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Crunch & Crumble Bars

It’s definitely Fall here in New England. The leaves are turning a beautiful range of autumnal colors, we’ve continued our family tradition of going apple picking at a local orchard and we’ve been baking appropriate treats like these Crunch & Crumble Bars.

A rich, buttery shortbread base, topped with your choice of jam and then sprinkled with a nutty, crunchy, crumble topping.

I used jam for my fruity layer but you could just as easily stew some apples or other seasonal fruit and use that instead. Apple Crumble Bars would be delicious, especially with all the freshly picked apples that are available at this time of year.

These got a big thumbs up when I brought them into the office but Little Miss Traybakes wasn’t as convinced this time, but that’s mostly to do with her dislike of any nuts that aren’t peanuts, so don’t rely on her opinion for this one!

Ingredients

Base

4oz/110g butter

2oz/55g sugar

1 egg yolk

5oz/150g plain flour (all-purpose flour)

5-6 tbsp jam

Topping

5oz/150g plain flour (all-purpose flour)

½ tsp baking powder

4oz/110g butter

2½oz/70g brown sugar

1½oz/40g chopped nuts (I used pecans)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F and line a 8″/20cm square tin.

2. Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Then gradually add the egg yolk with the flour to make a soft dough.

3. Press into the tin and bake for 15 minutes.

4. Remove from the oven and (very carefully!) spread with the jam while the base is still warm.

5. (You can do this stage while the shortbread base is baking). Rub the butter into the flour and baking powder. Then stir in the sugar and nuts and sprinkle the mixture over the jam.

6. Return to the oven and bake for a further 35 minutes or until golden.

7. Remove from the oven and leave to cool. Cut into slices and enjoy!

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Cherry Cookies

August 16, 2018 / CJ / 0 Comments

Interestingly, I have several variations on this Cherry Cookies recipe in the pages of my retro recipe books, so I thought I’d give it a go as it has two classic traybake ingredients – cherries and cornflakes.

Then, when I got my Cornflakes box out to weigh and crush the flakes, there was a very similar recipe on the back of the box! A little research later and it turns out the original recipe was a winner in the Pillsbury Bake-Off in 1950. This recipe isn’t exactly the same, as the original contained pecans and dates but it’s certainly close.

Chocolate & Apricot Wedges

June 27, 2018 / CJ / 0 Comments

This is about as simple as it gets. Chocolate & Apricot Wedges.

OK, so the wedges are purely an aesthetic thing, you can cut these into any shape you want. And the apricot is purely a suggestion, you can use any dried fruit that you want. But it’s as simple as melting some chocolate and butter, crushing some biscuits and mixing it all together. Then waiting long enough for it to set so you can eat it.

It’s definitely a useful recipe to have for those times you need a quick and easy no-bake traybake.

Traditional Soda Farls

May 16, 2018 / CJ / 2 Comments

It’s been a while since I’ve had a savory recipe on the blog, so I thought it was about time to venture back into the ‘& more’ section of traybakes & more. It’s also been an even longer while since I made these Traditional Soda Farls (which my autocorrect keeps trying to change to farms!) but once I had made them, I was left wondering why I don’t make these more often. Wheaten bread is my usual go-to bake when I need bread in a hurry – and I’ll aim to have my recipe for that on the blog soon – then I made Soda Farls for the first time in ages and realized they are even easier and quicker to make.

Ginger Slice Traybake

May 2, 2018 / CJ / 1 Comment

Ginger has been a popular flavor running through my bakes since I started the blog. And as it’s always proved a winner with Little Miss Traybakes, when I saw this Ginger Slice Traybake recipe, I had to give it a go. For other gingery bakes try Date and Ginger Crunchies, Ginger Shortcake or even Ginger Cake. See, I told you ginger is popular in traybakes (and cake, and cookies…!)

No-Bake Honey Crunch Traybake

April 18, 2018 / CJ / 0 Comments

Another new traybake for me this week. I can’t remember which retro recipe book this No-Bake Honey Crunch Traybake came from as I just made a copy the last time I was back at Mummy Traybakes’ house, but it intrigued me enough to make a note of it and I recently decided to try it out.

And it was a success all round! I offered some to my book club (my other official taste testers) and it proved to be a hit companion to our latest book discussion, as well as getting a thumbs up from Little Miss Traybakes.

Butterscotch Squares Traybake

March 7, 2018 / CJ / 1 Comment

This Butterscotch Squares Traybake recipe is essentially a recipe for Blondies. However, when I was a child, I’m not sure I would have known what a Blondie was, so Butterscotch Squares seems much more descriptive! It’s another easy bake, just some melting and mixing required. And it got a big thumbs up from Little Miss Traybakes. And she’s not even a big fan of nuts in my baking, so that’s got to be a good sign!

No-Bake Chocolate Biscuit Cake Traybake

February 21, 2018 / CJ / 0 Comments

This No-Bake Chocolate Biscuit Cake Traybake goes by many different names, with subtle variations to the recipes. But the basic principle is a chocolatey mix with crushed biscuits and any additions you want. I kept it traditional, for me at least, by adding raisins and glacé cherries, but feel free to take liberties with the recipe and add other dried fruit, or even something like Maltesers!

Brown Sugar Meringues

February 7, 2018 / CJ / 0 Comments

Meringues were a regular feature at my birthday parties when I was growing up (along with Toffee Rice Krispie Squares), although typically made with white sugar instead of these Brown Sugar Meringues. And Mummy Traybakes usually sandwiched them together with whipped cream. Yum!

Nowadays I see these being referred to as Meringue Kisses or Meringue Cookies, but I still just think of them as meringues. Making them with brown sugar, instead of the more traditional white sugar, creates a darker, more treacley flavor, with a hint of caramel, which is just as delicious.

No-Bake Date Rolls

January 24, 2018 / CJ / 0 Comments

It looks a little like Fifteens, before you cut into it anyway. It’s a similar log shape and is coated with coconut, and these No-Bake Date Rolls are just as easy to make, with an equally simple list of ingredients.

These were one of my favorites when I was a child and may explain my continuing love of dates as an adult, and the numerous date traybake recipes I have already made for the blog!

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