Cranberry Flapjacks & my first Sweet Leftovers Link Party #1

Well Hellooo,

This week has been full of thriftyness for me...

I hate waste, HATE it!! 

So I've been rummaging through my pantry finding open foods, almost out of date stuff and fruit that is past it's best. All of which have been thrown into my bakes and puds.

It's so much fun finding something random(ish) and old food and trying to incorporate it into my baking, it gets the creative juices flowing. 

Today it's cranberry flapjacks...because I had 1/3 of a pack of dried cranberries left from Christmas.

Ingredients

350g porridge oats (4c) 

80g sugar (1/3c)

250g butter

3 tbsp golden syrup

90g (all I had left) dried cranberries (roughly chopped)

1. Pre-heat oven to 180/GM4/160 fan
2. Line a square 8" pan with parchment paper
3. Melt butter, sugar and syrup until all the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved
4. Take off the heat the throw in the oats and cranberries 
5. Pour into the lined pan and squash it down until nice and packed and level on top
6. Bake for 30min until golden all over

When still warm cut into desired slices...if you want bars you'll easily get 12 if you want square bites you'll get 24. Leave to cool.

Because I'm nosey, I love to see what others are up to, I've decided to do a weekly Link Party so we can all see what others are doing with their leftovers. It'll be every Friday, for five days, that's when the leftovers start to take over the cupboard!!

Rules

1. Create some yummy SWEET treats using leftovers and post it on your blog.
2. Add your creation to my link list. You can use old posts if leftovers were used.
3. Include a link to my blog and this link party in your post.
4. Follow my blog so you'll know when my next link party gets started. Not absolutely necessary!
5. Enjoy looking at all the fab creations from fellow bloggers.

Come join my party!!!

Kat xxx

Chocolate Topped Banana Flapjacks

Yes......another banana recipe!! I DID WARN YOU!! ;-)

I thought I'd do flapjacks today, with a bit of choc for good measure.

I've never been able to get the texture of my flapjacks right, these are no exception. I want to get soft flapjacks that hold their shape. These ones are lovely and soft, but still fall apart! Grrrr 

Maybe I just need to make them thicker?!?! (yes that is a question!) lol

I WROTE THE ABOVE YESTERDAY......IT SEEMS THAT A NIGHT IN THE FRIDGE REALLY HELPS THEM SET UP AND STAY SOFT BUT FIRM!! JOB DONE :-)

Recipe

250g butter

3 tbsp golden syrup

80g sugar

400g oats

2 mashed bananas

Topping

300g Dr. Oetker Scotbloc Chocolate Flavour Cake Covering Milk I only topped one pan, use 600g if you want all your flapjack covered.

1. Preheat over to 180. 
2. Grease and line 2 x 18" square pans (if you want chunkier flapjacks just use one pan)
3. Melt butter, golden syrup and sugar, in a pan, on a low heat until everything has melted and the sugar has dissolved. (scrape the spoon on the bottom of the pan to make sure there's no sugar granules).
4. Take off the heat, add the oats and mix thoroughly.
5. Add the banana's and stir until evenly mixed.
6. Pour the mixture into the pans, flatten down with the back of your spoon and bake for 20-25 mins. Until the edges turn golden. 
7. Leave in pan to cool.
8. Melt Scotbloc in microwave in 30 sec bursts, stirring each time until smooth.
9. When the flapjack has cooled pour the Scotbloc over and leave to set.
10. Once the chocolate is set cut into desired sized pieces.

I got 16 pieces per pan. 

They are very yummy, especially with the chocolate. 

ENJOY

xx Kat xx

p.s The boys loved their Banana Milkshake's yesterday morning!!

Tiffin ~ My Way

I've been trawling my fave blogs for some challenges, I love it when my treats appear on other peoples sites......makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside :-)

One of my favourites is the Alphabakes Challenge hosted each moth by The More Than Occasional Baker & Caroline Makes. This months host is the lovely Ros of The More Than Occasional Baker. The aim of the game is to make something with a name or main ingredient beginning with the letter for the month, the letter is chosen at random. This month the letter T.

I did a tea cupcake last month and couldn't really think of any other ingredients beginning with "T"!!

I blame baby brain for that one!!

Eventually I decided on Tiffin.

Who doesn't like Tiffin.......right?

I've never made Tiffin before, my mum used to make Hollywood cake which is basically the same thing but without bourbons and with cherries and a chocolate layer on top. I liked it but not the cherries or the extra choc on top. So I changed it up a bit....hope you don't mind!!

My Recipe
250g unsalted butter
250g digestive biscuits
100g bourbon biscuits
200g plain chocolate
50g milk chocolate
100g sultanas
2 1/2 tbsp golden syrup

1. In a bowl Crush all the biscuits until you have a sandy texture, you must still have some chunks no bigger than your thumb nail. (I used my rolling pin)
2. In a separate, microwaveable, bowl melt the butter, chocolate and syrup together in 30 second bursts. Mix after each time until you get a lovely smooth chocolate sauce. 
3. Add the sultanas to the biscuits and mix well until evenly distributed.
4. Add the chocolate to the dry mix and stir until everything is covered.
5. Pour/scrape into your LINED tin (I used a square 18 inch tin).
6. Pop in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours to firm up.

You should have seen the chaos as my boys climbed all over each other to get to the bowl and spatula!! I tried some and it's actually ridiculously yummy straight from the bowl!! NOM NOM NOM
When the Tiffin is set use a super sharp knife to cut it into squares (as big or as small as you'd like).

I'm also entering this treat into the Zero Baking Required challenge hosted by Maison Cupcake in which all us bloggers have to make something yummy that cannot see the inside of an oven. This is a great challenge for me as I am moving soon and want to use Mr Oven as little as possible. Needs a darn good clean TBH!!

This is a recipe you just HAVE to try, I guarantee you'll like it as much as I do!!! My hubby and kids barely got a look in!! :-)

ENJOY

xx Kat xx