Apple nut slice
Ingredients
125g unsalted butter at room temperature
½ cup sugar
2 medium eggs
½ tspn vanilla essence
1 cup plain flour
½ tspn bicarbonate of soda
½ tspn ground cinnamon
2 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and diced
½ cup macadamias, walnuts or pecans, coarsely chopped
Small quantity icing made with ½ cup icing sugar and juice of half a lemon OR 100g dark chocolate, melted
Method
Preheat oven to 175°C. Grease an 16 x 26cm slice tin and line the base with baking paper.
Cream butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy.
Beat in eggs and vanilla essence.
Sift flour, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon together and beat into butter mixture. The batter will be quite stiff.
Fold apple and nuts through the mixture and turn out into the slice tin, using a spatula or wooden spoon to spread the mixture out to the corners. Don't worry if the batter doesn't cover all the apple; it will soften and spread.
Place on the middle shelf of the oven and bake at 175°C for 35 minutes, or until golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Cool in the tin for five minutes, then turn out onto a rack and allow to cool thoroughly.
If desired, place icing or melted chocolate into a piping bag or a sturdy plastic bag with a corner snipped off, and drizzle over the top. Allow to set.
Cut into squares.
Variation: Use pears and almonds instead of the apples and macadamias, walnuts or pecans.
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