Pecan Chocjack
Ingredients: 500g porridge oats, 250g Stork (plus extra for
greasing), 250g brown sugar, 5 tablespoons golden syrup, 300g chocolate, and
150g pecan nuts.
Time taken: 40 minutes-ish. Then an hour break. Then a half
hour more in the kitchen.
Hello ladies and gentlemen,
I write to you, ensconced in a
duvet, on a cloudy Sunday afternoon in autumn. It’s been my first week at work
this week, starting my first adult job, in a proper office wearing real
business clothes. I’ve been getting to know my colleagues and learning basic
tasks to help them out. It’s been a big week for me! A big week indeed. I have
a desk, I have clients asking for me on the phone, I have a target number of
phone calls to make each day. I can name about half of my colleagues in the
office, and I think most of them remember my name, too.
So that’s it. I have to hang on
another 4 weeks til I’m paid, but my name’s been added to the clock-in sheet
and I’ve been given an extension number on the phone line. I’m deffo there to
stay. And it feels like a big step towards adulthood! Getting on the morning
bus with other commuters every day, and then pouring a well-earned glass of
wine on a Friday evening. This is the
real deal.
And I have my weekends back! After
3 years of uni deadlines, which don’t clock out on a Friday and leave you in
peace. No no. Instead, they haunt you anytime you dare dream of a Saturday
morning lie in, or (heaven forbid!) pouring an evening bath on a Sunday. These have
been such guilty pleasures for years for me now. But, as of this weekend… they
aren’t.
This weekend, I had my Sheff BFFs
over for cake and a catch up, and we talked so long we even had a second round
of hot drinks! I bought a weekend newspaper and read it cover to cover. Caught
up with my little brother and heard all about his teen adventures. Watched the
dancers on Strictly. Today, I accompanied my dad around the supermarket, buying
anything on offer. Now, here I sit. Working my way through the Vicar of Dibley
box set on TV. Totally content!
I tell you readers, for now at
least, this is the life for me. I can go on Facebook. There, one of the
geography girls from uni has got engaged this weekend. And one of the
girls from my secondary school, she’s given birth to the sweetest little baby
boy I may ever have seen. And then I can log off. Pour a bath. Do whatever I
feel like doing.
My life may not be the most
thrilling in the world right now, I may not be travelling the world or becoming
a mother, I’m not running for the London Tube or admiring a big ring on my
finger. And how exciting for those girls who are! But I’m happy right now to be
joining the world of work in Sheffield and chilling on the weekends. Happy
indeed.
Are YOU readers? Are you happy
this week? What is it that’s made you happy this week? Maybe the weather? … the
Bake Off on TV? … or a gift? … a holiday? … maybe friends and family? … the start of something
new? … something great?? I hope that you have been happy this week. Very happy.
And that, maaaybe, you’ve spread
that happiness, too?? You could have bought someone a drink or a present! Told
them they look beautiful. You could have done all the chores or done nothing at
all! Just spent time with someone instead. Brightened their day. Have you been
spreading happiness, readers?? I hope you have and that there are a lot of
happy people out there right now. Sort of thanks to you.
On Thursday, readers, I made the
call that I needed to spread some happiness. And sooo… I got my bake on!! Piled
in from work in the evening and turned on the oven, with my mind set on baking
some flapjack. It was on. I thought a big batch of flapjack was just what the
folk at work needed to see them through Friday in the office. My mission was
clear.
Why flapjack? Well, readers, it’s
quite a short and straightforward recipe. And there’s nothing too offensive
about flapjack, is there?? I think most people quite like it. Everyone knows
what it is. Flapjack goes quite well alongside a mugful of tea or coffee. It’s
not too messy to eat in an office. Plus, it’s not too prone to going terribly
wrong in the oven. Perfecto!
So, readers, I had quite a cosy evening
in on Thursday. I baked flapjack and had my tea while it cooled. Then decorated
the flapjack and watched ‘Love and Other Drugs’ with a hot water bottle. Woke
up in the morning to glorious sunshine, and spent my day at work getting big
thank yous for my flapjack from everyone! It was a total hit! Not to
brag, but I snaffled a square and it did taste quite delicious. And lots of
people in the office thought so. They became a very cheerful bunch with Tupperware
of flapjack in their midst. Very cheerful indeed.
So, this week readers, my message
to you is to brighten someone’s day! Whether it’s by following this recipe and
surprising everyone in your office, with a tasty sweet treat for them! Or
whether it’s in an entirely different way. Use your imagination and spread some
happiness. You’ll feel great about it.
So. Want to follow my lead, readers, and bake up a storrrrrm
of happiness? Here’s how to bake a big batch of Pecan Chocjack in just ten easy
steps…
1. Heat your over to 180˚C. Prep your chocolate by breaking
it up into squares in a bowl. Prep your nuts by, first, setting your 18 best
looking ones aside. Use your own good judgement here. Then, take the remaining
lot and use your fingers to break them up into little nut pieces.
2. Measure your porridge oats, Stork, brown sugar and golden
syrup all into a mixing bowl. Take a wooden spoon and get mixing! Stir like
your life depends on it. There’s a lot of ingredients in that bowl and you want
them all mixed together.
ChefBeHere Top Tip: 100% break that marg up before you put
it in the bowl. Add half a knob all in one go and you’ll spend the best part of
an hour trying to mix it in! Not the finest use of your time. And by then you’ll
have overmixed everything else to a pulp. So chop up your marg pre-mixing bowl.
3. Grease a big baking dish quite generously with marg. Be
sure, if your dish is rectangular like mine, that you get the marg right into
the corners. This can be a real sticking zone for your flapjack.
4. Spoon all your mix into the baking dish and then use your
wooden spoon to spread it around into the corners. Then, when your mix is
evenly spread, sprinkle your broken-up pecan nuts over the top. Use your wooden
spoon to tap everything down til it’s tightly packed.
5. Next, take some kind of implement like a knife or a
spatula. Use this, with care, to divide your flapjack up into 18 squares. Then
bung it in the oven!
ChefBeHere Top Tip: For reasons that will soon become apparent,
time this so that your flapjack goes in the oven about 20 minutes before a show
is about to start on TV. 20 minutes before.
6. Bake your flapjack in the oven for around 20 minutes,
until it’s beginning to turn golden on top. Meanwhile, you can get your washing
up done and wipe some oats off the ceiling. Then, carefully, pop your flapjack
out of the oven onto the side and turn your oven off. Leave it to cool in its
tin and get settled in front of the TV!
ChefBeHere Top Tip: Do not fear if your flapjack doesn’t
seem to have set. It shouldn’t feel firm when it comes out of the oven. In
fact, it will probably still be quite squishy to feel. This is because flapjack
sets as it cools and the syrup goes hard. So, if your flapjack’s got a bit of
movement in it when you take it out of the oven, that’s not a worry. It will
firm up with time.
7. Return to the kitchen at least an hour after you took
your flapjack out of the oven, by which time your flapjack should have cooled
and set. There’s no upper limit to how long you can leave the flapjack cooling.
Take your time.
8. When you’re back
in the kitchen, use your knife or spatula to go around the edge of the flapjack
and try to prise it away from its tin. Also, go over the cuts dividing up the
flapjack to separate it back into 18 squares. Get the squares out of the tin
onto a cooling rack or, if you don’t have one, just pop them on some kitchen
roll.
ChefBeHere Top Tip: I realise that this step of the recipe
is easier said than done. Your aim, obviously, is to lose as little flapjack as
is possible along the way. I advise using a spatula to scrape the flapjack out of
the tin one square at a time. Go slowly and with a steady hand. If your
flapjack breaks up, try to squish it back together again.
9. Next, melt your chocolate, either in the microwave (heat
for 30 secs at a time and stir in between heating until it’s smooth – be careful
not to burn!) or melt it on the hob instead. If you’re using the hob, just boil
some water in the kettle and pour it into a pan over a high heat. Sit your
bowlful of chocolate over the pan and your chocolate should soon start to melt
in the bowl. Keep giving it a stir until it’s smooth.
10. And the final step of the recipe is your flapjack decoration!
Simply pour a teaspoonful of melted chocolate over each flapjack square, and
spread it about so that most of the square is covered. Then pop one of your
pretty pecans on top, to finish it off nicely. When all your flapjack squares
have been decorated (and you yourself are entirely coated in chocolate) you can
call it a day. Leave the squares to cool for a few hours until the chocolate is
set, before you move them into Tupperware.
ChefBeHere Top Tip: I left mine overnight and think this is
probably for the best. The chocolate had set for sure by morning.
There you have it…
...my batch of Pecan Chocjack!
And that’s all there is to it. This is quite a straightforward
recipe, readers, and quite a fun one, too! You can change this recipe up any
way you like. Dark or white chocolate, instead of milk? Hazelnuts or Brazils,
instead of pecans? Or just throw those nuts out the window if you aren’t keen,
and usher in some dried fruit or chocolates instead?? Do what you like!
Go crazy, readers. Go forth and bake flapjack. And spread
happiness! Love comes back.
Be happy readers,
Hayley
