I must admit, I think I’m a pretty good baker, I’m a member of the Country Women’s Association and I have even gone into cake baking competitions and won prizes before. But I really love to bake slices at home because they are so simple and delicious. Blondies, brownies and anything made out of Rice Bubbles are really easy to make and super delicious to eat! Harvest also brings new challenges. During harvest I am quite time poor, especially this year because I am working on the tractor as well as doing lunches and smoko!
For harvest this year my partner and I had organised to work on farm in Wyalkatchem as we had no crop of our own. So rather than having to eat rubbish prepackaged junk from the supermarket I did a bit of a “baking frenzy”. I took two days to bake about twenty recipes worth of snack foods to freeze in single size portions for my partners and my lunch boxes while we were working. I put up on Facebook what I was cooking and a friend of mine on a station in Queensland wanted pictures of all these snacks as we were eating them. I thought what better way to get the pictures to her then to spam her on Instagram? So I started sending her a picture a day in Instagram (I’m @farmerswifeintraining if you want to check them all out!).
So in my little snippet that I’ve written up here I have also included the initial caption that went with the picture on Instagram as well as the picture themselves.
Enjoy ☺
___________________________________________________________
Churro Blondie
Behold the delicacy that is the “Churro Blondie”. This chewy delight is all the delicious of a Mexican donut stick with chocolate drizzled all over it. Same texture as a brownie but more inventive with the flavours. They are devine.
I originally got the recipe for Churro Blondies from a blog called “cafedelights” at cafedelights.com. I will give you the version that I made as on the blog it has listed all sorts of other alternative ingredients that you can use if you would like to steer away from gluten or sugars.
Ingredients:
- ¾ cup firmly packed brown sugar
- ½ cup coconut oil at room temperature
- ¼ cup apple sauce
- ½ cup raw sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1½ cups plain flour
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- ¼ cup water
- Pinch sea salt
- 60g dark chocolate melts
- Additional 60g of dark chocolate
Method:
- Preheat oven to 176C | 350F. Line a square 20cm×20cm baking tray with baking paper
- Place in a bowl the brown sugar, butter and apple sauce until light and fluffy. Add the raw sugar, egg and vanilla.
- Add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Gradually beat in the dry ingredients.
- Pour the water into the batter, and mix well. Do not over beat batter!
- Pour batter into prepared baking tray. Press the chocolate chunks into the batter and wait for the batter to engulf them.
- Bake until golden, 20 – 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the blondies comes out semi-dirty (The dirtier, the fudgy-er they will be). Be careful not to over-bake as they will dry out!
- Cool completely.
- After blondies have cooled microwave the additional 60g of dark chocolate in 30 second bursts in the microwave stirring with a metal spoon inbetween each cook time.
- Drizzle the chocolate in lines across the top of the blondies. Place in fridge until chocolate has hardened.
- After chocolate has hardened take blondies out of the pan and cut into 16 bars.
Peppermint Crisp Brownie
Just quietly I am so excited about todays smoko! I have PEPPERMINT CRISP BROWNIE and it is so chewy, rich, chocolatey and minty it is unreal. I put more peppermint crisps in then the recipe asked for because you don’t get many minty baked goods these days and I wanted to make the most of it!
This is a recipe that I love to use for a little stress relief! To break the Peppermint Crisp up I leave them in their packet without opening and then bash them with a rolling pin before opening the packets up and emptying them into the batter.
Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup strong black coffee
- 250g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
- 180g butter chopped
- 1 ½ cups plain flour
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- 1 ½ cups brown sugar
- 3 eggs
- 4 x 35g Peppermint Crisp bars broken.
Method:
- Preheat oven to 160°C. Line a 20cm base measurement square cake pan with baking paper.
- Place coffee, chocolate and butter into a saucepan. Stir over low heat for 3 to 4 minutes or until smooth and melted. Transfer to a bowl. Cool for 10 minutes.
- Sift flour and cocoa into a bowl. Add sugar. Stir to combine. Make a well in the centre. Add chocolate mixture, eggs and the Peppermint Crisp. Stir with a large metal spoon until combined.
- Pour into cake pan. Bake for 45 minutes or until crumbs cling to a skewer inserted into centre. Allow to cool in pan. Cut into 16 pieces.
Marbled Cheesecake Brownie
“Marbled Cheesecake Brownie for todays smoko. This is a delightful combination of both cheesecake and brownie in the one little square”
These are really delicious with a slight change of texture between the cheesecake patches and the chocolate sections.
Ingredients:
- 150g butter, chopped
- 300g dark cooking chocolate chopped
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup castor sugar
- 1 ½ cups plain flour
- ¼ cup sour cream
- 250g packet of cream cheese at room temperature
Method:
- Preheat oven to 180°C. Line a 20cm base with baking paper, allowing it to overhang
- Combine the butter and chocolate in a saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring for 5 minutes or until chocolate has melted and the texture is smooth (no lumpy bits).
- Remove from heat and seat aside for 5 minutes to cool.
- Whisk 2 of the eggs in a small bowl.
- Add the whisked eggs and 2/3 cup of the sugar to the chocolate misture and stir to combine.
- Add the flour and sour cream and stir until well combined. Set aside.
- Use an electric beater to beat the cream cheese and remaining sugar in a bowl until smooth. Add the remaining egg and beat until just combined.
- Spoon the chocolate and cream cheese mixtures alternately over the base of the pan. Use a skewer to swirl to create a marbled effect.
- Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cemtre comes out clean.
- Set aside in the pan for 1 hour to cool. Cut into squares to serve.
Ultimate Mars Bar Slice
“Todays smoko: Ultimate Mars Bar Slice. Just quietly I think I’ve slipped into a bit of a sugar coma today after eating this.”
These are HIGHLY addictive! I like to artistically arrange the Mars Bars on top to give a good coverage of Mars Bar when you cut it up into its individual portions!
Ingredients:
- 5 x 53g Mars Bars, chopped
- 50g butter
- ¼ cup golden syrup
- 4 cups of rice bubbles
- 200g milk chocolate
- 3 x 53g Mars Bars sliced thinly
Method:
- Line the base and 2 long sides of a 20cm x 30cm (base measurement) slice pan with baking paper allowing the sides to overhang.
- Stir the chopped Mars bars, butter and golden syrup in a saucepan over low heat until the chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth. Remove from heat.
- Stir in the rice bubbles. Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan. Smooth the surface.
- Melt the chocolate in 30 second burst in the microwave, stirring with a metal spoon inbetween each cook time.
- Spread the milk chocolate over the slice. Smooth surface. Top with sliced Mars bars. Place in fridge for 2 hours or until set. Cut into pieces.
Choc-chip Cara-Mallow Slice
“Todays smoko offering: Chocchip cara mallow slice. Modelled by the Farmerbf”
These are certainly a sweet treat! With the mixture of baked marshmallows on top, caramel along in the middle along with chocolate chips in the biscuity base this will certainly give you the energy to get through harvest!
Ingredients:
- 500g marshmallows
- 2/3 cup Nestle dark choc bits
- ½ cup castor sugar
- 1 can Nestle Caramel Top n Fill
- 125g Unsalted butter
- 100g Dark cooking chocolate, melted
- 2 eggs
Method:
- Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan forced. Line a 20 x 30cm (base measurement) pan with baking paper, allowing sides to overhang.
- Use electric beaters to beat the butter and castor sugar until pale and creamy.
- Beat in the eggs 1 at a time then fold in 1 cup of plain flour and choc bits.
- Press mixture into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes
- Spread Top ‘n’ Fill over cooked base.
- Arrange marshmallows on top. Bake for 5-10 minutes or until marshmallows are softened slightly. Set aside for 20 minutes to cool slightly.
- Drizzle with melted chocolate. Set aside to cool completely in the pan. Cut into pieces.
___________________________________________________________
Thanks so much to Stacey Bell for sharing these delicious recipes. If you want to see more amazing goodness, be sure to follow her on Instagram @farmerswifeintraining.
Which of these sweet treats will get you through harvest?