It's all be going well so far, but I find that the first hurdle when you go somewhere new is often to make connections and new friends. I remember going to residential writing courses when I was a youngster, I loved them, but I'd have to share a dorm-room with up to 4 complete strangers and it was always a bit of pot-luck as to whether you'd get on... I learnt from those early days that the best way to disarm people was to reach out to their stomach. The whisper of a midnight feast is enough to make any pre-teen grin with delight. I employed a simular tactic when I moved into Halls at university; I propped open my door, and whenever anyone walked past and made eye contact I offered them a gummy sweet... bizarrely that too seemed to work too.
So the time has come to reach out to my new colleagues - and as I feel that this might require more than a bag of Haribo - so I've been busy baking. On Day Two a box of brownies accompanied me on the commute, and we're dutifully wolfed down by my delighted colleagues, and in fact I've had a number of people comment on them subsequently... so in terms of making an impact I appear to have hit my mark. But my new office is a lot bigger than my last workplace, so I decided this weekend that one batch of brownies just wouldn't be enough. And so I've gone for something a little more adventurous.
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| I needed something good enough to follow these fellas... |
I've always tend to make something with chocolate, so I wanted a sweet alternative, and this Butterscotch and Marshmallow slice recipe, inspired from one from the Hummingbird Bakery seemed to tick the box...:
Butterscotch and Marshmallow Slices
You will need:
For the base
150g flour
40g icing sugar
120g unsalted butter, softened
10ml milk (depending how well your pastry combines you may not need this this)
10ml milk (depending how well your pastry combines you may not need this this)
For the topping
100g pink and white mini marshmallows
210g caster sugar
150g brown sugar (I used a mix of dark and light as that's what I had in the cupboard)
210g golden syrup
80g unsalted butter
60ml double cream
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
60g crunchy peanut butter
Pecan nuts (enough for sprinkling) - roughly chopped
- Preheat the oven to 170C; grease and line a 22cm x 31cm baking tray.
- Mix the ingredients for the base until a dough forms. Hubby and I struggled here a little bit, so we added in a very small splash of milk to encourage the pastry dough to bind together. However this did make a very sticky dough, and so we had to roll it rather than press it into the baking tray.
- When you add the pasty to the baking tray make sure that there is a slight lip around the edge (this is to stop all the liquid topping oozing everywhere later) and bake for 20 minutes or until the edges are a light golden brown and the middle is pale but cooked. Keep a close watch, as the base is very thin and can burn really easily.
- Once the base has cooked remove from the oven, and scatter the marshmallows on top - as the base is still warm they'll start to melt almost immediately so make sure you spread them out evenly.
- Place both types of sugar with the golden syrup and 240ml of water and bring to the boil.
- Keep boiling for between 5-10 minutes, or until a small drop of sugar syrup forms a soft "ball" in when dropped in cold water.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the butter.
- Bring the butterscotch back up to the boil and allow to bubble away for approximately 3 minutes.
- Take the pan off the heat and stir in the double cream, vanilla essence and peanut butter. Stir continuously until the peanut butter has melted.
- Pour the mixture on to the base and sprinkle the chopped nuts on top.
- Allow to set at room temperature for a few hours or preferable overnight. To be honest, this is the hardest part of the whole bake... because it just looks and smells divine!
- Slice into bars and serve.
