Friday, 8 July 2016

Orange Almond Caramel Slice

There's been a lot of family input into this recipe.
Let’s start with the idea of mine to create a caramel slice with a difference.
Version one was just okay in my opinion, but was very well-received by the crowd at Mr Everyday Baker’s office (though I suspect they were just hungry).
I toyed with a few changes and called my culinary mentor to see if she could try version two, thankfully, Mum happily agreed.
Version two was good, but still needed some tweaking.
Now we have to talk about the middle lad, who is a passionate collector of anything that takes his fancy, particularly if it’s ripe (or not, he’s not fussy) for the plucking.
For that reason, the main vegetables to thrive in our garden are the ones that work the magic under the soil, such as beetroot and carrots. 
So we visited our beloved Nanna Joyce recently, who has an orange tree stocked with beautiful plump, ripe oranges.
They beckoned to middle lad and he stripped that tree like a crazed goat at a full washing line, so we ended up with an abundance of oranges.
We’re all dosed up on vitamin C and also, version three of this recipe is an absolute winner… do try it.


Orange Almond Caramel Slice
Ingredients
Base:
1 cup plain flour
½ cup coconut
½ cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
¼ cup golden syrup
1 egg
150g butter, melted
Zest and juice of 1 orange
Caramel:
1 can condensed milk
2 tablespoons golden syrup
100g butter
Topping:
80g almonds, toasted and roughly chopped
80-100g (up to you!) dark chocolate, melted
Orange zest, extra

Method
Pre-heat your oven to 180C and line a slice tray with baking paper.
Combine the flour, coconut, brown sugar and oats in a large bowl. Stir to combine and add orange zest.
In a jug, place golden syrup, melted butter, orange juice and egg. Whisk to combine.
Add wet ingredients to dry and stir until well combined.
Press firmly into tray.
For the caramel, place the condensed milk, golden syrup and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat and stir until butter is melted and it’s a nice smooth consistency.
Pour the caramel onto the base and place in the oven for about 30 minutes, or until golden and bubbly.
Remove from oven and set aside, but leave the oven on.
For the topping, place nuts on a baking tray and pop in the oven for a few minutes until golden brown.
Sprinkle them over the caramel, pushing down on them slightly before drizzling the whole lot with melted chocolate.
Grate a little extra orange zest over the top and allow to set.

Cut into squares and enjoy!