This week we have been buzy baking! My youngest son has come home! So needless to say we, sorry correction, I, have been baking! I have had great fun playing around with the good old fashioned Crunchies/Oatmeal biscuit recipe.

On my explorations, (on the internet of course!) I discovered this site of Mary-Anne Boermans, Time to cook on line. She was one of the 12 bakers that got through to the finals of 2011 Great British Bake Off. Mary- Anne has a Coconut Oat Crunchies – Dairy Free, recipe. What pricked my interest was this agave nectar! Now more internet exploring. I go on to Wikipedia to find out what this agave nectar is? To my amazement I read the following sentence, “Most agave nectar comes from Mexico and South Africa.” What South Africa?! I have lived here all my life and have never heard of this agave!

Agave nectar is made from the tequiliana plant. Think of it as the Mexican version of maple syrup, it has a low glycemic index and is a good sugar, if you are diabetic. It is caramel in flavour and in colour and is the density of maple syrup.

You know what is even better?! It wasn’t hard to find! I found it down the road @ my local health shop.

It also was Molly, my little Jack Russell’s birthday this week, so I baked some of my Chocolate Cupcakes to celebrate! You will find the recipe here.

Chrunchies

300g brown sugar
125g butter
50ml agave nectar you can use honey or syrup
180g rolled oats
180g dessicated coconut
140g plain flour
1ml salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
10ml bicarbonate of soda

Preheat the oven to 180˚C, 160˚C fan.

Grease baking tin well. The size of my tin is 32cm x 39cm. If yours is smaller, the biscuits will be thicker and you should just bake your batch a bit longer.

In a large saucepan, heat the sugar, butter and agave nectar over a low heat until warm and butter is melted. Cool slightly.

Mix the oats, coconut, flour and salt in a bowl.

Now your sugar butter mixture has cooled down a bit add the bicarbonate of soda and beaten egg and mix well until it froths, add to the dry ingredients.

Stir well to combine all the ingredients, then press into your prepared baking pan and smooth over.

Bake for 15 – 20 minutes or until the biscuit is golden brown.

Cut into squares as it comes out of the oven as you finish cutting you can lift them out and let them cool on a rack.

CUT INTO SQUARES IMMEDIATELY! DON’T LET THEM COOL BEFORE YOU CUT!

Happy baking till next week!

Love
NikkiM