Munching on munchkins

I'd eaten up all my peanut brownies, so it was time to stock up the baking again. After a little browsing, I selected munchkin bars (p64), which appeared to be a sort of homemade muesli bar.


A brief glance at the recipe will tell you that this is nowhere near as healthy as you might expect from a muesli bar though, (sadly, this is also the case with most bought ones) as the oats and seeds that make up the bulk of the bar are held together by a thick sugary concoction.

That aside (or perhaps because of it) I thought the muchkin bars sounded pretty tasty. Another plus was they were very quick to make. While butter, brown sugar, apricot jam and golden syrup were melting together in a saucepan, I combined rolled oats, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, coconut and sultanas in a bowl, then emptied the bowl into the melted mixture in the saucepan.


I pressed the contents of my saucepan into a sponge roll tin and put it in the oven. The cooking time given was 25 minutes or until golden. After 20 minutes I decided it was looking nice and golden - in fact, a bit overdone at the edges - so I took it out.

It wasn't very firm, though. I hoped it would firm up as it cooled, but when I cut it into bars and tried to take one out for a taste, it fell apart so badly I had to eat it with a spoon. Interestingly, the edge bits I originally felt were overdone were the only parts that held together, and were moreishly chewy and far more appealing than the rest of the slice. Looks like I was jumping the gun when I cut back the cooking time.


I turned on the oven again, and plonked the tin back in for another five minutes or so. This time, once the slice had cooled, the pieces actually held together, which was an improvement.

My munchkin bars pretty much lived up to my 'like a muesli bar' expectations. They were sweet and chewy, full of flavour and texture. If you like the sound of these, give this recipe a go - but don't be tempted to take it out of the oven early!