First there were cup­cakes. Then there were macar­ons. Earli­er this year people over­seas were pre­dict­ing glor­i­ous cream-filled éclairs to be the baked good to watch in 2014. In any event, I think the cronut’s days are finally behind us.

Here in New Zea­l­and, I’m pre­dict­ing the return of the humble slice. Not one to make a fan­fare, this sweet treat has been hanging out in the back­ground, and gra­cing Crown Lynn plates at after­noon teas for years. One of my favour­ite things about bak­ing is tak­ing a clas­sic and giv­ing it a mod­ern twist. I def­in­itely didn’t invent adding oats to a ginger slice base, or sprink­ling the top with pista­chios, but they’re both now stand­ard prac­tice whenev­er I make this ever-pop­u­lar clas­sic. The pista­chios add some­thing just won­der­ful to this sweet and spicy treat.

Ginger slice, or ginger crunch, is notori­ously high in but­ter, but with a decent hit of ginger you need only small squares. The base/icing ratio dif­fers with pref­er­ence: I like about a two-thirds base to one-third icing ratio, but it’s really up to you. There’s noth­ing worse than a large bis­cu­ity base and only a thin smat­ter­ing of icing.

A nice slice is great to have on call for vis­it­ors, and bak­ing gen­er­ally is one of my favour­ite things to give as a gift. Dust off those square tins, get out your favour­ite flor­al apron, put a twist on your old favour­ite, and make someone’s day – but not without taste-test­ing it your­self first of course.

Ginger Oat Slice

Ingredients

• ¼ cup golden syrup
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 150g but­ter
• 1½ tsp ground ginger
• ½ cup thread coconut
• ¼ cup flaked almonds
• 1½ tsp bak­ing powder
• 1 ½ cups rolled oats
• ¾ cup flour

Icing and garnish

• 4 tbsp golden syrup
• 150g but­ter
• 2 tbsp ground ginger
• 1 cup icing sug­ar, sifted
• ½ cup pista­chios, roughly chopped

Method

1. Pre­heat oven to 180˚C. Grease and line a square slice tin meas­ur­ing about 20cm ×
2. Place the golden syr­up, brown sug­ar and but­ter in a sauce­pan with the ginger. Stir on a medi­um-high heat until melted together.
3. Put all the dry ingredi­ents in a large bowl and stir to com­bine. Add the but­ter mix­ture and mix well.
4. Press the mix­ture into the tin and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool before icing.
5. For the icing, put the golden syr­up, but­ter and ginger in a sauce­pan over a medi­um heat.
6. Cook gently until melted, then add the icing sug­ar. Mix well to com­bine, then pour the mix­ture over the base. Sprinkle over half the pistachios.
7. Leave to set and, before serving, cut with a hot, sharp knife and sprinkle with the remain­ing nuts.

Makes approx­im­ately 16 slices.