Sweet + Salty Peanut Squares

 Prep Time : 20 Minutes | Cook Time : 25 Minutes | Total Time : 2 hours | Difficulty : Easy

I found these amazing squares in my great grandmother’s hand written cook-book (same place as these cookies) and meant to make them for the head of tasting as a treat when he came home from a work trip to Melbourne. Aaand then I broke the door off my oven. If you follow me on Twitter (which you totally should – it’s where you can catch me being witty and interesting all week long!) you will have heard of this tragic turn of events. I burnt myself making last week’s muffins and in the ensuing chaos and oven door slamming one of the hinges broke through. Not only could I not make these delicious squares but I had a fully risen sourdough that I had lovingly folded and risen over the day that had nowhere to go!

You will be pleased to know that everything turned out well in the end. My wrist is nearly healed, with the help of an amazing landlord we now have a new (and fancy!) oven and I cooked my sourdough damper style on the stove-top in a cast iron skillet and it was surprisingly good. I couldn’t just abandon it.

The most important thing is that I finally got to make these squares and you should too. There’s so much to like about them from the crunchy/chewy base to the rich dark chocolate and the crown of salty peanuts. All you need is a couple of bowls and a wooden spoon – too easy!

Preheat the oven to 180C (350F) and line an 8 inch square pan with baking paper. Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl until well combined. Melt the butter and golden syrup together and add to the dry ingredients.

Mix thoroughly and press into the prepared pan so the top is level.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown and firm in the centre. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely in the pan. The slice will still be soft until it has cooled and set up and if you try to lift it out of the pan too early it will break in the middle.

Melt the chocolate and butter together – the butter makes the chocolate more forgiving when melting and also makes the slice easier to cut once the chocolate has set – no cracked chocolate tops! Spread evenly over the slice and top with chopped roasted salted peanuts.

Let the chocolate set before cutting into pieces. I would tell you that the flavour of these squares improves after a couple of days but somehow I don’t think any will last that long!