chocolate Melts and combine until smooth. (Remembering to microwave at 30 second bursts.) You can also melt chocolate the traditional way over a pot of boiling water in a ‘bain-marie’, that is, in a dish placed over the pot of boiling water but when you’re in a hurry, microwaving works just fine for me. Pour the ganache over the cooled bars and put in the fridge until the ganache has set (approximately an hour or so). Slice and serve. Just like every other combination with chocolate, banana works perfectly with dark chocolate. You could make these bars without the biscuit base and it’d work out just fine but if you’re looking for something a little extra special for a morning tea or cuppa with the girls, these bars will impress. My kids are devouring them. I’ve put them in the freezer so I don’t eat them my kids won’t eat them all at once and they freeze really well. You could also choose to omit the dark chocolate chunks from the middle banana layer but then they wouldn’t be ‘Chunky’ Monkey Bars would they? Hope you give them a try. I’ve got a couple more chocolate recipes up my sleeve using the Nestlé Bakers’ Choice range so stay tuned.

Win your own Nestlé Bakers’ Choice Pack valued at over $100

  Nestlé have been so kind to offer one of my lucky readers the chance to win your very own pack of the new and improved range of Nestlé Bakers’ Choice baking range valued at over $100. To enter, all you need to do is leave your name and email address in a comment below PLUS what you would make with some or all of the Nestlé Bakers’ Choice range of chocolate goodies. 

This competition has now closed.

The winner is Belinda B

Terms & Conditions:

1. Open to Australian residents only.
2. Competition closes 12pm AEST, Friday, 12 August 2016 and winner will be announced via email. Once confirmed, the winner will be announced across my social media channels.
3. This is a game of skill.
4. The prize is not redeemable in cash.
5. The winner will have seven (7) days to respond otherwise the prize will be redrawn.

Good luck!

Recipe

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Chunky Monkey Bars

A decadent but not too sweet dark chocolate and banana bar with a dark chocolate base, fudge like banana and white chocolate centre which has been filled with dark chocolate chunks and topped with dark chocolate ganache.

Prep Time 45 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Servings 24

Author Anne

Ingredients

Dark Chocolate Base

• 80 gm dark chocolate melts
• 80 gm butter
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 egg beaten
• 1 cup plain flour
• 3 tablespoons 100% cocoa

Banana & Chocolate Chunk Centre

• 3/4 cup white chocolate melts
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 egg beaten
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 medium ripe bananas mashed
• 1.3/4 cups plain flour
• pinch salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chunks

Dark Chocolate Ganache

• 125 gm butter
• 125 gm dark chocolate melts

Instructions

For the base

1. Place dark chocolate melts and butter in a microwave proof dish and microwave until melted. (Melt at 30 second bursts.)
2. Allow mixture to cool slightly then add beaten egg, sugar and mix well.
3. Mix in flour and cocoa and combine well.
4. Press biscuit dough into a 20x25cm slice baking pan and bake for approximately 15 minutes in a 180 deg C oven.

For the Banana & Choc Chunk Centre

1. Place white chocolate melts in a microwave proof dish and microwave until melted. (Melt at 30 second bursts.)
2. Add melted butter to melted white chocolate.
3. Allow to cool slightly and add beaten egg.
4. Mix in sugar and vanilla extract.
5. Fold in mashed banana.
6. Mix in flour and salt and add dark chocolate chunks.
7. Pour over baked biscuit base and bake for 30 minutes at 180 deg C. (For a more firm banana layer, bake for a further 10 minutes.)
8. Allow to cool completely.

For Dark Chocolate Ganache

1. Melt together dark chocolate melts and butter.
2. Pour over cooled sliced and place in fridge to set. (Approximately an hour or more.)
3. Slice to serve.

Recipe Notes

You can slice it into bite sized pieces therefore getting more than 24 pieces from this recipe.
This recipe freezes well.

  Disclaimer: I was gifted a selection of  Nestlé Bakers’ Choice products in return for a recipe and the purpose of conducting a giveaway. All thoughts, photos and opinions are my own.    

No Bake Raspberry & White Chocolate Cookie Bars

You know the feeling. The cookie jar is empty. Your freezer supply of baked goods has gone and there’s nothing for lunch boxes. It’s 5pm. You’re in the middle of getting dinner on and you need to get something baked for school lunches. That was the case with me the other day when I somehow came up with these No Bake Raspberry & White Chocolate Cookie Bars.

This is all I started with. I checked the freezer and I had a few raspberries and a handful of white chocolate chips. I was thinking of making muffins, while the oven was on but I just couldn’t be bothered waiting for them to cook while I was rushing around with dinner so decided to go with something ‘no bake’.

I also found a packet of plain biscuits and a tin of condensed milk in the pantry. Something that no home should be without. The condensed milk comes in so handy for last minute baking. The plain biscuits were obviously bought for a special recipe but that never happened so they made their way to the back of the pantry. I could’ve just given these to the kids but they’re pretty plain and I had already defrosted the raspberries.

This is just your standard, run of the mill, basic no bake slice where you smash the biscuits until crumbs form, add the rest of the ingredients, melt some butter, mix the condensed milk with the melted butter, mix it through and put it in the fridge. My kind of recipe when you’re in a hurry.

I pureed the partially defrosted raspberries, trying not to make it too pureed as to leave some pieces whole.

Mix it all together and that’s pretty much it.

Press into a slice tin and then pop in the fridge. Wait until it’s set, preferably overnight and cover with icing if you like, not that it really needs it.

I loved how the raspberries, when mixed with the condensed milk, turned the prettiest shade of pink so I couldn’t resist topping with pink icing and more coconut. I love anything covered in coconut.

This was so, so good. The kids loved it. Well, most of them. Once ‘the girl’ saw a raspberry, she lost interest but my son devoured it. It was perfect for lunch boxes and afternoon tea. These kind of no bake slices last for a week or so in the fridge, if it doesn’t all get eaten up beforehand.

No Bake Raspberry & White Chocolate Cookie Bars

1 packet of plain biscuits, crushed into crumbs
1/2 cup raspberries, pureed
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup coconut
1 can condensed milk
80gm butter

Quantity of pink icing and coconut to cover, optional

1. Mix together biscuit crumbs, chocolate chips and coconut.
2. On stove top, melt butter and add condensed milk mixing well.
3. Add to biscuit crumb mixture and add raspberry puree.
4. Press into a 20x25cm slice tin and refrigerate until set.
5. Spread with icing and coconut if desired.

No Bake White Chocolate & Marshmallow Bars

I don’t know whether I’ve just become lazy, more creative with my time or my kids are getting bored with my usual baking but I’ve become more and more reliant on no bake bars for the kid’s snacks and lunchboxes. As you know, I never go out and buy an ingredient especially for a recipe and how these bars ever came about is a mystery but believe it or not, I had a few white chocolate chips and a handful of small marshmallows in my pantry along with a packet of plain store bought biscuits. It was absolutely delicious. These kind of recipes are fantastic for using up all the leftover biscuits from the bikkie barrell.

It goes back to my point I’ve made before about being frugal with your baking and keeping a well stocked pantry so you can always make something out of nothing even when it seems like you’ve got nothing in your pantry. I always like to keep a tin of condensed milk in the pantry for times like this as well. It’s just a matter of topping up from standard pantry lists each week which helps you keep your grocery shopping budget in check and a good supply of ingredients on hand.

This recipe is not unlike any other no bake bars I’ve made before like the No Bake Orange Slice but it’s just a little bit more decadent with white chocolate chips. Any flavour chocolate chips would do well here.

Once you’ve combined the biscuit crumbs, coconut, choc chips, marshmallows, condensed milk and melted butter, press into a slice pan and chill. That’s it. So simple.

Everyone loves Mum’s cooking in this house and please note, no one licked the whisk after Willy had his turn and it was washed well.

After a couple hours (or overnight) the bar will be set and easy to cut into bars. You could drizzle melted white chocolate on top but mine didn’t last that long. With summer just around the corner, I think I’ll be relying on these no bake bars more and more.

Do you have any good no bake recipes you’d like to share?

No Bake White Chocolate & Marshmallow Bars

• 80g (3 oz) butter, melted
• 1 small can sweetened condensed milk
• 250g biscuits, crushed into crumbs
• 1 cup coconut
• white chocolate chips
• small marshmallows

1. Combine biscuit crumbs, coconut, chocolate chips and marshmallows.
2. Add condensed milk and melted butter and mix well.
3. Press into a 25x20cm slice pan lined with baking paper.
4. Refrigerate until set (approximately 2 hours or overnight).

White Chocolate Ganache made with Greek Yoghurt

White chocolate ganache made with Greek yoghurt may be nicer than if made with cream.

They don’t call me the “Queen of Make-Do” for nothing (or do they?) Or maybe it’s because I’m just too lazy to jump in the car and head to the shops for a carton of cream (which could lead to unnecessary spending). Whichever way, I’ll try anything once and if it works, it’ll go in the vault (or here on the blog so I can remember it again).

Everything is strawberry mad here in Australia at the moment and we can’t eat them quick enough. I made these Strawberry Swirl Bars (recipe to come) and they just needed something a little more indulgent than cream or icing so I checked the pantry and I had a little bit of white chocolate left (not sure where the rest of it went *cough cough*) and only had Greek yoghurt in the fridge.

It was just a matter of popping them both in a heatproof jug and cooking in the microwave for 30 second bursts. It was a little runny so a little less yoghurt to chocolate ratio next time. I’d say two thirds chocolate to one third yoghurt. It was delicious. The tartness of the yoghurt cut the sweetness from the chocolate and the extra sweetness from the strawberries. 

I’m going to try it with dark chocolate next time, in fact, I don’t think I’ll use cream again when making ganache. Hope you give it a try and let me know what you think.

Easy Cornflake & White Choc Chip Cookies

Growing up Mum nearly always made cornflake cookies with the leftover cornlakes lying at the botton of the box. Once the free toy was gone, we weren’t interested in them all that much. We did love the cookies though but I always find them so cumbersome to make, having to roll in cornflakes. While baking, they usually fall off so I don’t bother making them.

My son has taken quite a liking to cornflakes lately (plus a couple spoonfuls of sugar sprinkled on top I might add) so I’m lucky if I get a few leftover at the bottom of the box. The cookie tin was empty, I had some white choc chips in the pantry so a blast from the past and these cornflake cookies were made.  I found rolling spoonfuls of cookie dough into balls with the cornflakes already mixed in gave a much nicer cookie with a subtle crunch. The addition of white choc chips made them a little more decadent too. Any type of chocolate would work well. This is a great recipe for the kids to get involved.

Easy Cornflake & White Choc Chip Cookies
(Recipe based on www.taste.com.au)

• 125gm butter, melted
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 2 eggs
• 1 & 3/4 cups self raising flour
• 1/2 cup white choc chips
• 1 & 1/2 cups cornflakes

1. Preheat oven to 180 deg C.
2. Add vanilla and melted butter to brown sugar.
3. Add eggs and mix well
4. Add flour, choc chips and cornflakes to the butter mixture and stir until well combined.
5. Roll balls of dough onto a baking sheet lined with paper, allowing room to spread.
6. Bake for approximately 15 minutes or until golden brown.