Chocolate Caramel Slice

18Aug09

Growing up, I was really blessed to be fed homecooked fresh Vietnamese food every night made by my mum. The usual meals would include rice vermicelli with satay pork and peanuts, rice paper rolls with prawns and hoisin dipping sauce, chicken congee with crunchy fried crullers, heady and fragrant beef pho and desserts would always feature coconut cream in some form. I didn’t really appreciate this when I was younger, always whining and complaining about eating the same thing every night, “Rice with caramelised pork again?!” and I constantly looked forward playing at my non-Vietnamese friends’ homes as it would guarantee a rice free, fish sauce free, soy sauce free, noodle free, non-Asian meal. ‘Meat and two veg’ was really appealing to me back then!

I especially loved eating at my friend Sarah’s house as her mum was a terrific baker and would always have some kind of cake or slice to be enjoyed for afternoon tea. My absolute favourite treat by Sarah’s mum was the quintessentially Australian chocolate caramel slice – a shortbread base sometimes flavoured with coconut, topped with a rich, fudgy caramel layer and finished with a slick of chocolate, just in case you didn’t think it was sweet enough. I would make this slice often as a child with my own mum who would always claim it was far too sweet for her own tastes, but would happily let me indulge in my sugar fix.

As an adult now, I can reflect on my childhood and I love that I grew up on Vietnamese food. Now I’m always wanting to learn how to recreate my mum’s traditional dishes and finding out what all of mum’s secret ingredients are. It’s a part of my heritage that I want to retain and will pass down onto my own children one day. It’s nice to know that I will not only teach my future kids how to make the best nuoc mam or pho bo, but I will also get to show them how to make the Australian favourites I also grew up on.

Chocolate Caramel Slice (aka Millionaire’s Shortbread)

Base

85g butter, melted

2/3 cup self raising flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

2/3 cup dessicated coconut

Caramel Layer

400g (1 can) condensed milk

2 gloriously big tablespoons of golden syrup

1 tablespoon of butter

Chocolate Layer

125g best quality dark chocolate (you can use milk chocolate, but I find it way too sweet)

1. Line a 20 centimetre (8 inch) square tin with non-stick baking paper, being sure to leave excess paper overhanging to be able to lift the finished slice when baked. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. In a medium bowl, combine all base ingredients and press into prepared tin and bake for 15 minutes or until risen and golden brown. Allow to cool.
3. In a small saucepan, combine the caramel layer ingredients and cook over medium heat for around 10 minutes or until a light golden brown colour. Don’t forget to constantly stir with a whisk or spatula as you cook, or else it will get lumpy.
4. Pour the caramel filling over cooked base and return to oven. Bake until the caramel layer is just set – this should take 10 – 15 minutes or so. When done, remove from oven and allow to cool completely.
5. Melt chocolate in a double boiler or microwave and spread evenly over cooled slice. Once chocolate is set, cut into squares using a hot knife.

Filed under: brownies/slices, chocolate, recipes   |  28 Comments
Tags: baking, caramel, chocolate, recipe, slice