Chocolate Aussie Crunch Bars - classic teatime treat

Chocolate Australian Crunch is a classic teatime treat that uses easily available ingredients and has an unbelievably simple recipe.  A long time favourite for young and old, the recipe uses a combination of the 3 C's: cornflakes, coconut and chocolate. Read on for more!

You will need:

10 oz margarine

10 oz self raising flour

7 oz sugar
4 oz dessicated coconut

5 oz cornflakes

3-4 heaped tblspns cocoa powder (as desired)

Cooking chocolate of various flavours ( at least two)



Method

1. Crush the cornflakes by either placing them in a large bowl and crushing them by hand, or put into a large freezer bag and roll out with a rolling pin.  They should be quite well crushed but make sure not to over crush to a powder. Place them in a large mixing bowl.
2. Add all the dry ingredients to the crushed cornflakes (flour, sugar, coconut, cocoa powder) and stir in to become one mixture.
3. Melt the margarine in a seperate bowl until runny.  
4. Add the melted margarine into the dry ingredients.





5. Spread out the mixture evenly into a greased 12" x 9" baking tray, press down well into the corners of the tray using a clean spatula. Tip: Use a smaller, deeper tray if you want a thicker bite, or a wide flat tray for a thinner slice.
6. Bake in the oven at 160 C for 20-25 minutes, then remove and leave out to cool covered by a clean cloth.

Decoration

This recipe uses milk and white chocolate for the decoration.  It is entirely up to you which and how many different chocolates you want to use for the top of the Aussie Crunch.  You can reverse this recipe and put white chocolate over the top and drizzle milk chocolate, or you may use milk, white and dark chocolate for drizzling.  Be creative!

1. 
   
   Melt 150g of milk chocolate over a bowl of simmering (not boiling) water on a low heat. Tip: Instead of melting the milk chocolate, you can grate it over the top of the Aussie Crunch as soon as it comes out of the oven and spread as it melts.  Works a treat, but you do have to be quick!

    

           2.      Melt 65g of white chocolate in the same way.

Tip: leave the centre of the white chocolate bowl empty to avoid overheating.





        3.     Spread the milk chocolate evenly over the top of the Aussie Crunch once it has cooled (alternatively you can use the grating method described above). Then, using a piping bag, drizzle the white chocolate in any  pattern you choose.

        4.     Run the tip of a knife through the still wet chocolate in different directions to create a marbled effect.

    5.    Cut into pieces (square, rectangle or slices, as you prefer) before the chocolate sets completely.

Make a cup of your preferred hot drink, and enjoy!

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Foolproof recipe for lasagna white sauce

Bechamel is the white sauce used in my lasagna recipe to soak the pasta sheets in between each layer.  There are many ways of making bechamel and it can also be purchased in a jar, but if you're reading this then you're probably the type that likes to know exactly what went into your food, instead of the processed stuff from a shelf in a supermarket. 

This is the quickest and simplest recipe there is for making the bechamel that goes into your lasagna:

You will need:



2 tblspns plain flour

1 1/2 tblspns butter/margarine

1 1/2 cups (200 ml) milk

and a saucepan





Allow the butter to melt in a saucepan over a low heat, then stir in the flour, mix and allow to simmer for 2-3 minutes.  You should be able to smell the combination of the butter and flour heating up.





Flour and butter



Simmering flour and butter mixture



Once combined, add the milk to the saucepan, allow to boil and thicken and becomes gloopy but spreadable.

Tips:

1. If the bechamel become too runny, all you need to do is add 1/2 tblspn of flour to the mix and allow to simmer until it thickens and becomes gloopy.  If required, keep adding 1/2 tblspn flour at a time until you reach the required consistency.
2. If the bechamel becomes too thick and unspreadable, add 1/2 tblspn of milk at a time, stir, simmer and allow to thicken to the required consistency.

What makes this recipe so easy is that it uses readily available ingredients and is very easy to correct if it begins to go wrong.