Recipe: Nuts about nutty tray bake

Recipe: Nuts about nutty tray bake
Source: Delicious.

We’ve just celebrated another family occasion which called for me to get my bake on! This time, it was my Mum’s birthday, and she asked if I could make something that contained two of her favourite ingredients: dark chocolate and nuts.

There were lots of different tarts I could have made as a proper dessert but, since we were already having a BBQ and there’d be birthday cake, I decided to do something simpler and less rich as I anticipated people being too full to actually eat the fruits of my labour! As a result, I went for this Nuts about nutty tray bake from the Delicious. magazine website.

I followed the recipe exactly and used the same combination of nuts. To make up my 300g, I used 75g of each type – this didn’t make the recipe particularly cheap to make but at least I felt confident that the mix of flavours would work well together. Not all of the nuts were whole (I had walnut pieces and macadamia halves) but this wasn’t an issue. I was more bothered by the blisters I got on my thumbs from spending ages shelling pistachios! When it came to toasting the nuts, I did each type separately in order to keep a better eye on them, and found that this worked well. The macadamias, for example, were ready very quickly, although the pan was already very hot by this point. 

I’d realised well in advance that I didn’t have a baking tin that would be deep enough for the recipe but, instead of buying a new one specially, I decided to improvise with an ovenproof dish and just allow for longer cooking times.

When it came to making the base, I stupidly hadn’t twigged that I was effectively making a chocolate shortbread, so I wasn’t really sure what I was aiming for in terms of appearance or consistency. I’d spread the mixture in the dish with the back of a metal spoon, to make it nice and smooth, but I was a bit unclear after that point! Having been in the oven for 20 minutes, it felt quite soft and a little grainy and, although I assumed it would harden, I sensed that it wasn’t yet done. In the end, I baked the base for 26 minutes and, thankfully, it did firm up before I added the nutty topping.

My other concern with the base was that I wasn’t sure if I’d actually mixed it enough as it didn’t seem to look as chocolatey as the picture on the website. However, I couldn’t do much more with it, and I was pleased that it turned out ok in the end.

When it came to the topping, I had a sneaky taste of the syrupy mixture and found it tasted like a rich, almost salted, caramel. After mixing the nuts in, and topping the biscuit base, I gave the dish another additional six minutes in the oven, baking it for 16 minutes in total.

The smell that came off this Nuts about nutty tray bake was amazing – it was nutty, caramelly and buttery and reminded me of pecan pie which is a favourite of mine. Looking at it, though, I couldn’t see how it would ever serve 24. I managed to make 12–16 slices out of it easily but, when I tried to cut it smaller, bits ended up falling off so I decided not to risk going any further (even though I did get to eat the broken bits!).

I also found it was important to wait until the bake was completely cool before cutting it. I initially tried it when it was still slightly warm but this did cause a bit of breakage – I had no problems at all once it was cold. Having said that, if you weren’t bothered about appearance and wanted to try this with ice cream, it did taste delicious warm. It had a deep, sugary flavour and the nuts tasted nice too. Most importantly for me, my Mum loved it!

I knew from the quantities in the ingredients that this wouldn’t be a particularly chocolatey recipe, and that turned out to be the case. However, that did mean that it wasn’t too rich either. Several years ago I had a delicious bag of sugar-toasted cashew nuts from a food market and, to my delight, I found that the overall flavours on offer here were like that on a grander scale. The combination of nuts tasted great together and the buttery flavour was also evident. It was the caramelisation I particularly loved, though, with the experience reminding me of a particularly strong popcorn flavouring – I could quite happily munch on the topping alone in a cinema!

I was also really pleased with the texture. I hadn’t quite known what to expect so I was glad to find that the topping wasn’t chewy or like brittle. Instead, the caramel was soft, whilst the nuts were hard and crunchy and the base was crumbly – the only downside being that this combination was a bit messy to eat as the nuts shifted as you took a bite. The shortbread almost melted in the mouth and, when combined with the caramel and chocolate flavours, it reminded me a bit of millionaire’s shortbread. And if that comparison wasn’t enough, I also sensed similarities with another favourite in our family: fudge tart (although I very much doubt you good people are blessed enough to ever have experienced the wonders of that bake!).

As I suspected, not everyone had enough room to try this tasty treat as they were all too full from the birthday cake my sister had made (the Chocolate salted caramel marble cake, as it happens!). However, those who did really liked it, and I was very pleased with the delicious results from what was an incredibly simple recipe. You obviously do need to be a fan of nuts to like this but, if that’s you, you can’t go far wrong.

Ease of recipe: 10/10
Finished product: 9.5/10
Overall score: 9.75/10
Bake again? Yes

Tesco Finest*: Swiss (milk chocolate with maple & walnut)

Product name: Tesco Finest*: Swiss (milk chocolate with maple & walnut)
Purchase details: £1.00 for a 100g bar (Tesco)
Calories: 111 per two square serving (557 per bar)
Country of origin: Switzerland

Well this is a first. I never buy store branded chocolate for general consumption but this maple and walnut Swiss bar from Tesco’s Finest* range really caught my eye when it was on special offer recently. I’d probably count walnuts as my least favourite nut so it was definitely the maple syrup that swung it for me! It just seemed so different and delicious-sounding.

Tesco Finest* is obviously marketed as being a bit special and I felt this was reflected in the packaging. The brown cardboard box, swirled with orange, was quite simple but also gave the impression of being a bit posh. It boasted how the ‘deliciously smooth and silky milk chocolate’ had been ‘made by selected chocolatiers’, and I liked the little added touch of using a Swiss flag to dot the letter ‘I’ .

The large, flat bar was divided into 10 big squares that each featured a kind of stripy design and, I thought, looked a little less impressive. With ‘caramelised walnuts’ accounting for 7% of the product, as well as the inclusion of hazelnuts, I was also surprised to find these were very small and barely noticeable within the chocolate.

Before reading the product description in-depth, I’d assumed that the chocolate’s recipe would have had maple syrup incorporated into it, whilst the walnuts would be standalone. However, the reality was that the walnuts had been ‘caramelised in maple syrup’, although the chocolate did still include 3.5% maple sugar. To my delight, I also found that the bar genuinely did smell like maple syrup and, if I delved deeper, there was also a woody walnut aroma mixed in – beautiful.

The chocolate was made from  ‘carefully selected cocoa beans for a well-balanced taste’ and contained a minimum of 31% cocoa solids and 25% milk solids. It had a rich melt and creamy taste but it was the ‘floral maple and walnut notes’ that stole the show. The main taste was from the walnut pieces that provided a fantastic, authentic flavour but without the associated bitterness that I’m not a fan of – the focus was definitely on the mellower side of a walnut’s flavour. The maple syrup that enrobed this then added a sweet, deep sugary taste, and the overall impression I had of the bar was of a soft, thin but solidified cake batter – scrummy!

Texturally, I loved the emphasis on the nuts’ caramelisation as each tiny chunk had a wonderful, sugary crisp to it. The downside was that I felt a bit self-conscious eating the bar with another person in the same room – it wasn’t the quietest! I also found the distribution of these tiny nuts resulted in a generally grainy feel but, since this was a product best enjoyed chewed, this was totally fine.

I may have bought this bar of Tesco Finest*: Swiss (milk chocolate with maple & walnut) because of the maple syrup but I ended up appreciating the way the walnut was the prominent flavour – I think it would have been too sweet if the syrup had been the frontrunner. There’s no doubt that I thoroughly enjoyed this unique chocolate experience...I’d never come across this combination of ingredients before but the result was a bar that was absolutely packed full of flavour. I’m so glad I broadened by horizons. 

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 7.5/10
Taste: 9/10
Texture: 8/10
Overall score: 8/10

Nakd Berry Cheeky

Product name: Nakd Berry Cheeky
Purchase details: £0.60 for a 30g bar or three for £1.20 (tesco.com)
Calories: 100 per bar
Country of origin: Britain

Next up in my reviews of the Nakd range from Natural Balance Foods is this ‘yummy’ Berry Cheeky bar that was made from raw fruit, oats and nuts. As with the Strawberry Crunch and Banana Bread, it contained no wheat or dairy.

The wrapper had the same design as the Banana Bread but used a red theme and pictures of a strawberry and a close-up raspberry. On reading the ingredients, I decided that it had been named ‘Cheeky’ because it was a bit misleading! The only berries in the bar were raspberries and strawberries which each contributed to 2% of the overall vegan product. In contrast, 37% of the product was dates, 26% was oats, 12% was raisins, 9% was peanuts, and even apple juice concentrate took up 8%. Almonds and walnuts also provided another 2% each, and there was some natural flavouring too. I don’t know about you, but that didn’t sound like berries were the main feature to me! On the plus side, I was pleased to see the different varieties of nuts that had been included.

The healthy snack was, again, brown in colour, and this variety looked more bitty and less pre-digested than the others – the nuts, in particular, were very evident through the baste of the bar. It also looked and felt a bit dry. It produced an earthy scent and, although there was an added ‘zing’, I didn’t find it very appetising.

As suggested by the appearance, the Nakd Berry Cheeky had a very different texture from the other types I’ve tried so far. It was soft and dry with a slightly rubbery crumble, but I liked how this was broken up with little chunks of nut, as well as the odd raspberry seed!

My initial thoughts on the taste were not good but, after a couple of chews, I found that the tangy berries really did make an impact on the flavour. Furthermore, the nuts all made a contribution, and I particularly enjoyed how the the almonds combined with the berries. Unfortunately, I wasn’t as keen on the aftertaste, as this left a bit of a muddy taste in my mouth.

As you’ve probably gathered, this wasn’t my favourite Nakd snack, although it was perfectly edible. I wouldn’t buy it again because there are so many other tastier flavours on offer in the range but, if that weren’t the case and I were in need of a healthy treat, I wouldn’t need much convincing to have another one of these!

Appearance: 6/10
Aroma: 4.5/10
Taste: 6.5/10
Texture: 6.5/10
Overall score: 5.88/10

Nakd Banana Bread

Product name: Nakd Banana Bread
Purchase details: £0.60 for a 30g bar or three for £1.20 (tesco.com)
Calories: 92 per bar
Country of origin: Britain

I really liked the sound of Nakd Banana Bread. Described as a ‘banana flavour raw fruit, oat’ and ‘nut wholefoods bar’, it was the same positively healthy concept as the Strawberry Crunch I’ve previously reviewed.

The bar came in a pale wrapper which, I felt, hinted at a caramel cream-type flavour. However, that may just be because I’ve had a Milky Way French Vanilla and Caramel eying me up from my stash for a few weeks! There was a subtle picture of a banana on the left-hand size of the wrapper, though, to remind me that this was a very different product.

The combination of dates (37%), bananas (23%), oats (21%), walnuts (8%), apple juice concentrate, vanilla and ‘a hint of natural flavour’ resulted in a product that looked...well, healthy! It had a similar appearance to the Strawberry Crunch but was darker. Despite not containing any crispy pieces on this occasion, the bar was certainly full of bits.

I’d mistakenly fooled myself into thinking that this Banana Bread would be like a loaf cake but I realised my error when I discovered the disappointing lack of a banana scent. Instead, it had quite a sharp aroma which I think was caused by the dates. Despite initially thinking I could sense a bit of banana in the mix, I realised that this was just wishful thinking!

Fortunately, the banana flavour did come through on the taste test, starting gently but then getting stronger. The first flavour to make an impact, though, was quite unusual and not the most pleasant, and this also caused a bit of a strange aftertaste. Again, I think it was the dates that caused this (a fruit I’m not a fan of, to be fair!), although the almost bitter taste I find walnuts have may have contributed to this too. That said, I’d never have guessed the product contained walnuts! Anyway, the good news was that the banana flavour was strong enough to lift the overall experience so, as I munched my way through the bar, it did still feel like a treat.

Texturally, the Banana Bread was quite chewy. It was generally soft with the odd tougher bit and the inclusion of the oats was a big plus. It may not sound pleasant as a description, but I really liked how little pieces were left behind at the end of each mouthful as it meant I could pretend I was eating a flapjack instead!

I think the Strawberry Crunch had given me higher expectations for this bar than, perhaps, was fair – I certainly thought I’d enjoy this variety more than I did. However, whilst it was my least favourite of the two Nakd varieties I’ve tried so far, I still thought it was excellent as a healthy snack...I’d just prefer to eat actual banana bread if taste were the only consideration! 

Appearance: 6/10
Aroma: 6/10
Taste: 6.5/10
Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 6.5/10