I’m here again with another childhood recipe to share with you. These chocolate picnic slices are as much a joy to make as they are to eat and are naturally gluten free.
This recipe has been taken from a delightful ‘dog-eared’ booklet that I reckon is well over 50 years old and is made up of recipes that were contributed by lots of different people, from a church my parents and grandparents used to attend. My grandma’s name appears underneath a recipe in this book which makes it even more special – and although these chocolate picnic slices are not her contribution to this ‘publication’, I do plan to share her chosen recipe with you at a later date!
My modern-day picnic slices are a delicious combination of coconut, sultanas and cherries baked and topped off with a very generous helping of melted smooth milk chocolate, which when cold, holds this yummy traybake together in the most perfect way!
Ingredients (12 squares)
50g butter – softened
100g caster sugar
1 large egg
100g *desiccated coconut
50g *sultanas
50g *glace cherries – roughly chopped
Chocolate topping
2 x 119g packs of Cadburys *chocolate buttons
Method
Preheat oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3/Fan 150C
Lightly grease and line a 10 by 7inch baking tray with a spot of butter – spreading a little extra butter over the top of the greaseproof paper. This will help when you come to peel the paper off.
In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar.
Add all the other ingredients and mix well.
Tip the mixture into the prepared baking tray. Spread out evenly and press down until nice and smooth.
Pop in the oven and bake for about 20-25 minutes until golden brown. The beauty about this recipe, is you can’t spoil it by opening the door to soon – so feel free to have a little peep!
Once baked remove from the oven and leave to cool for about 10 minutes.
Transfer the traybake out of the tin, paper side up, onto a fresh piece of greaseproof paper and gently peel away the greaseproof attached to the bake. 
Melt the chocolate buttons in a large heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water.
Pour the melted chocolate over the top of the traybake and spread out evenly.
Once the chocolate has set. Use a heavy knife, firmly cut through the bake and portion up into even squares.
There we have it, all done!! This recipe has been tested out by friends and family and they have all loved it – hope you do too!
Liz x
*Check this product out to ensure no gluten containing ingredients or ‘may contain’ or ‘not suitable’ warnings on the pack. If in doubt leave it out!
After trying the ones you made Liz I thought I would try and make them myself, great recipe and your step by step instructions were really easy to follow. I was chuffed that mine actually looked like yours. The only thing I did differently was I only used 1 large bag of chocolate buttons which wasnt a problem as it still covered the traybake.
I can’t wait to try more of your recipes.
I’m so happy you had a go at the chocolate picnic slice recipe Paula and chuffed to bits it turned out well for you – not quite as many calories in each slice by using 1 bag of buttons either!!😉x