Jaffa Brownies and Apricot Oat Slice

So today started with a leisurely cup of tea and a bowl of honey toasted muesli in bed while I browsed through some recipe books and tried to figure out what OH and I would have for tea this week. Now have a look at the photo right, the cereal is in a relatively small bowl and that is what came in one of those sample packs...I mean I know they come portion sized and blah blah blah but I very nearly cried when I tipped that into my bowl...BUT I ate it slow and with a teaspoon and wouldn't you know it, it was delicious and kept me full well past lunch time!

Anyway I did my groceries and when I got home I decided to make some jaffa brownies for Allie, she gets back from Melbourne tonight and I have missed her this weekend! I haven't made Jaffa Brownies before but I made my favourite brownie recipe and added a bag of frozen jaffas before it went in the oven. I confess I tried one (can't run the risk of giving bad brownies away!) and they are awesome, if you love choc - orange flavoured stuff then you need to try these!

Jaffa Brownies

For these you need:
125g butter
180g dark chocolate melts
1/2 cup caster sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/4 cups plain flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
250g bag of Jaffas

Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan-forced.
Line a slice tin with baking paper.
Place butter and dark chocolate in a heat proof bowl in the microwave and heat in 45 second bursts (stirring in between) until smooth.
Stir in sugar.
Whisk eggs into chocolate mixture until combined.
Add sifted flour and cocoa. Whisk to combine.
Fold in jaffas.
Spread mixture into prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes or until top is firm to touch.
Set aside to cool before slicing.

You may have seen my choc caramel brownies in other posts - for those you simply substitute a chopped up 220g block of frozen caramello chocolate for the jaffas!

A few weeks ago for Dad's bday you may remember I made some Cranberry, Blueberry and Honey Oat Bars, they were pretty damn good, but I wanted to see if I could make something a bit softer. I found a recipe for Apricot Oat Slice and decided to give it a go.


About half way through I got a bit worried because it has an egg and a bit of water, but no milk or butter in the recipe. I ended up adding a splash of milk just to moisten the mix a bit, but otherwise left it as it was. The end result was fantastic. A soft apricot and sultana slice that was not too cakey, yet not too solid, just lovely and soft and chewy. I will definetly be trying it again.

For this one you need:
1 1/2 cups plain flour
3/4 cup quick cooking oats
1/4 cup desiccated coconut
1/2 tsp baking powder
4 tbsp honey (might be easier to melt in the microwave first)
2 tbsp sugar
1 egg
About 1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup sultanas
1 cup dried apricots diced, soaked in water for an hr then drained - reserve 2 tbspns of water to add to mixture
extra desiccated coconut for coating

Pre-heat oven to 160C fan forced.
Combine plain flour, baking powder, sugar, coconut and oats in a bowl.
Add egg, honey, milk, apricots, sultanas and water. Mix to combine. If you need to add more milk then do so.
Place the mixture in a lined slice tray and sprinkle the top with coconut.
Bake for around 15mins.
Remove from oven and allow to cool before slicing.

Now that I've gardened, vaccumed, washed and baked I'm kicking back on the couch with a cup of tea. There is even a Zucchini, Mushroom and Creamy Chicken Pie waiting to go in the oven when OH gets home (more on the pie later in the week!).

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend!

Em x