Choc Peanut Caramel Slice Food

CARAMEL SLICE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (fan 160°C)
• Grease and line a 28x 18cm (lamington pan) / 7" x 11" rectangle pan with baking/parchment paper (Note 2). Have overhang for ease of removal.
• Mix together Base ingredients and press into a pan (I use an egg flip)
• Bake for 15 minutes until the surface is golden. Cool in fridge if you have time (Note 3).
• Lower oven to oven to 160°C/320°F (fan 140°C)
• Place butter, sugar and vanilla in a saucepan over medium low heat. When the butter is melted, whisk to combine with sugar, then just leave it until it comes to a simmer.
• When bubbles appear, add condensed milk. Whisk constantly for 5 minutes (Note 4), until you start getting some big slow bubbles on the base.
• Once bubbles start appearing, whisk for 1 minute, then pour onto Base. Tilt pan to spread evenly.
• Bake for 12 minutes. Don't worry if you get splotchy brown bits (this happens with ovens that don't distribute heat evenly).
• Cool on counter for 20 minutes then refrigerate 30 minutes - bottom of pan should be warm but surface cool (not cold) to touch. (Note 5)
• Place chocolate and oil in a microwave proof bowl. Microwave in 30 second bursts, stirring in between, until chocolate is fully melted (takes me 4 x 30 sec).
• Pour over caramel, spread with spatula. Then gently shake pan to make the surface completely flat.
• Refrigerate 1 hour or until set. Remove from fridge and leave out for 5 minutes to take chill out of chocolate slightly. Then cut into bars or squares to serve!

CHOC-PEANUT CARAMEL SLICE

Steps:

• Grease deep 19cm-square cake pan. Fold 40cm piece of foil lengthways into thirds; place foil strip over base and up two sides of pan (this will help lift the slice out of the pan). Line base with baking paper.
• Combine butter, sugar and condensed milk in medium heavy-based saucepan; stir over medium heat, without boiling, until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil; stirring constantly, about 10 minutes or until caramel mixture becomes a dark-honey colour and starts to come away from the base and side of pan.
• Working quickly and carefully (the mixture is very hot), pour caramel into pan; smooth with metal spatula. press nuts into caramel with spatula; cool 20 minutes.
• Stir chocolate and extra butter in small heatproof bowl over small saucepan of simmering water until smooth; spread chocolate mixture over slice. Refrigerate until set. Use foil strip to lift slice from pan before cutting into squares.

SALTED CARAMEL & PEANUT BUTTER BILLIONAIRE'S SLICE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease and line a 20 x 30cm rectangular cake tin with baking parchment - the best way to do this is with 2 long strips of parchment. Put the ingredients for the base in a food processor and blitz until it starts to clump together - don't worry if the peanuts are still a little chunky, they will add a lovely texture. Tip onto your work surface and knead briefly to bring together as a dough. Press the dough into the base of your tin in an even layer. Bake for 25 mins until golden, then set aside to cool.
• To make the peanut butter layer, melt the butter and peanut butter in a small pan and mix until smooth. Sieve the icing sugar into a bowl, then pour in the hot butter mixture and stir to combine. While the mixture is still warm, pour over the base and smooth out with a spatula. Chill for 2 hrs until set.
• To make the caramel layer, put the caramel and salt in a pan, bring up to the boil and simmer vigorously for 2-3 mins, whisking continuously, until the colour darkens a shade or two and the caramel thickens slightly. Leave the caramel to cool for 20 mins (see tips, below). Once cooled, pour it over the peanut butter layer and return to the fridge for a further 2 hrs.
• Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water. Meanwhile, put the toffees and the milk in a small saucepan and gently heat. They will clump together and struggle to melt at first, but keep heating and eventually they will turn into a runny toffee sauce.
• Remove the tin from the fridge and pour the chocolate over the salted caramel layer, tipping the tin to spread the chocolate over the surface. Use a spoon to quickly drizzle the caramel over the chocolate in a thin loopy pattern (or see tip, below). If the toffee starts to get too thick, add a splash more milk or cream and pop it back on the heat until runny. Sprinkle over the sea salt flakes and put the tin back in the fridge to chill for 2 hrs before slicing.