Baking Club Challenge 4

The last challenge before the big bake off! This is actually rather late, so I know how the bake off has turned out now... But I shall keep you all in suspense! :) The fourth challenge was "baked slice". I really, really wanted to make hedgehog slice, but unfortunately it's not a baked slice so that idea was out. As a side note, has anyone tried the hedgehog slice from Brumby's? Amazing right? My sister and I always used to get one when we were younger and mum went to get bread from there... And then mum would cut the end off of each of ours so she could have some but it was even! Haha. So after considering flavours and the fact that Becca and I were slightly chocolate-d out (impossible right? But we've had so many chocolate things in the past few weeks!), we decided that we'd make a maple pecan slice. Who knew that pecans are so expensive? A ridiculously small bag for $5 later and we had everything we needed. It has a really nice texture and the sweetness of the maple syrup balances out the pecans. It's also very sticky, so take a serviette when you eat it!

Maple Pecan Slice

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar

2/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 cup maple syrup
2 eggs
2/3 cup pecans
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp flour

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a cake/slice tin with baking paper. Mix the first lot of ingredients for the base with fingertips and press into the tin. Bake for 5 minutes.
Topping:
Raise the oven temperature to 200°C. Mix brown sugar, butter and maple syrup in a medium sized saucepan. Simmer for 5 minutes. Cool to lukewarm. Add beaten eggs, stirring constantly. Add the other dry ingredients and spread over the base. Bake for a further 10-15 minutes, or until the top is bubbling and cooked through.