In my house we call this “wellington square” but a quick search reveals we are the only ones to do this and so it will not generate the required google hits.
Anyway!
Heat oven to 160C (fan). Grease a 30cm x 20cm tin.
Layer 1 : Shortbread
225g butter
140g dry roast peanuts
250g plain flour
25g cornflour
85g golden caster sugar
Mix this lot in a food processor. When it clumps, take it out and knead it a bit to bring it together. There should still be lumpy peanuts, it’s part of the charm. Press into tin and bake for 25 minutes. Then you can turn the oven off. Chill*.
Layer 2 : Peanut butter
140g butter
225g peanut butter (smooth is best)
140g icing sugar
Melt the butters together in a pan and then pour it onto the sugar. Combine and smooth over the shortbread layer. Chill until set (2 hours ish).
Layer 3 : Caramel
200g butter
397g tin condensed milk
4 tbsp golden syrup
1/2 tsp salt
(That’s half a teaspoon, not one or two teaspoons! But tastes differ, especially for salted caramel.)
Put this lot in a saucepan and boil quite vigorously. Seriously, don’t be shy. It should go a bit darker and thicken up. But really it’s impossible to describe when it’s done. Just try it and go for it. Leave it to cool slightly (10 mins) and then pour and smooth over the peanut butter. Chill (2 hours again).
Layer 4 : Chocolate toffee
300g dark chocolate
140g toffees
3 tbsp milk
Melt the toffees and the milk in a saucepan. Surprisingly, this won’t ruin your pan. When they’re done, take off the heat and melt the chocolate in a separate pan.
Pour the melted chocolate over the caramel layer of your tray bake. Then pipe squiggles of the slightly cooled toffee mixture to decorate.
Now – try and slice it (9 massive pieces to 24 small pieces) without knackering the chocolate.
* Both you and the mixture should learn how to chill; there is a lot of waiting in this recipe.
The Hoblog 