I asked for, and received, both Julie Goodwin’s cookbooks for Christmas. Masterchef just wasn’t the same after season one and Julie’s win. The contestants got a bit… annoying. Less homey, more “cheffy” (I know, bad English) and ultra competitive!

I was flicking through the most recent of her cookbooks, “The Heart of the Home” (pictured right) and came across a recipe for caramel slice. I’m not a complicated baker so I almost skipped the caramel slice recipe all together because caramel slice is bound to be hard, right?

UM, WRONG. I turned and said to Mr W’s Mum (we were at his parents place) “Have you got golden syrup and condensed milk still from Christmas?”. They did and I was off to bake this delicious childhood treat.

Except… I stuffed it up. The recipe calls for four tins of condensed milk. I didn’t read it properly and turns out Mr W’s Mum only had one tin. By the time I realised this, I was already baking the base in the oven and couldn’t turn back.

Mr W’s Mum (a seasoned baker!) said it should be fine, and four tins would probably make it incredibly rich. So I continued on… and it DID turn out fine. Probably would have been a bit better with two tins of condensed milk, but I think the four would have been too much for me.

Julie’s caramel slice from the book looks like this:

Mine, definitely DID NOT look that good. I was so flustered by my mistake that I didn’t take any photos of the end result. Tasted good though!

Ingredients

Biscuit base

• 1/2 cup self-raising flour
• 1/2 cup plain flour
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 80g butter, melted

Caramel filling

• 4 x 395g tins condensed milk (I actually think 2 might work better and don’t use the low fat stuff)
• 1/2 cup golden syrup
• 100g butter

Topping

• 150g dark chocolate
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees or 160 degrees fan forced oven.
2. Grease a 26x17cm slice tin and line the base with baking paper. Leave some baking paper hanging over the long sides of the tin. This will help lift the slice out.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flours, coconut and brown sugar. Add the melted butter and mix well. Press mixture into base of prepared tin, evenly and bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden. (also, this will depend on whether you have an electric or gas oven)
4. Put the condensed milk, golden syrup and butter in a saucepan and stir until the mixture is a light golden brown. This should take about 20 minutes over medium heat.
5. Pour the mixture over the base and return it to the oven for another 15 minutes. Set aside to cool.
6. Melt the chocolate and oil in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir until smooth and well combined. Pour it over the caramel filling (note: Julie says to do this once the caramel has cooled, but I don’t think I bothered and it was fine) and spread to cover evenly.
7. Put the slice in the fridge for at least three hours and then cut up into pieces.

Hope you like it! I loved it. Almost ate the whole lot. No wonder my pants are tight. You can, and should, buy “The Heart of the Home” from here.

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