Saving the Reluctant Lunch Baker

Saving the Reluctant Lunch Baker
4 June 2015

I have been away from my family, with work, quite a bit lately. I miss them loads.

Before this trip I made sure I left the stand-in lunch maker a good stash of baked goods for the daily lunch boxes. The word ‘baking’ sends a chill down his spine and wrangling kids on his own is enough of a challenge without learning the ways of the oven, particularly the crappy one that inhabits our kitchen.

Not only am I saving my fella from a nervous baking breakdown, but each day my girls get to take a little bit of me to school with them (in the form of butter, sugar and flour).

Slices are one of my fave lunchbox fillers. One, they are bloody easy, and two, they are square so they make the game of lunchbox tetris a little simpler.

A big thanks to my fella for being solo dad for the week. Legend.

Crumbly Apricot Slice

What You Need

Filling

• 500g dried apricots, chopped
• 1/2 cup sugar

Crumbly Bit

• 250g butter
• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 1/2 cup oats

What You Need to Do

1. Preheat the oven to 190˚C degrees.
2. To make the filling, pop the apricots and sugar in to a saucepan with ½ a cup of water. Simmer for 10 – 15 minutes, until the apricots are soft. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.
3. With your fingers, rub the butter and flour together until it looks like coarse breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and oats and mix together.
4. Cover the tin with half of the oat mixture and press down gently.
5. Spread the apricot mixture over the base.
6. Sprinkle the rest of the crumble evenly over the apricots.
7. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown.
8. Remove from the oven and let cool before cut into slices.
9. Store in an airtight container.