I have also had a chat with my sons kindy about the appropriateness of his home baked snacks and they have provided me with a list of all the 'acceptable' lunch box ideas that they are happy with. There is no room at all for baked goods, they seem to have a stance that if it's baked at home it a 'treat' and should be eaten in the afternoon after kindy. Never mind the actual ingredients, sugar, fat and salt content that is in the home cooked snacks, it's all about appearances and they are being real stick in the muds about the whole endeavour. So, I am waving my little white flag in surrender and will just focus on things that I can put in the school lunch boxes and the kindy with their ridiculous warfare against common sense can just jump off a bridge!
So here we go...
CHOCOLATE WEETBIX SLICE
Ingredients
4 weetbix
1 cup plain flour
1 cup coconut
1 cup sugar
3tbsp cocoa
1 cup sultanas
120gm butter, melted
1/3 cup milk
Method
1. Preheat oven to 180C, spray a square slice tin with cooking spray.
2. Crush the weetbix into a bowl, add flour, coconut, sugar, cocoa and sultanas. Mix to combine.
3.Add butter and milk, mix until it all comes together.
4. Press into tin, use the back of a spoon to make sure it's all even.
5. Bake for 20min, allow to cool in tin for 20min and then transfer to fridge. Cut into small squares.
Notes
You can cut back on the sugar if it's too sweet, I've already cut back on it from the original and this is a nice level of sweetness for us.
The mixture should be quite moist when you put it in the pan, add an extra tablespoon of milk if it's just not coming together, or seems quite dry.
You can substitute the milk for an egg, I've made it both ways and prefer the no egg option.
You can use baking paper to line the tray if wanted, I've never had problems with it sticking to the paper, but I've also found that it comes out the tray easily enough without it.
Toppings can vary. The original recipe calls for a chocolate icing, which consists of 2cups icing sugar, 1tbsp cocoa and 1tbsp milk. It goes on runny but sets hard in the fridge. I think with that topping on it the slice is way too sweet for my taste, but if you have a sweet tooth, or just want to enjoy the devilish side of life, you'll certainly enjoy it! I also had some leftover icing from a cake mix that would do the job too. Those kinds of toppings probably wouldn't do too well in the lunch box with the heat of the day, you'll see in the pic that I have just used sprinkles and they went on just before I put it in the oven. Just press them in with the back of the spoon so they don't fall off when cooked and make a mess while eating.
The slice freezes well and defrosts with no problems, no sogginess and without drying out too much. The end result of this recipe is a quite moist slice, that is lovely and a bit brownie like while eaten warm, but firms up nicely once cooled. Did I mention eating it warm? Beware if you try it this way, if you're anything like me you'll have eaten half the pan in the blink of an eye and need to make another.
Variations, there's just so much you can add! Chopped dried apricots, or any dried fruit instead of sultanas, you can throw a handful of rice bubbles or cornflakes into it, press flaked almonds into the top before baking, put chopped walnuts through it, add some crushed up chocolate chip cookies, or chocolate drops. It's really up to your imagination and the recipe is hardy enough that you can play around with ingredients and it always tastes good. I would recommend doing the base recipe first and getting a feel for the texture of the mixture and making sure that if you do change things around that the mix isn't too dry before baking.
This is really a simple recipe that the kids can make as well, so if you feel like a week off, set them up with the ingredients and sit back and relax!
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