Marbled Chocolate Energy Bars (Delia Vegetarian): Friday Challenge!

I chose this recipe because it looked so impressive with the marbled top, I wasn’t sure mine would look like the picture in the book but it did 😀 such a satisfying feeling! I jotted the recipe down on a piece of paper when I was visiting my mum in France so I don’t have a photo of Delia’s version but you can find the recipe here and you can buy her Vegetarian book here

I liked the fact that it was an “energy bar” not a flapjack, even though when I took them into work I just called them flapjacks for simplicity. Although after eating them everyone did say they tasted much healthier than a flapjack and it was obviously not filled with syrup and sugar. I made a few changes to the recipe just because (as usual) I wanted to use up some ingredients I had in the cupboard – I swapped pecans for just a bag of mixed nuts, I also swapped the apricots and raisins for dried figs and dried cranberries. I think the fruits and nuts I used tasted great so was really happy it still worked.

I was nervous about using condensed milk because I haven’t eaten it in years and I didn’t really understand how it was going to bind everything together. I bought a squeezy tube of condensed milk and it worked great, it also meant I had none left over which also suited me fine!

The recipe says it served 16 and I have to admit I was very tempted to just cut it into 8 or 10 slices because 16 slices were so small! But I sliced it into 16 in the end and I would recommend sticking to this size as the bar is quite rich and filling. It also meant I didn’t feel so guilty when eating it!

What I have learnt about chocolate:

When teamed with other flavours like dried fruit and nuts, chocolate can make the snack more indulgent and more of a treat. Chocolate also doesn’t have to be the main ingredient to take centre stage as it can be used to decorate and enhance other flavours within the recipe.

I absolutely loved the marbled effect, it was so easy to do but it looks so impressive and makes the bar look much more special. Next week I definitely want to play around with using chocolate for a visual effect as well as adding to the flavour!