Saturday 14 April 2012

Fancypants Magic Slice, Although Not Quite so Fancy as Some

I was greatly taken with the notion of this slice on my friend Hannah's fabulous blog. Only she could take a  boring old Nestle recipe and turn it into Fancypants Magic Bars. Whilst my bars were magic, they weren't quite Fancypants. It takes a certain size of city to have access to such Fancypants things as tart dried cherries. But they still were magic even with small town not-so-Fancypants ingredients. And it's dead easy.



Still Somewhat Fancy, Fancypants Magic Slice

1 1/2 cups crushed plain sweet biscuits
75 gm butter, melted
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1 cup chopped prunes
1 cup desiccated coconut
1 cup pepitas
395 gm tin sweetened condensed milk

1. Preheat oven to 160C (350F), then grease and line a 20 x 20 cm cake tin with baking paper.

2. Combine crushed biscuits and butter, then press this mixture into the base of the prepared tin.

3. Sprinkle the dark chocolate chips, then cherries, then coconut and pepitas onto the biscuit base. Pour the condensed milk evenly over the top.

4. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Check at 25 minutes- cover with foil if it is browning too much.

5. Cool in pan, cut into modest squares, or quite large greedy pieces.


Notes
I made mine Accidentally Gluten Free as I was using up the rice biscuits loitering at the back of the cupboard.

As ridiculous as it may seem when you're about to pour a whole tin of condensed milk onto something, I picked prunes because they're low GI! (29)

I'm planning on making it again and trying cranberries.

A visible layer of pepitas appears to deter male members of the household from eating this slice. They viewed it with great suspicion. All the better! It's delicious.




This post is linked to Weekend Cooking, a fabulous weekly meme at Beth Fish Reads.

16 comments:

Hannah said...

Oh my golly! I didn't get a pingback or anything, but something in my heart told me to check your blog today. Wheeeeeeee! I'm smiling all over the place at this wonderful surprise :) I think the pepitas are the true Fancypants ingredient, because they make the slice look so pretty. And hey, if you ever want me to send you a bag of tart cherries, please let me know!

I'm so glad these went down well, Louise. (And better than the raw pecan biscotti recipe you tried on your men ;) )

Hannah said...

(Except I just saw the bit about the pepitas deterring the men. Oh well!)

Louise said...

I don't know how to do pingbacks. So I'm glad you've got excellent instincts or timing Hannah. I was meaning to comment with the link- but I'd forgotten, and hadn't got to rethinking of it yet. And if a little thing like pepitas deters the men, well really- it's their loss. It's funny that you think the pepitas are fancypants, because in my book the dried cherries are!

Anonymous said...

Ah, hmm, how much condensed milk? (Not that I'll make it as I can't eat it unless I try the soy stuff).

As for men and pepitas ... their loss indeed.

Nice post, btw.

Beth F said...

I haven't made these in years! They are so easy and I love that you can use whatever nuts and dried fruit you have on hand. Yumm.

And yours were plenty Fancypants to me.

caite said...

I had to search pepitas
..or pumpkin seeds as I know them. looks good.

Rikki said...

OMG, they look and sound lovely. Will try out this recipe soon.

(Diane) bookchickdi said...

Wow- these look great! I've made Magic Cookie Bars tons of times, but this version looks even better.

Libby said...

I have never heard of these cookies! They look great. We all love pumpkin seeds,including the kids, because we make them on Halloween :)

Trish @ Love, Laughter, Insanity said...

Off to google Pepitas! Not sure I've ever heard of that one before. And prunes! What a great idea. I actually have a bag in my kitchen now.

And fancypants yours are...

Kim said...

Those look plenty fancy to me! I have never heard of pepitas before and I am guessing that plain sweet biscuits are just some kind of cookie? Your photo is fabulous also!
*smiles*

Heather said...

years ago I taught one of my son's friends to make this recipe. He was about 14. He started making it at home and his mom's friends loved it. Smart kid, he started to charge those friends for making a pan.

Glad I am not the only one who adds ingredients to deter others in the family.

Nikki - Notes of Life said...

That looks delicious! I'm going to have to write down that recipe :)

Joy said...

I've never heard of these. They sound terrific. They seem to be a sweet version of Impossible Pies, which are usually savory.

Margot said...

This bar recipe looks like a great resource. I love recipes where I can play with or substitute ingredients. I have to try this one.

Uniflame said...

This sounds lovely! Thanks for sharing! :)