Chocolate Weet Bix Slice!

This chocolate weet bix cereal slice is SO deliciously simple. I'm not even someone that enjoys eating Weet bix but I absolutely love this slice! All you need are 3 Weet bix (or the crumbs at the bottom of a packet) plus a few other simple ingredients and I promise that you'll swoon over this simple chocolate slice with a layer of chocolate on top. This is an egg free slice that keeps at room temperature for up to a week. This is a pushy, classic recipe Dear Reader.

I absolutely love Australian slices. They're tried and tested and always work out well but are also simple and last for ages. More often than not there's no need to refrigerate them, they just sit on the counter thriving and being their best thing until they're happily devoured. And Weet bix slice is a non-problematic, low drama queen or king of slices. This is delicious, chocolatey rice but also has a lovely crunch from the weet bix in it.

If you're in the US or outside of Australia, New Zealand or South Africa, Weet bix can be found on amazon and in the international aisles of some larger supermarkets. In the UK there is weetabix which is similar to weet bix but not identical although they were both developed by the same person. Weetbix was actually invented by Bennison Osborne in Sydney in the 1920s who created it to be a better tasting version of a Sanitarium product called Granose. It was so successful that he sold the rights to it to Sanitarium in 1928. I think you could probably do a delicious slice with cornflakes if it is all too much and you find it too hard to procure weet bix. Because of course the whole point of this is that it is easy.

I bought some Weet bix for this marshmallow weet bix slice and then forgot about it. Then I worried that it wouldn't be crunchy enough as it was a few months old although I kept it in an airtight container. But it still ended up crunchy and I used a lot of the crumbs at the bottom. My secret weapon for this slice is of course browned butter. I promise this little step (which isn't an extra step really, just a few extra minutes of melting time), will transform your regular weet bix slice to amazing. Some chocolate weet bix slices have eggs in them, some have a few more ingredients and while I've tried them and they're ok, I absolutely LOVE this one the best and you don't even need any eggs for it.

I brought this chocolate weet bix slice to this past weekend's Mother's Day celebration along with a Persian love cake, a marble cake, gimbap and Quiche Lorraine (I'm entering myself in over-caterers anonymous). It wasn't even at our house and I insisted on bringing so much but I'm worried about not having enough food I want to eat. Although I adore my in laws, food isn't a huge priority. There tends to be lots of raw vegetables and hummus and a pasta salad but I need to have something else. That morning there was an alert sent on the family email checking that there would be someone with hummus. Hummus to Elliotts is like New York for Sex and the City, it plays a big part.

Tuulikki showed us some gorgeous paintings that she had done of Teddy and Milo. She was unsure about showing them to us in case we didn't like it but I absolutely loved them Milo and Teddy were wearing Renaissance clothing and were standing up. I'm not sure what inspired it but it was quirky AF and I loved it. The less the art work makes sense, the more I seem to like it. My favourite painting of my father's is one of Marilyn Monroe in outer space. That is my prized possession. I couldn't wait for her to deliver the paintings to us.

Then we took a group picture. Tuulikki has been chastised many times in the past for sneaking photos, usually highly unflattering ones of people eating or not being aware that she's snapping away. She's like a papparazzo with a wallet case iphone. Even Amaya, Mr NQN's quietest sister had to remind her to stop doing it. So now we take a nice group picture and everyone is ready for it.

Have you ever noticed that when people take a group pic and they check it, they only look at themselves? It's a thing and you don't have to be a rampant narcissist to do it, it's just human nature. Well the pic according to everyone was great but when I had a look at it, I was shocked. I had bought a new highlighter cream and the camera had picked it up so that my face had patches! So it was a hard no for the group pic but an enthusiastic yes for the new paintings.

So tell me Dear Reader, when you check a group pic do you only check yourself? Have you ever tried chocolate weet bix slice?

Chocolate Weet Bix Slice

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

• 160g/5.6ozs browned butter (use 200g/8ozs of butter)
• 150g/5ozs plain all purpose flour
• 110g/3.9ozs brown sugar
• 1cup/85g/3ozs desiccated coconut
• 3 whole/50g/1.7ozs Weet bix, crumbled finely
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted
• Pinch salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

For Chocolate Topping

• 100g/3.5ozs dark chocolate
• 100g/3.5ozs milk chocolate
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 2 tablespoons desiccated coconut

Step 1 - Preheat oven to 170C/340F fan forced. Grease and line a square tin measuring 20x20cm or 8x8inches. Make sure that the parchment has a bit of overhang to help you lift up the slice.

Step 2 - Make the browned butter by placing it in a saucepan on medium to high heat. Let it melt completely and then start to bubble. When you get a little patch of brown in the foam and it smells fragrant and nutty, remove it from heat. You should have 150g or 5ozs of browned butter from the original weight.

Step 3 - In a bowl whisk the flour, brown sugar, coconut, Weet bix, cocoa powder and salt until well distributed. Then add the vanilla and browned butter and stir together and mix to form a damp mixture. Spread out in the tin and smooth over the top. Bake for 15 minutes. Take out of the oven and cool in the tin.

Step 4 - Melt the two chocolates together in a microwave or double boiler. Add the coconut oil and stir well so that there are no streaks. Pour over the slice and then allow to set. Don't add the coconut straight away or it will all sink into the chocolate. Wait about 15 minutes before adding it. Cut into slices and serve.

Notes: This slice will keep in an airtight container for up to 1 week at room temperature (or fridge if you prefer). This slice is also suitable to freeze for up to 3 months.