Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

Here’s a super easy treat to make and bake: Butterscotch Bars.

I first posted my version of this Mrs Field’s recipe in 2009 and it’s still one of the simplest (and most calorific) recipes on my blog. Bake it no more than two or three times a year or your jeans won’t fit – you have been warned! But it’s also the perfect recipe to use up any chocolate you might have lying around – one year I used solid milk Easter eggs and broken up supermarket chocolate bars. My most recent bake used five types of Belgian chocolate – Callebaut 811 Dark, 823 Milk, Baking Sticks, Ruby Chocolate and Cacao Barry Venezuela Origin 72% Dark. Yup, five types. I made a double batch for Easter, which was actually a bit crazy because it used nearly half a kilo of butter and brown sugar and 720g of chocolate. It weighed a ton!

Here are the quantities for a more manageable amount, but feel free to double it if you wish. There are more detailed instructions with imperial measures and photos in our original post.

• 300g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp bicarb (baking) soda, sifted (don’t not sift, or you’ll get bitter lumps in your bars)
• 215g brown sugar
• 250g unsalted butter, softened
• Pinch of salt
• 1 large egg
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 360g mixed choc chips (or broken up bars, or solid baby eggs etc)

1. Preheat the oven to 150C with fan. Line a 20cm (8”) square tin (my photos are of a double batch, baked in a 23cm x 33cm pan).

2. In a bowl, sift the flour and bicarb together, add the pinch of salt, then stir well. Then add ALL the chocolate. Stir to combine.

3. Beat the softened butter and sugar using an electric mixer, then add the egg and vanilla, beat until light and smooth. Scrape down the bowl, add all the dry ingredients, beat on low speed until just combined. That’s it. Simple, right?

4. Scoop and scrape it all into the prepared tin and flatten the top. The dough will be very stiff. Sometimes (often) I use a wet hand to work it all into the corners, then flatten out the top with an offset spatula.

5. Bake for 35-45 minutes until firm and a thin sharp knife inserted into the centre comes out clean of cake mixture (ignore the melted chocolate). Don’t overbake. Cool in the tin on a rack before cutting.

Eat in very small pieces and share with as many people as possible!