Thursday baking - 'Hello Rosie' slice

As we bake our way through A Treasury of New Zealand Baking

This is a special guest post, brought to us by Rosie!

When I was round at Miriam’s for a lovely dinner a couple of weeks back I was flicking through A Treasury of New Zealand Baking when I came across Hello Rosie Slice. When the girls suggested I should try and bake it for the blog, although hesitant to test my amateur baking skills, I agreed thinking that the short list of ingredients, and short instructions, meant it was a safe bet.

As Miriam is not a huge fan of coconut, and this ended up being the main ingredient, I made up the topping mixture without the coconut and put aside some before adding the coconut for the rest of the slice.

I must say it was better with the coconut although Miriam may disagree. This slice is very sweet so cutting it into small pieces is ideal, although I found this difficult to do due to its sticky and chunky consistency. The slice was enjoyed over a cup of tea at Miriam’s on Sunday and the remaining by my colleagues on Monday morning. Overall Hello Rosie proved to be a success, even for an amateur baker.

I would bake this again but with the addition of other dried fruit or nuts (whatever you have handy). To save time I would probably not bother toasting the walnuts first as this didn’t seem to noticeably change the outcome.

'Hello Rosie' Slice - Mark McDonough - Week 25

Base

100g butter

250g malt biscuits, crushed

Topping

2 cups walnut pieces, roughly chopped and lightly toasted

1 1/2 cups dark chocolate buttons, chopped

1 cup sultanas

2 cups long-thread coconut

500g sweetened condensed milk

Preheat the oven to 160C. Grease a 20x30 cm slice tin and line with baking paper. Mix the butter and biscuit crumbs together and press into the prepared tin. Mix the topping ingredients together and roughly press them over the base. Bake for 30 mins, or until browned. Do not overcook. If the slice starts to brown too quickly during the cooking time, cover with baking paper until the time is up. The finished product should be slightly moist and sticky. Cool in the tin and cut into pieces when cold.

This slice can be kept in an airtight container for up to 5 days.