Firstly, a huge thank you to everyone who joined in with the July Bake It! recipe. The lemon squares all looked delicious and I hope you enjoyed the recipe. I hated to pick just one person for the prize, but my OH chose a number at random and that was Katie. Congrats! Drop me a line with your address and I’ll post the goodies out to you 🙂

This month I had real trouble deciding on the recipe. I’m not sure why I struggled as I’m always posting recipes on the blog, but anyway, here it is – Toffee Pecan Ring.

I love anything nutty, chocolately and sticky so this was a very selfish choice! It is also a recipe that you can adapt really easily by adding different fillings.

Ingredients

75 g butter, diced
450 g self raising flour
50 g caster sugar
2 eggs, beaten
150 ml milk

25 g butter, melted
75 g pecans
2 tbsps light soft brown sugar
50 g dark chocolate chips
1 packet chocolate coated toffees (eg Rolos, or supermarket own brand for those who don’t buy Nestle), cut into quarters
1 tbsp milk to glaze
25 g dark chocolate, melted

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease and line the bottom of a 10 inch round baking tin.

2. Rub together the butter and flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs, or blitz in a food processor if you are lazy like me!

3. Mix in the sugar then add the eggs and milk. It is a good idea to add the milk a little at a time as you may not need the full amount. Mix until it forms a soft dough.

4. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and roll out to make a square of approx 35cm.

5. Coarsely chop the pecans and mix in the soft brown sugar.

6. Brush the dough with the melted butter then sprinkle over the pecan and sugar mix, chocolate chips and chocolate toffees, leaving a 2.5cm border at the top and bottom.

7. Starting at the edge nearest to you, roll up the dough tightly like a swiss roll, then cut it into 2.5cm slices. You should get about 12-14 slices.

8. Lay the slices around the edge of your baking tin at a slight tilt so they overlap a little.

9. Brush the top with a little milk and bake for about 20-25 minutes, until they are golden and cooked through.

10. Leave to cool for 10-15 minutes in the tin and then transfer to a wire rack to cool. Drizzle the top with melted chocolate.

I think they are really yummy served warm with a cuppa, and are best eaten on the day you bake them.

If you don’t fancy that filling, why not try sprinkling the dough with 100g chocolate chips and 150g dried apricots, or a brown sugar and cinnamon mixture instead?

Don’t forget to add your pictures to the Flickr group, grab yourself a blog badge (the code is over on the sidebar) and blog about your yummy creations. I’ll put a Linky up on the 25th August for you to share your blog posts.

There is a fantastic prize this month thanks to the wonderful Colleen at Time to Splash who is sponsoring us this month. I have worked with Colleen on several occasions and have to say that she is brilliant! Last year she collected and posted 15 boxes of cookies for me and decluttered my awful desk area, transforming it into a great space for all my sewing stuff. One lucky baker will be receiving a beautiful glass cake stand from Dee Puddy. Thanks Colleen! I will pick a winner at 8pm on 31st August.

Happy Baking everyone!