Love Bars

Mmmmmm!

Love Bars

When I read about these in the Pret Food on The Move Pret DIY The Recipes book by Jane Lunzer Gifford I just knew I HAD to make them!

The book which I posted about last week ('Pret Lunches' a couple of sandwiches and the Pret Chocolate Bar) is fabulous, and I am so glad I bought it! I like how it is set out and in the introduction there are comments and phrases here and there, as in the Silver Palate Cookbook for example. Ther are no pictures in the style of a traditional cookbook, but many black and white ones of life at Pret. The nicely titled chapters are In the Thermos, The Lunch Box, Snacking on the Way, Too Good To Move, Home Sweet Home and Basics. It’s a real friend in the kitchen, it’ll keep me going with the what to have for lunch question for quite some time. I mentioned in my previous post that I’m not very good at thinking up lunches, breakfast, dinner, dessert, baking no problems, but lunch is my problem meal. The past few weekends have been a lot easier since started cooking from Pret DIY! This isn’t the first sandwich-y cookbook I’ve purchased I can think of at least two others off the top of my head, but neither have made it to the using pile, whereas Pret has. One recipe just seems to follow another and before I know it I’ll have a much more exciting lunch time reportiore. Here is a selection of some of the 35 recipes I have marked to try: Malaysian Chicken Soup, Chorizo Baguette, Pret Christmas Lunch Sandwiches, Salami, Cream Cheese & Olive Sandwich, Chicken Avocado Salad, Fennel, Prawn & Lime Salad, Lemon Drizzle Cake, Oat & Fruit Slice and Chocolate Goddess Cake.

Now back to the Love Bar. I think I was probably drawn to the bar for it’s title, I like romance, hearts, flowers and love. Just the word gives me a little smile! As for the ingredients - well it’s a gorgeous gorgeous bar. There are three layers, flapjack oaty bottom, fudgy toffee layer and then a sprinkling of healthy bits – nuts, seeds and chocolate. Chocolate healthy? You are maybe thinking and I think it is as long as you aren’t eating vast quantities in an unbalanced diet, but this is just my opinion and I’m sticking to it ha ha! I’m not entirely sure how big these bars are supposed to be but I got 20 fingers from the recipe. They are right up my street and I can only think they are called Love Bars because people love them! I do for sure.

Love Bars

Thank you so much to the lovely people at Pret for allowing me to post their recipe from Pret Food on the Move Pret DIY The Recipes by Jane Lunzer Gifford.

For the flapjack base:
150g golden syrup
1 tbsp clear honey
200g unsalted butter
350g rolled oats
60g soft brown sugar

For the Topping:
60g dark brown sugar
130ml double cream
60g unsalted butter
35g pumpkin seeds
45g dark chocolate chips
35g shelled pistachio nuts
35g chopped almonds

1) Pre-heat the oven to 150C (300F/Gas 2). Grease a 23cm (9 inch square) baking tray.
2) To make the base, warm the syrup, honey and butter until blended together in a large pan over a low heat. Add the oats and soft brown sugar and mix well.Place in a baking tray and smooth the top, bake for 20 minutes or until the surface is lightly browned but not dark. Then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
3) Meanwhile, to make the topping, put the dark brown sugar and double cream in a heavy-based saucepan over low heat (this prevents the mixture from burning). Dissolve the sugar and then increase the heat and bring the mixture to the boil and keep boiling for about 5 minutes, stirring continuously whilst the cream thickens as the liquid evaporates.The wider the base of the pan, the larger the surface area and therefore the quicker the evaporation. Keep an eye on the consistency and stop boiling before the cream catches and burns, but it needs to thicken so that it becomes a little like fudge.Take off the heat and stir in the butter until it has all melted. Pour over the flapjack and spread with a palette knife.
4) While still warm, sprinkle over the pumpkin seeds, chocolate chips, pistachio nuts and almonds.Cut into slices when completely cold.