Sunday, 26 July 2015

Chocolate coconut nirvana slice

So according to The Age newspaper, Melbourne is the world capital of food allergies.  I can confirm that this makes contributing food to social gatherings challenging.  My nieces and nephews present a challenging picture.  We now have a dairy allergy as well as vegetarian, peanut allergy, and celiac (as well as general nut allergies on the other side of the world).  So when we gathered for my brother's birthday on the weekend I decided I would make something sweet to please everyone but it seemed my energy levels weren't quite up to it.

I am still dealing with too many photos cluttering up my hard drive, spending evenings doing silly things like looking for a car key only to find it had fallen in a shoe, and testing recipes that have been labelled by Sylvia as 'too vegany'.  So I decided I would make something on Saturday morning before her gymnastics class.  However upon checking my recipe for home made soy condensed milk I found that it would take a good hour plus need cooling time.  By the time I read this, I had started making condensed milk with coconut for a nirvana slice.

It all got too much and I opened a tin of dairy condensed milk so that I could get the slice cooked in time.  It was still warm when I loaded it into the car.  We arrived at my parents' place after everyone else had eaten lunch and were ready for the birthday cake.  We were too ravenous to be polite and wait til the cake was over to eat our dinner.  It was so chaotic that I never took out my camera until slice had been served and some leftovers had been given to other members of the family.

I really liked this slice though I agree with Sylvia that the almonds were not so successful in it.  It was similar to this one and this one.  I would like to try it again with home made condensed milk.  Then it would be both gluten free and vegan.

The recipe on Gluten Free Goddess called for biscuit crumbs.  I happened to have a 65g packet of Freelicious tea biscuits and used ground up corn cakes for the rest of the bulk.  I quite like the sound of the Nirvana bars at The Vegan Project that use ground almonds and oats instead of biscuits, and coconut milk and maple syrup instead of condensed milk.  Many more experiments are required.

And the coconut condensed milk I was making actually turned out really well.  I gave it to my sister whose little girl is having reaction to dairy.  Hopefully she will get some use out of it.  I am going to experiment more with it as I have a particular fondness for condensed milk in all forms.

I am sending this post to Carole's Food on Friday which is celebrating all things coconut this week.

More condensed milk recipes on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Choc chip cookies
Chocolate caramel slice 
Creamy strawberry icy poles
Grubs
Mock turtle slice
Vegan 'nutella' fudge

Chocolate coconut nirvana slice
Adapted from Gluten Free Goddess

1/2 cup butter or vegan margarine
1 1/2 cups gluten-free biscuit crumbs*
1 generous cup dark chocolate chips
1 cup coconut (I used dessicated)*
1 cup almonds, chopped and roasted
1 x 400g tin (about 1 cup) condensed milk*

Preheat oven to 180 C and line a swiss roll tin with baking paper.  Melt butter and pour into prepared tin.  Spoon over biscuit crumbs, mix with butter and pat with the back of a spoon to evenly cover the pan.  Scatter with nuts, coconut and chocolate.  Pour condensed milk over the rest of the ingredients.  I stirred them a little to make sure they were mixed.  Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until puffed and golden brown on top.  Cool in tray and then cut into squares or bars.

*NOTES: I used a mixture of ground tea biscuits and corn cakes for the biscuit crumbs (nb in America these are called cookie crumbs).  I used dairy condensed milk but the Gluten Free Goddess made it with coconut condensed milk so I am sure a vegan one would work here too.  I hope to try it some day.  The Gluten Free Goddess called for coconut flakes but I only had dessicated coconut - will try it with flakes when I have some.

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24 comments:

  1. Shaheen27 July 2015 at 00:59

    I am so fortunate in that noone in my family inc. nephews and nieces has food allergies (and hope it stays that way_, the only odd one is me according to them as I am the vegetarian and catering for me can be hard for them sometimes.

    Your life sounds hectic, hope you get to chill soon.

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    1. Johanna GGG29 July 2015 at 12:44

      Thanks Shaheen - it is not slowing down that much but I shouldn't complain as I do get some down time - you are lucky not to have food allergies to accommodate - but then I guess it teaches the kids to think about others

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  2. Kari27 July 2015 at 03:07

    I wonder what contributes to Melbourne getting that title. It certainly sounds like your family has its share of allergy challenges but you are doing well at catering to most with this slice (given the dairy free option). I laughed at Sylvia's 'too vegany' comment though - I'd love to know what dishes go in that category!

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    1. Johanna GGG29 July 2015 at 12:46

      Thanks Kari - in the article they do talk a little about research methodologies throwing up different results in different places so it is more of an eye catching title than an actual fact. The too vegany referred to the cheeseymite scrolls which I loved. It made me laugh but I have told her if she doesn't like vegan food I wont make her tofu bacon (which is her favourite)

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  3. The Kitchenmaid27 July 2015 at 06:43

    I love this kind of thing - any kind of slice where you could happily eat the ingredients by themselves is a winner in my book. I've always wanted to make coconut condensed milk too but powdered coconut milk is prohibitively expensive here (or at least I've only ever seen it in industrial-sized packets). Have a great week :)

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    1. Johanna GGG29 July 2015 at 12:48

      Thanks Lucy - I definitely could just eat the ingredients - actually it was a dangerous slice in that it was touch and go whether it got to the baking or our tummies first :-) I don't use powdered coconut milk for the condensed milk - I just simmer it to thicken with sugar in it.

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  4. Cakelaw27 July 2015 at 11:42

    This sounds delish, and the name of it makes it intriguing.

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    1. Johanna GGG29 July 2015 at 12:48

      Thanks Cakelaw - it is a great name isn't it!

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  5. Lisa27 July 2015 at 12:06

    I sort of want to lick my screen that slice looks so good! It's definitely getting hard to cater for large gatherings isn't it! I wonder why allergies are getting more prevalent. Or is it just that we can cater to it now instead of letting people put up with it? I too am interested to know what 'too vegany' is like! :)

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    1. Johanna GGG29 July 2015 at 12:50

      Thanks Lisa - it is a mystery as to why allergies are more prevalent - there are all sorts of reasons I hear - too much exposure in pregnancy, not enough exposure in pregnancy, too much cleanliness, gene mutation etc etc. It is interesting that we had some very mild allergies in my generation in my family and these have shown as more severe allergies in the next generation. Too vegany is the cheeseymite scrolls which I loved but Sylvia went hot and cold on.

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  6. Veganopoulous27 July 2015 at 19:21

    gosh that does look good, I have a soy milke condensed milk in the pantry that I keep aside for an emergency lemon slice but this looks just as great :)

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    1. Johanna GGG29 July 2015 at 12:51

      Thanks Faye - I was horrified at all the ingredients in the soy condensed milk but home made stuff doesn't last so long so I guess the tins are more convenient

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  7. janet @ the taste space27 July 2015 at 22:31

    Sometimes I love the challenge to appeal to everyone but othertimes, I don't have the energy to do so. I could see why these would be loved by all though. Kids especially. :)

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    1. Johanna GGG29 July 2015 at 12:53

      Thanks Janet - yes I sometimes have more energy for allergies than others, We are quite used to most allergies but the dairy one is fairly new so I guess once we are used to it we will find it easier - and I actually usually use soy milk and vegan margarine but I love condensed milk which I need to remember needs more planning ahead.

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  8. Joey30 July 2015 at 00:00

    I don't know if it's available where you are, but there's one brand called Guli that does condensed vegan soy milk, and it's really good (probably pretty unhealthy, but worth overlooking that!) I reckon that would work a treat with this - vegan nirvana indeed!

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    1. Johanna GGG31 July 2015 at 21:10

      Thanks Joey - I haven't heard of that one - I think the one I see in the shops is SoyMilke. It tastes great but you just don't want to look at the ingredients list (which you might say of the soy milk we buy too so I think coconut condensed milk would be less processed than soy condensed milk in my house)

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  9. Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella30 July 2015 at 11:50

    I love the name of this slice. Also I had Smells Like Teen Spirit in my head as I was reading it ;)

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    1. Johanna GGG31 July 2015 at 21:11

      Thanks Lorraine - now I have the song in my head - I think a slice of Nirvana sounds far more attractive than a bar of Nirvana

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  10. Linda from the Lentil Institution30 July 2015 at 21:13

    I don't know if someone has mentioned it in the comment above, but I saw on Facebook that you can buy tinned condensed coconut milk now! I have to find some. I love condensed milk. I've only recently found that Fina has that Vietnamese drip coffee using condensed soy milk. I don't usually drink coffee, but I make an exception for that.

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    1. Johanna GGG31 July 2015 at 21:12

      Thanks Linda - I have not seen tinned condensed coconut milk - only the soy one. I am particularly fond of condensed milk but haven't tried making a vegan one for a while now and this one worked better than my previous ones because I didn't let it cook so long it was more caramel than milk.

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  11. Carole31 July 2015 at 06:18

    Hi Johanna, I would love you to stop by Food on Friday: Coconut over at Carole's Chatter to add this to the recipe collection! Cheers!
    PS If you would like to be part of the Food on Friday group, just put a reminder in your calendar this time each week to check out the new theme or email me if you would like a reminder by email. You can also see the themes coming up in one of the tabs at the top of my home page

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    1. Johanna GGG31 July 2015 at 21:17

      Thanks Carole - have added it to your linky - will add it to the list of blog events I check out when I have time to do blog events

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  12. Carole1 August 2015 at 06:43

    That's great Johanna!

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  13. Gluten Free Alchemist23 August 2015 at 06:14

    How strange.... I wonder why Melbourne is the world allergy capital?!
    Cooking for a whole variety of allergies and intolerances is really challenging! Sometimes I challenge myself to remove as many of the obvious ones as possible from a dish, just to see if it is possible...
    Sounds like another fun family party..... and the slice looks just delicious!

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