Number 29: Sweet and Salty Crunch Nut Bars

I was invited to a friend's 19th, and decided to make something yummy to bring as my present :) I thought these bars would be great - simple to make, serves quite a lot of people, and they look tasty! (I did of course check that there were no nut allergies at the party before I chose these - killing somebody might have put a downer on the evening...)

The recipe comes from Kitchen, and you can make it in a rectangular tray (approx 30 x 20 x 5 cm), or a 25cm round cake tin, depending on what shape you want the bars to be. I chose the tray because I have some disposable ones left over, which saves me having to remember to ask for the tin back.

For the chocolate component, you can really use any combination of chcolate you want. I used 200g milk and 100g dark, the recipe book suggests the other way around, and Nigella says she often goes for completely milk chocolate. Do as you wil - as long as the total weight is 300g it will be fine.


Ingredients

300g chocolate (mix of milk and dark, or just one kind)
125g unsalted butter
3 tbsp golden syrup
250g salted peanuts
4 x 40g crunchie bars


Method

1. If using a tin or tray that isn't disposable and therefore already made of foil, line it with foil.

2. Break the chocolate into a saucepan and add the butter and syrup.

3. Put on a low heat, and gently melt together.

4. Tip the peanuts into a bowl, and then crush in the crunchie bars with your hands. You want a mix of small pieces and slightly bigger pieces (not too big mind), and also golden dust.

5. Remove the melted chocolate mix from the heat, and stir in the nuts and crushed crunchies. Then tip straight into your tin/tray and smooth down with a spoon or spatula.

6. Leave to cool, then pop into the fridge for about 4 hours to set. Then cut into slices and serve!

These are really simple to make, but very tasty! They went down very well at the party - I left the kitchen for half an hour or so to talk to some friends, and when I came back nearly the whole tray had been snaffled! Yay! :) The only problem is that they melt quite easily - after being out for about an hour they became quite hard to pick up without pieces sticking to the tray and chocolate getting all over your fingers! (Not a bad thing in my opinion but there you go). So I recommend maybe announcing their presence with a fanfare, and then safely depositing them in the fridge - letting everyone know that they can help themselves of course.


Thanks for reading! :)