Farmersgirl Kitchen

Monday, 27 August 2012

Chocolate Snap Bars with New Zealand Manuka Honey

Have you tried Manuka Honey? The New Zealand Honey Co asked me to try their 100% pure Manuka honey with the addition of lemon and root ginger, two new exciting honey options that are great for cooking.

The first thing I would say is that the additional flavours are completely natural, the lemon tastes fresh like freshly squeezed lemon, with the added bonus of being packed full of Vitamin C. There are little pieces of ginger in the Manuka Honey and Root Ginger, the flavour makes it ideal for marinades and salad dressings.

New Zealand Honey Co have created their own range of recipes, which you can find on their website along with all the information about the digestive health and healing properties of the honey at www.newzealandhoneyco.com.

New Zealand Honey Co.’s new Manuka ‘Plus’ range is available in Morrisons stores nationwide the 'Manuka Honey and Lemon' and 'Manuka Honey and Ginger' are both RRP £9.99

I have also been creating with Manuka Honey, the first recipe I'm going to show you is a simple no-bake treat using Rice Krispies.

I don't often make these kind of bars and was pleasantly surprised to find a recipe on the Kellogs website for Chocolate Snap Bars using honey in the base mix, here is my version:

Chocolate Snap Bars

100g butter
40g Manuka Honey with Ginger
1tbsp (10g) sugar
150g rice krispies
200g chocolate/chocolate chips or buttons

1. Cook the sugar, manuka honey with ginger and butter over a medium heat in a saucepan. Stir frequently, and once the sugar dissolves simply boil the mixture for five minutes, stirring all the time. Be carefule that it doesn't burn, I had to throw my first batch out.
2. Next remove the pan from heat and add the rice krispies, coating them thoroughly. Press the mixture into a greased tin.
3. Put chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of water over low heat, stirring constantly. When it's melted, spread it evenly over cereal mixture.
4. Then simply leave to set, and cut into squares or bars when cool.

I'd have to say that the rice krispies don't stick together as well as with golden syrup or marshmallows, but the flavour of the honey is really good and the hint of ginger makes them a little bit more grown up. More Manuka Honey recipes coming soon.

I'm entering these Chocolate Snap Bars into the new challenge at Maison Cupcake called Zero Baking Required anything goes as long as it hasn't seen the inside of an oven.

Disclaimer: I was supplied with Manuka Honey from the New Zealand Honey Co.. I was not required to write a positive review and any opinion expressed is my own..

Labels: chocolate, maison cupcake, Manuka Honey, New Zealand Honey Co. Zero Baking Required, rice krispies, traybakes

Monday, 5 March 2012

Maple Pecan Sticky Bars

On the 5^th March at 12:05pm on Channel 4 series two of Baking Mad with Eric Lanlard begins! This series sees Eric, the master of all things sweet and beautiful, at home in his kitchen conjuring up quick baking recipes alongside his signature glamorous desserts. Each 30 minute episode will also feature three members of the public who will come to his cookery school, Cake Boy, to demonstrate their baking skills and take part in a 'Bake Off'.

I was asked to try out one of the recipes from the new series and chose to make these Maple Pecan Sticky bars. The recipe is easy to follow and the result is a gloriously sticky sugar hit!

Maple Pecan Sticky Bars

Ingredients:

Filling

175g toasted pecan nuts, roughly chopped

100ml pure maple syrup

200g light muscovado sugar

1 tbsp. whipping cream

150g unsalted butter

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Base

100g unsalted butter, softened

75g golden caster sugar

1 egg yolk

175g plain flour

Method:

Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan/350°F/Mark 4. Butter a 23x23x5cm cake tin.

To start, make the short crust pastry base. In a large bowl mix together the butter and sugar with your hands, and finally add the egg yolks and mix. Add the flour and beat until a soft dough is formed. Gather the dough together and press it into the bottom of the tin and 2cm up the sides. Bake for about 18-20 minutes, or until golden. Remove from the oven, but leave the oven on whilst you make the filling.

To make the filling; in a medium saucepan combine all the ingredients except the nuts and vanilla extract. Bring to the boil, stirring until the butter melts and the mixture is smooth. Boil for 30 seconds. Remove from the heat, then mix the nuts and vanilla extract.

Pour the hot filling over the crust and bake in the oven for about 15 minutes until the filling is bubbling in the centre.

Allow to completely cool in the tin where the filling will become firm, then chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour and up to 2 hours.

When chilled, cut into bars with a large sharp knife.

I didn't have a tin 23cm x 23 cm mine is more like 21cm, so my pastry is a tad too thick and I think I could have baked the filling for a little longer as the maple syrup started to ooze out when it was cut, however that just means I'll need to make it again!

I took some up to my son when I visited him in his flat and both he and his flat mate gave them the 'hollow-legged young man' seal of approval.

Labels: Baking Mad, Channel 4, Eric Lanlard, Maple, Pecan, traybakes

This Page

Farmersgirl Kitchen

Monday, 27 August 2012

Chocolate Snap Bars with New Zealand Manuka Honey

Chocolate Snap Bars

Monday, 5 March 2012

Maple Pecan Sticky Bars

About Me

Links

Previous Posts

Archives