As the festive season looms ever larger we’re all going to need to keep our energy up to carry us through the upcoming glut of mulled wine, Christmas parties and anger-inducing gift buying.

I came across this recipe recently when I was looking for a more traditional traybake to attempt and it is very simple to throw together.  You also only need one bowl, one pot and one baking tray to whip it up from start to finish so no mountain of dishes to tackle when you’re done.  Hallelujah!

First things first: grease and line a 21cm x 32cm baking tin and pop your oven on to 180°C / Gas Mark 4 / 360° Fahrenheit.

Next put the following ingredients into a bowl:

160g butter

175g plain or spelt flour if you prefer

3 eggs

1tsp baking powder

1tsp vanilla essence

1 tin (397g) sweetened condensed milk

Mix the ingredients together until your mixture has a smooth consistency.  I just used a metal spoon and it was easy to do so don’t worry if you don’t have an electric whisk or mixer.

Then just pour it into your pre-lined tray and spread evenly with a spatula.  Bake for 20-25mins until it is firm to touch.  Mine still had a relatively spongey texture.  This is fine!

Once your base has baked remove it from the tin and allow to cool on a wire rack.  Once it’s almost cooled you can gently peel off the greaseproof paper.

While that’s cooling you can start on your caramel fudge topping:

Melt 60g unsalted butter in a pan.  Once melted add 110g brown sugar and 2tbsp milk.  Bring to the boil.  As soon as it begins to boil turn the heat down to a simmer for two mins.

Remove from the heat and weigh out 80g icing sugar.  Once the mixture in the pot has cooled slightly sieve the icing sugar into the pot and stir up.

Then you  want to pour this fudgy glaze over your base evenly before scattering over chopped hazelnuts – add as many or as few as you prefer.  Leave it a few minutes before chopping into squares and serving with a nice hot cup of tea.  While you’re enjoying the fruits of your labour why not enter yesterdays Blogmás giveaway!

See you next time,

L X