Another week, another amazing episode of The Great British Bake Off, and another edition of The Great Bloggers Bake Off! Following my trifling with Orange and Mango Trifle a couple of weeks back, by the time this weeks episode had finished I was literally itching to get into the kitchen and do my own traybake!
Now as we’re only partly unpacked and have yet to do a food shop (we moved house across last weekend. There are boxes, lots of them. Enough said.), my options were a little limited and to be honest I was quite happy to go with something simple.
I’d been wanting to make the Be-Ro flapjack recipe again for a long time; my brother and I always used to make it as children and everyone seemed to love it! For some reasons it’s not on their list of recipes on the website, but thankfully I have my trusty, if somewhat sticky, Be-Ro book at home to consult.
Rob was watching the program with me; I was telling him my idea, and when one of the contestants started on some banoffee for their traybake – I didn’t end up with much of a choice really!
Ingredients
Flapjacks
100g butter
100g sugar
1 tbsp golden syrup
50g oats
50g flour (plain or self-raising, it doesn’t really matter)
75g crushed cornflakes – I used Frosties as they were easy to hand!
Banoffee Layer
1 tin sweetened condensed milk (397g)
20g butter
50g light brown sugar
2 banana
To Top
100g chocolate – dark or milk works best
Method
Flapjacks
- Mix together the dry ingredients in a bowl
- Melt the butter and syrup on the hob or in the microwave
- Add to the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly
- Use your fingers to press well and evenly into your lined tin – anything from 6-8 inches square is fine for this recipe, depending on the thickness you want
- Bake at 180 degrees for 15-20 minutes until just firm and golden brown
Banoffee Layer
With a tin of condensed milk in the cupboard, I set about making my own dulce de leche. Not having 2 hours spare to boil the caramel in its tin, I set about the making it on the hob method. Zero kudos to the website I used for this, it failed to mention that you need to stir like crazy to stop it burning! Once I’d figured this out things went much more smoothly, and the addition of the extra butter and sugar makes it sure to firm up
- Put the condensed milk, butter and sugar in a heavy bottomed pan
- Heat on medium-low for 10-15 minutes, stirring continuously- When the caramel mixture has nearly thickened, mash or chop the bananas and add them, heating for another few minutes so they break down
(to test the thickness, get some of the dulce de leche on a tea-spoon, let it cool for a minute, and turn upside down. If it drips off, not done. If it stays, well done!)
- If you’re after a really smooth banoffee then blitz or food-process to remove the banana lumps, before letting it cool
Once the flapjack is completely cool, spoon the caramel over the top and spread evenly.
Finally, melt the chocolate and spread liberally on top.
I cooled mine in the fridge overnight which I’d highly recommend, it’s hard to tell when the caramel is set otherwise.
Heavens were praised when it turned out of the tin in one piece, my biggest worry, that the caramel wouldn’t set, was happily quashed!
And then to cut into squares – you’d think this would be the easy bit! Unfortunately I think my traybake was a bit too cold, and the chocolate was not happy with being cut.
Maybe the abstract look was what I was going for…?!
Some of the pieces turned out better than others (and some didn’t even make it to the photo stage…)
So this weeks results for The Great Bloggers Bake Off (head over to The Crazy Kitchen and Mummy Mishaps for more) – taste: great, style points: not so much!
Who knows what next week will hold…
