Sunday 26 February 2012

WW Chocolate energy slice, rain and Ripponlea

After making chocolate almond rice bubble slice recently, I was quite interested in more ideas for using nut butter.  This energy bites recipe was chosen by E because he preferred a slice to balls.  It appealed to me because when I made it last week it was so hot that I didn't fancy turning on the oven.  And I love how these slices allow a clear out of the pantry.

In fact it was so hot last week that we ate dinner outside - though that was partly because Sylvia wouldn't come inside.  Then on the night I made this slice it was so wet that both E and took twice as long as usual to get home because Melbourne went into traffic chaos.  Melbourne's weather is like that at the moment.  Either too hot or too cold and wet.

The slice also gave me an opportunity to use up some chocolate icing in the freezer.  The recipe says that it is fine without the chocolate icing but it was the Pinterest photo with the chocolate on top that first drew me in.  At first I was dubious about the slice.  I wasn't sure of the amount of ground linseeds.  Then I decided I really liked them.  But I loved the slice so much more once I put a layer of chocolate icing on top.  So did E.  Every time I gave a piece to Sylvia she licked the chocolate off the top and told me it was like a icy pole.

We still had the slice last weekend when we went to Ripponlea last weekend with friends Chris, Yav and Florence.  I wanted to take a piece of slice along but didn't think it quite right.  It was great morning tea snacks at work.  The icing went so soft that it was quite messy.  That's fine for me.  I didn't think I could bear to have Sylvia taking an hour to eat a piece and ending up with chocolate icing everywhere. 

Instead we had a wee piece after lunch and took oat crackers, roasted chickpeas and grapes to snack on in the gardens. We decided not to do a tour of the grand house.  There wasn't time once we had picnicked on a rug and wandered around the gardens with the kids.  I did enjoy tryout out the telephoto lens that I had purchased with my camera.  It still feels a bit awkward but I don't often have the opportunity to use it.

Our visit was timely.  Ripponlea features in a new detective series based in Melbourne that started on the ABC last week: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries.  We caught up on the first episode last night and really enjoyed the stylish production and feisty heroine.

I am sending this slice to Ricki for her Wellness Weekends (without the chocolate topping for a vegan, sugar free and gluten free slice if you use vegan choc chips and GF oats).

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
This time last year: Chocolate cashew fudge and nut roast love!
This time two years ago: Serendipitous Plum Jam
This time three years ago: Frozen Fruity Fun with Icy Poles
This time four years ago: WBB Microwave Muesli

Linseed, cashew and fruit slice:
Adapted from Mia's Domain

1/2 cup rice malt syrup (I used a little golden syrup to top up when I ran out)
1 cup cashew butter
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup ground linseeds (flax seeds)
2 tbsp whole linseeds
1/2 cup raw wheat germ
1/2 cup raw hazelnuts, chopped
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup prunes, chopped

Chocolate ganache (optional)
The recipe used half cup each of dark chocolate and cream but I used this dark chocolate frosting.

Mix all ingredients in a mixing bowl until well combined.  I found it hard going stirring it all together but with a bit of elbow grease it comes together.  Spread into a lined or greased 20cm square cake tin and press down with the back of a spoon.  Leave in fridge to firm up.  If desired, spread with ganache or chocolate frosting and return to fridge.  Slice up int squares to serve.  This slice is best kept in the fridge because once out of the fridge it gets quite soft (especially the chocolate frosting). 

On the stereo:
Authentic Hawaiian Favorites: Arthur Lyman

21 comments:

  1. As usual, I love to hear about the weather in Melbourne. In Quebec, it's cold and wet right now. We definitely do not feel disinclined to turn on the oven.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Cooksploratrice - oven friendly weather can be lovely if you have bread rising and soup simmering :-)

      Delete
  2. Love the look of your slice. I'm really craving a slice like that right now, and the chocolate-y layer on top looks perfect.

    I know what you mean about variable weather being annoying, but in all honesty I'd love some clear skies now, it has been pretty relentlessly grey here for what seems like weeks now!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks C - consistent grey weather is not good for the soul - wish I could send you some blue skies and a piece of slice :-)

      Delete
  3. Sorry about the extremes in weather, but sounds like you had a winner with the slice! And chocolate frosting would make anything taste better, I reckon. I'm amazed that this can sound so decadent and be full of real ingredienets at the same time! Thanks for submitting to Wellness Weekend this week. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Ricki - chocolate frosting does make anything taste better - this one is not particuarly healthy but I think you could probably do a more healthy chocolate frosting (such as your sweet potato and cashew one) to go one top

      Delete
  4. Replies
    1. thanks Lisa - it was indeed - and surprisingly so because it looked as though our picnic might be rained out in the morning

      Delete
  5. Gosh, this slice looks amazing. The pictures were making me hungry (I love the telephoto one btw) and now the ingredient list has me very impressed. It sounds like this would help soothe the irritations of hot and cold weather, so perfect all around for you really :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Kari - I agree that the ingredients list was impressive - chocolate and healthy ingredients is a favourite combination at the moment

      Delete
  6. Now this is my kind of recipe! Did you use brown or golden flax/linseeds for this? I've found that I love golden flax but find the brown one unpleasantly bitter. Mmm, almond butter!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Hannah - I confess I don't know my golden from my brown but I suspect it is brown - must check out some golden linseeds when I run out of this lot - and I think almond butter would be lovely but I used cashew butter (because I found myself with two jars of it)

      Delete
  7. I love that this slice uses 1/2 cup wheat germ and is full of so many good things! By the way I made that chocolate peanut butter rice bubble square from OSG after being reminded of it again on your blog. And I hate almost the whole thing myself this past weekend haha, too delicious.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Ashley - I really needed to use up some of my wheatgerm so this appealed! Glad you enjoyed the rice bubble squares - so so good that I quite understand you not wanting to share

      Delete
  8. This sounds great! I see so many sweet recipes that use peanut butter (which I don't like) and not that many using other nut butters. I love the gardens at Ripponlea too!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Mel - I love peanut butter but prefer other nut butters in this sort of slice. Re the gardens at ripponlea - we went last year and the water was covered with green (algae?) but was much clearer on our recent visit - so glad as the gardens are fun to wander around

      Delete
  9. Looks wonderful, Johanna! Ooooooohhhhhh, I miss garden times! Can't wait for spring! :D

    ReplyDelete
  10. I am liking the sound of this slice Johanna. Must give it a go and see if Cooper likes it.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I too like the sound of this slice, and that first photo has me positively salivating!

    ReplyDelete
  12. This looks soooooooooo good. And you're right about the chocolate icing - I might not have taken much notice without it.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Oh yum, sounds fantastic. We often grind up linseeds to go in our porridge, but it does give it a rather odd taste. Haven't had cashew butter for ages and I love it. That's a great photo of Sylvia and the garden - is that your new telephoto lense?

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for dropping by. I love hearing from you. Please share your thoughts and questions. Annoyingly the spammers are bombarding me so I have turned on the pesky captcha code (refresh to find an easy one if you don't like the first one)