Since we have just moved into a new apartment block, and we have met so many nice people in our building I wanted to bake some little treats to give our lovely new neighbours for Christmas. It's so pleasant being able to stop and chat to our neighbours, unlike in my old apartment where you could hardly get a hello out of someone unless they were drunk or high and then the hello was unwanted!

I had a variety of chocolate chips left over that I wanted to use up and can't seem to get through a Christmas without making some form of ginger flavoured treat and apparently this year is no different! I didn't think you could really improve much on traditional gingerbread but hey, how can you wrong with chocolate chips? As I was pressed for time baking these last minute, I didn't roll them into individual cookies as it was going to mean numerous batches and just pressed it all into the one tray for make trusty old bars. I like how they turned out though, nice and soft but am curious as to how they bake up as cookies - so if you try this please let me know!

Ok I admit I totally made up the other recipe to use up leftover baking ingredients...but I have to say it's rather tasty and I quite like the combination of coconut, peanuts and chocolate chips. It's certainly not good for you but hey, it's that time of the year and besides I'm sure my new neighbours will be ok with just a few each! I think you could mix up the combination of nuts and chocolate chips as well, maybe some dried fruit would be nice too...condensed milk is so versatile - it's just a pity that dairy doesn't suit my stomach that well ha ha! I wonder if I could make coconut condensed milk...?

Super easy recipe and something that I will be experimenting with other flavours in the future I think...




Triple Choc Chip Gingerbread Bars
adapted from taste.com.au
printable recipe

Ingredients
125g butter, softened
20g brown sugar
80g panela sugar
100ml treacle
25ml honey
1 egg yolk
375g plain flour
1 tsp bicarb soda
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
50g dark chocolate chips
100g white chocolate chips
150g milk chocolate chips

Method
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius. Butter and line a baking pan with baking paper.
Using an electric mixer, beat the butter, sugars, treacle and honey until pale and creamy. Add the egg yolk and beat until just combined. Sift flour, bicarb soda, ginger, cinnamon and allspice and then use a wooden spoon to combine. The dough will be crumbly, but just keep stirring until it is a well combined and then add in the chocolate chips. Spoon and press into the pan firmly.
Bake for 10-15 minutes, (be careful and make sure you watch the colour of the dough as I accidentally cooked mine for a few minutes too long so the edges were a little too crunchy, but I just sliced these off.) Remove and allow to cool totally before cutting into bars or squares.







Coconut Peanut & Choc Chip Bites
printable recipe

Ingredients
base
150g shortbread biscuits, crushed
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 tbsp coconut oil
topping
1 1/2 cups dessicated coconut
90g milk chocolate chips
150g crushed peanuts
250g sweetened condensed milk

Method
Preheat oven to 160 degrees celsius. Butter and line a baking dish, I used a bread loaf dish.