Classic Kiwi Caramel Slice
from Emily (who loves food)
I love caramel slice. Love it.
Quintessentially New Zealand, you’ll find this little beauty in every cafe and food cabinet in the country. Buttery base, a layer of rich gooey caramel topped off with dark chocolate. I’ve jazzed this one up a bit with a slightly chewy coconut base, which really takes the whole thing to another level without being too fancy.
I was craving caramel. Really craving it. Unfortunately though, there weren’t really the ingredients for blondies in the house, and I didn’t want to settle for caramel sauce. So I settled on this little number – and it ticked all the boxes. Sweet, sticky, chewy and very caramelly, this slice has the ultimate proportion of base to caramel to chocolate. There’s not so much caramel that your feel sick after the second bite, but not so little as to feel short changed. Absolutely perfect.
What’s more, this totally impressive slice actually has very little hands-on time, only has seven ingredients in total and is not very hard to make at all.
There you go.
No excuse not to try it!
Classic Kiwi Caramel Slice - Makes 20-25 squares
Prep time: 15mins Cook time: 15mins for the base + cooling time
- 1 cup self raising flour
- 1 cup dessicated coconut
- 1/2 cup caster (superfine) sugar
- 125g unsalted butter, melted
- 400g (14 oz) tin sweetened condensed milk
- 20g butter
- 2 tbs golden syrup
- 150g dark (bittersweet) chocolate, chopped
Preheat the oven to 180C and line a 18 x 28cm slice tray with baking paper.
Sift the flour into a bowl, then mix in the coconut and sugar. Add the melted butter, and mix until well combined and there’s no pockets of flour. Press into the prepared tray, smoothing the surface to create an even base.
Bake for 12-15mins, until golden, then remove from the oven and allow to cool.
Once cooled, make the caramel filling by combining the condensed milk, 20g of butter and golden syrup in a small saucepan over low-medium heat. Slowly bring to the boil, stirring continuously. Keep it at a gentle boil, still stirring for 4-5 minutes until it caramelizes slightly. You want it thick, smelling delicious and ever-so-slightly golden.
Working quickly, remove the caramel from the heat and pour evenly over the prepared base, smoothing the top. It will set quite quickly, so you don’t want to mess around. You can leave it on the bench, or pop if in the fridge to cool and set completely.
Finally, in a double boiler (set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water) melt the dark chocolate pieces, stirring until smooth. Spread the chocolate over the caramel, and refrigerate for a further 20mins until set.
Cut into pieces using a hot knife.
Sadly my family dislikes coconut, would the base still be okay if I exclude the coconut? And replace the golden syrup with honey? (seeing how I don’t have it at home atm..) Looks amazing btw!
If you’re not coconut fans, I would totally go for a traditional shortbread base, or for an easier alternative a crumb base (with 140g of crumbled malt biscuits + 90g of butter baked for 12-14mins).
This particular recipe needs the coconut to balance out the proportions, and while you probably could leave it out by adding more flour, it would probably be a bit flavorless.
Also, sub maple syrup for golden syrup, if you have some. (:
Sweet can’t wait to try it out! Thank you!
I like the idea of coconut in a caramel slice. They are usually too sweet for me…but this one just might do the trick!
This one is still fairly sweet (such is the nature of the beast) but honestly, it’s fantastically delicious. The coconut adds another dimension of flavour too, so it’s not just BOOMsugar.
sounds yummy! i’ve never heard of it before.
Really? It’s a fantastic combo, really – you wont find a cafe without it in the southern hemisphere!
Absolutely DELICIOUS. Love the fact it only has 7 ingredients and is quick and easy. Anything that can satisfy the 8 children deserves ‘kudos’