The Fabulous Bakers Review

We were recently offered some of the new natural range from The Fabulous Bakers, I was looking forward to receiving these, as I knew they would make a fun addition to lunch boxes and a great mid morning snack.

From the fabulous mango and pineapple bars, to the more traditional golden oat flapjacks there is something in the range to suit all tastes.

My son definitely preferred the chip off the old choc flapjacks but I think that may be to do with the fact it has chocolate in, a close second were the raspberry and white chocolatey popcorn bars, although my husband did mention the popcorn tasted a little strange as it was soft.

After checking they were nut free, which they all were, expect the bars of berry good things. I popped one in my sons packed lunch. I love oats as they are a great slow release energy which means they are perfect for the afternoon.

The fruity ones, although they still got eaten were probably not as much liked, possibly they'd suit older children or adults. The bars are packed with honey rather than sugars and sweeteners which are a big no-no in this house, so these bars are something I don't mind the children having as a snack.

For my tastes, they are a little too sweet, although I did like the berry bar so maybe it is a good job the children didn't enjoy them as much.

The packs of four bars are priced at £1.50 and are currently available from Asda, they are a little more than I would normally pay for something like this, however for snacks I can just keep in the  cupboard and that the children will eat and are not full of rubbish, it's a price i'd be willing to pay. The children have been asking to find them when we've in the shop so I don't think this will be the last time we have them.

NB: We were sent these bars for review, all opinions are my own.

Naniamo Bars - Tried and Tested

I was recently approached by the people at Baking Mad to see if I’d be interested in trying one of their recipes in return for some baking goodies, not one to turn anything baking related away and loving a challenge I agreed.

I had a look through their massive collection of recipes, including cake recipes, traybakes, and sweets and chose something I had seen before but never tried.

The recipe sounded yummy and not too simple, meaning I could challenge my baking skills.

You can find the instructions over on the Baking Mad website but here is my take on the ingredients, as a few of my family don’t like walnuts, it still worked well though.

Ingredients:

For the Base
75g Unsalted Butter 
100g Dark chocolate 
75g Digestive biscuits finely crushed 
75g Dessicated Coconut 
75g Flaked Almonds

For the Filling
1 Egg yolk
1tbsp Whole Milk 
1tsp Custard powder 
100g Unsalted Butter
Vanilla extract a few drops (I use Nielsen-Massey) 
150g Icing sugar (I use Silver Spoon) 

For the Topping

125g Dark chocolate

There is a really useful Enter Bake Mode on the Baking Mad website, which allows you to view the instructions whilst displaying the ingredients needed for that step.

Melting the butter and whizzing up the digestive biscuits...

Making the base...

Making the filling...

Adding the top...

Naniamo Bars are a Canadian treat and well quite frankly a resounding success, we all enjoyed it and anyone who saw them wanted to know what the recipe was. The perfect treat to have with a nice cup of tea.

 NB: I was sent some baking goodies by Baking Mad, the rest of the ingredients were paid for by myself and I have received no other compensation for doing this..