We Love Cooking!:
condensed milk

I have over one hundred cookbooks in my possession and although I love to flick through them for ideas and inspiration, I have rarely cooked a recipe exactly as it is written. One of my new years resolutions was to cook my way through some of my favourite cookbooks and seek out the best recipes! I made these chocolate caramel squares recently and they went down a storm!

Bill Granger's Chocolate Caramel Slices
(Recipe from Bill Granger's "Holiday")
This fantastic and highly addictive recipe comes from Aussie chef, Bill Granger and it makes possibly the most delicious chocolate caramel slices you will ever taste. The addition of coconut here gives a great extra texture and flavour.

Makes about 20 squares
125g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
90g dessicated coconut
115g caster sugar
125g butter, melted

Filling
100g butter
100g brown sugar
397g tin of condensed milk
2 tablespoons of golden syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping
150g dark chocolate

Preheat the oven to 180oC/Gas Mark 4 and lightly grease and line an 18 x 28cm baking tin.
Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl, add the coconut, sugar and butter and stir together well. Press firmly into the base of the tin and bake for 12 minutes, or until light golden.
To make the filling, put the butter, brown sugar, condensed milk, golden syrup and vanilla in a saucepan over a low heat. Cook, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes , or until light golden. Pour evenly over the cooked base, then return to the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool completely.
Once the caramel is cool, put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water, stirring occasionally until the chocolate has melted (or melt the chocolate very carefully in a microwave oven). Spread the chocolate evenly over the caramel and place in a cool place to set, before slicing into squares.

Only a few days left till the world's first twinnerparty! Very exciting stuff, I'm really thrilled people are getting behind the idea and big thank you to everyone who has blogged and retweeted about it! I've had the idea so long ago now that I just felt it was easier to start it small and allow the event to grow naturally rather than organising a massive event telling everyone about it and then it not actually working! The next twinnerparty is already in works for a date in early march so if you can't do this Saturday night, don't worry there will be more! If you haven't planned your twinnerparty just yet, don't worry there is lots of time left to invite some pals over, and hopefully as the recipes are posted they may entice you to get your skates on even more.

Today I'm posting the recipe from Saturdays menu that I am most excited about first! I have a theory on impressive desserts for dinner parties, and it goes like this, if your going to make a dessert, make it a mega dessert, a big balls out sugary treat that could tear the head off, even the pickiest of guests! This Crunchie Sticky Banoffee Pie, folks, I think, does just that! :)

Crunchie Sticky Banoffee Pie

What can make a naughty pie even naughtier? The answer... CRUNCHIE BARS! If you don't live in Ireland or England, Crunchie bars are honeycomb bars covered in chocolate and are extremely delicious! But my favourite part of making this pie has to be the nervous and exciting moment of opening the tin of condensed milk after it's been boiled for 2 hours to see if it's perfectly caramelised, and then squidging the tin so that the content blubs out over the edge! Those words are probably not even in the dictionary but I feel they best describe the tin of gooey caramel perfectly!

Serves 6
297g can condensed milk
230g digestive biscuits, about 16 crushed finely
115g butter, melted
3 bananas
250ml of cream
3 crunchie bars, roughly chopped

In a small high sided pot, cover the tin and boil the unopened can of condensed milk for 2 hours, keep an eye on it making sure the water level is always above the top of the can.
While the can is boiling, prepare the base of the pie.
Mix together the crushed digestive biscuits with the melted butter until they are combined and then spread the mixture evenly over the base of a 18cm cake tin with a removable base.
Cover and chill for 2 hours in the fridge.
When the can has finished boiling remove from the water and allow to cool. When the can is cool to the touch, open and spread the caramelised condensed milk over the biscuit base.
Slice the bananas evenly and arrange over the caramel.
Whip the cream until it is just about stiff and spread on top of the bananas.
Sprinkle the crunchie bar over the top of the cream as artistically as you feel necessary!
Cover and refrigerate until you are ready to serve.