Licorice Allsort Slice

Regardless of age, candies such as  jelly beans, jelly babies and licorice  are hard to pass up. I love their sweetness, chewiness and of course, their vibrant colours that never fail to cheer me up whenever I am blue. 

I was craving for an ego boost in the baking department after flopping a tray of sponge cupcakes which I was experimenting, and  guess what? It just so happens to be my other half’s birthday cupcakes. Yeah, this is just great!

What about never try a new recipe for a special/important occassion? Yes, it’s my fault and I have no one to blame but myself. Being my stubborn self as usual, I have to learn things the hard way.

Needing to salvage both my baking self-esteem as well as the birthday cake, I’m in need for something fail safe and appealing at the same time.  No bake goods sounds like what I needed after the cupcake disaster (all my sponge cupcakes refused to come out from their holes, aargghh!) and the timing couldn’t be more perfect to bake  make this licorice slice.

If you don’t fancy licorice,  there’s no reason you can’t substitute licorice with your favourite candy. But a word of warning, this can be highly addictive and need to eat sparingly especially for children. You wouldn’t want tooth fairy to go broke, would you?

{As I was making this, I thought this would make a fun cooking project for kids too, no?}

Licorice Allsort Slice

(adapted from The Australian Women’s Weekly – Macaroons & Biscuits)

Makes about 15

Ingredients:

245g plain sweet biscuits

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

90g chopped unsalted butter

155g  licorice allsorts, coarsely chopped

250g milk eating chocolate, coarsely chopped

2 tsps vegetable oil

Method:

1. Grease 20cm X 30cm (8 inch x 12 inch) rectangular pan; line base and long sides with baking paper, extending paper 5 cm (2cm) over sides.

2. Process 185g plain sweet biscuits until fine and chopped  the remaining biscuits coarsely. (Emily’s note: Alternatively,  you can fill a large zip lock  bag with all the biscuits and use a rolling pin to bash them into rubble.)

3. Combine condensed milk and butter in small saucepan; stir over medium heat until smooth. (Emily’s note: Or you can place them in a microwave for about 1 minute – may vary with different microwaves).

4.  Combine the biscuit rubble and chopped licorice allsorts in medium bowl. Stir in condensed milk mixture.

5. Press mixture firmly into pan. Refrigerate 30 minutes or until firm.

6. In the meantime, combine chocolate and vegetable oil in small heatproof bowl, stir over saucepan of simmering water until smooth.

7. Spread chocolate mixture over slice. Refrigerate 30 minutes or until firm.

8. Cut into squares.

I’ve used a smaller pan than what was specified and therefore my chocolate layer seems a little too thick. If you’ve left the slice in the fridge overnight like me (plus you also end up with a thick chocolate layer like me as well), do let the slice sit at room temperature for about 20 to 30 minutes (based on my current climate – it’s winter going to spring now) or until the chocolate layer softens a little to ease the process of cutting. Otherwise, you’ll end up looking like my slices – jagged areas around the edges of the chocolate layer.