Sign up to our mailing list for the best stories delivered to your inbox.
And it only takes about 10 minutes to pull together.
WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHY JANE SMITH
This is a slice I make before school holidays, to prepare for having hungry teenagers at home.
HEDGEHOG SLICE
Makes 30 pieces
150g dark cooking chocolate, chopped
100g butter, chopped
295g condensed milk
250g shortbread biscuits, broken into small chunks
½ cup (40g) desiccated coconut
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
Topping
180g dark cooking chocolate, chopped
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1. Line an 18cm x 28cm slice tin with baking paper and set aside.
2. Stir the chocolate, butter and condensed milk in a small saucepan over low heat for about 3 minutes until the mixture is melted and smooth. Set aside to cool slightly.
3. Put the broken biscuits into a mixing bowl and add the coconut and cocoa. Stir to combine.
4. Pour the melted chocolate mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients and mix until combined.
5. Press the mixture evenly into the slice tin and refrigerate until just firm.
6. For the topping, stir the chocolate and oil in a small saucepan over low heat until the chocolate has melted and is combined with the oil.
7. Pour the topping evenly over the slice. Carefully tilt the tin from side to side to spread the topping evenly. Refrigerate until set. Cut into 3cm x 6cm bars to serve.
Visit The Shady Baker website or find Jane on Instagram.
Subscribe to Graziher and never miss an issue of your favourite magazine! Already a subscriber? You can gift a subscription to someone special in your life.
To hear more extraordinary stories about women living in rural and regional Australia, listen to our podcast Life on the Land on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and all major podcast platforms.
The Shady Baker chats to Graziher’s Life on the Land podcast about her life on a sheep station east of Broken Hill and her love of cooking for her family.
Let parents be parents. Not watchdogs, executive assistants, cheer squads or litigators.
Guests enjoyed a cocktail reception in the garden of Libby’s childhood home, where her parents had also tied the knot.
The Shady Baker shares treats from the luxury walking retreat, including recipes for grown-up muffins, a date and oat slice, and prune and walnut paste.
Resisting the urge to tidy up drying grasses and seed heads makes for a more interesting garden.
“She’s a grand old lady, but she’s also a very friendly house,” Jillie Arnott says of the century-old home, now open to artists and guests.
