Too much chocolate in the house!!

There are two events each year that fill my house with a tempting chocolate haze. The first is Easter. That darn Bunny over does it every year. This year we didn't crack open the final egg until only about a week ago (I was hiding it so we didn't eat it, but my 5 year old can smell out treats. When he found it he just declared he was eating it - who can argue with that??). The second event, for those who partake (and we do every year) is the Ekka!! - aka the Royal Queensland Exhibition.

STRAWBERRY SUNDAES!!!!!

The most popular treat at the Ekka are the Strawberry Sundaes. It's a tradition to consume at least one of these during your visit. Which is probably why many Brisbane baking bloggers are posting delicious strawberry inspired recipes right now. But not I! As mentioned, this event unintentionally fills my house with chocolate and I need to get rid of it.

Here's some snaps of my boy at the Ekka this year:

 

It's much safer for me not to have chocolate in the house, as I will indulge and I find it hard to stop. The bargaining runs through my head - you'll go for a walk tomorrow, you'll get up early and go on the exercise bike. But I really should know myself better than that, as my alarm will go off early the next morning and I will find it too hard to get out of bed and just tell myself I accept getting fat.

This year, I was good. I bought my partner a Bertie Bettle bag, my son a Ninja bag (only toys, no chocolate - before you judge, he picked it over anything with sweets or chocolate, so yay!!) and I bought a caramello bag that was SUPPOSED to go to my brother and his fiance... that didn't happen (sorry Nadia, I promise to make it up to you). THEN to make matters worse, my parents went the following day and bought us a huge Cadbury chocolate bag. Disaster! Now we had copious amounts of chocolate in the house,  all small enough to be able to talk yourself into having a few choc-snacks.

To overcome this, I have crushed a heap of them up, sprinkled them over some baking, and will be taking them into work to give those around me a sugar high! Happy Friday everyone ;-).

 

Caramello Chocolate Slice
250g butter, melted
1 cup caster sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 plain flour
pinch salt
5 caramello koalas, cut into pieces

Grease a square baking pan and line with baking paper. Turn the oven to 160 C.

Stir the sugars with the cocoa then add warm melted butter. Combine and make sure there are no lumps. Using a hand whisk (or wooden spoon if you don't have a hand whisk), stir in the eggs, one at a time, followed by the vanilla. Finally sift in the flour and salt and whisk until just combined.

Pour the mixture into the tin and sprinkle the top with the caramello pieces. Pop in the oven and bake for about 40 - 50 minutes. You know it's ready when you insert a knife or skewer into the centre and it comes out with some mixture still on it (you don't want it to be too wet though).

Leave to cool before cutting into bite sized pieces. If your mixture is too gooey at first, pop it in the fridge for a few hours or overnight. When you bring out later to eat you will have the richest slice and it will be more like a brownie than a slice.