It was film night at a friends house a week or three ago and I needed something to take for us all to munch on - something that was easily portable and could be made the day before. The first book I took off the shelf to get inspiration was Bake by Rachel Allen. About three pages in, I saw the recipe for these bars - perfect, no more hunting needed. I recollected having seen them recently on another blog, but couldn't remember whose they were, I do remember they had a good report though. Apart from the chocolate topping, I mostly followed the original recipe.
- Bashed 3oz cornflakes up in a bowl until they were large crumbs.
- Added 5oz desiccated coconut and a pinch of salt then stirred until well mixed.
- Creamed 8oz unsalted butter with 5oz caster sugar until soft and fluffy.
- Mixed in the cornflakes and coconut.
- Finally added 5oz flour (1/2 wholemeal & half white), 1 tsp baking powder and 1oz cocoa.
- Incorporated this as best I could - it wasn't very easy.
- Tipped contents out into a 9" square silicone thingie and pressed the mixture down with the back of a spoon until it was firm and level.
- Baked at 180C for 20 mins.
- Left to cool.
- Melted 6oz 35% milk chocolate (Green & Black's) in a bowl over hot water.
- Stirred in 1oz unsalted butter.
- Spread this over the base and left to cool.
- Cut into 16 squares.
This was a sophisticated version of the good old children's favourite, chocolate cornflake clusters. It had a lovely crunchy texture and a nice combination of flavours with the coconut and chocolate - strange that! The base wasn't at all sweet, by which I mean it wasn't too sweet and was set off nicely by the sweeter chocolate topping. These would be ideal for a picnic or as emergency rations for a long cycle ride; perhaps the calorie hit would be more deserved under those circumstances rather than slobbing out in front of a DVD - but hey, we enjoyed it.
This was a sophisticated version of the good old children's favourite, chocolate cornflake clusters. It had a lovely crunchy texture and a nice combination of flavours with the coconut and chocolate - strange that! The base wasn't at all sweet, by which I mean it wasn't too sweet and was set off nicely by the sweeter chocolate topping. These would be ideal for a picnic or as emergency rations for a long cycle ride; perhaps the calorie hit would be more deserved under those circumstances rather than slobbing out in front of a DVD - but hey, we enjoyed it.
I've make these a few times and very much agree - they are not too sweet and an ideal 'out and about' treat.
ReplyDeleteThey sound great, and perfect for a bit of slobbing!!!!
ReplyDeletemy mum made similar bars when I was young but with icing rather than chocolate on top - I think I would like them much better with chocolate - this sort of treat is good for those who take long bike rides but a dvd night deserves a few treats too
ReplyDeleteI used to make these when my children were young, how these bars bring back memories.
ReplyDeleteso simple and yet so lovely... maybe throw in some orange peel and you could Christmas them up a bit!
ReplyDeleteYou'll be top of the invite list for my next movie night if you bring a batch of these along ;0)
ReplyDeleteSo reminiscent of slices we ate while growing up! The 3C combination: chocolate-coconut-cornflake is almost irresistible! :)
ReplyDeleteI have always found choco and coconut as very earthy and heavenly combination .... awesome :)
ReplyDeleteI wish I had friends that turned up with home baked treats like these when they come round my house.
ReplyDeleteMost of my mates pop in to Tesco's on the way for cheap plonk. I'm not moaning; the ones that don't get cheap Tesco plonk just drive past and turn up empty handed.
Gillian - would never have thought to bake with cornflakes if I hadn't seen this recipe.
ReplyDeleteBVG - a bit of slobbing is just what I'm about to do in a minute, but no nice bars to pig out on whilst doing it unfortunately!
Johanna - have to guiltily admit that it's a very long time since I've had a long bicycle ride.
Maggie - worth making again and then you can really relive the memories.
Dom - good idea and put a load of rum in the chocolate for good measure.
Chele - thanks, always good to know I'm appreciated for my baking alone ;(
Celia - I didn't grow up with slices, I think it must be an antipodean thing.
Ananda - you're so right, some of my favourite chocolate is coconut flavoured.
VBB - but you love them really.
Slobbing out in front of dvd...some times it just has to be done. And what better way than to accompany it with a chocolate slice I say.
ReplyDeleteThanks CityHippy - always good to get slobbing endorsement.
ReplyDeletethese sound delicious - and what a great way of using up the annoying cornflake crumbs from the bottom of the box!
ReplyDelete