Lyle's Black Treacle - My Craving Resulted in Delicious Flapjacks

I'm not sure why, but a while ago I had a sudden craving for black treacle.
I hadn't eaten black treacle for many many years, but I needed to eat it now.

Anyway, as Mr.R does all of our food shopping, I asked him to buy me a can of the black stuff.
Once I had a can of Lyle's Black Treacle I wasn't exactly sure what to do with it.
So, hoping for inspiration, I opened the can and took a deep breath of the delicious contents.
Then I took a teaspoon and gently dipped it into the can, taking a tiny amount of the black treacle and tasting it.
It tasted exactly how I remembered it.
Don't you love it when that happens; you fancy something you haven't eaten for a long time, you remember exactly how it tasted, and when you eat it again, it tastes how you remembered. Excellent!

From the can -
Lyle's Black Treacle adds a distinctive rich, dark flavour to traditional recipes like Christmas pudding, parkin, treacle toffee and gingerbread. 

It also tastes great in savoury foods, try it as a glaze for salmon.

For quick and simple recipes visit www.lylesgoldensyrup.com

So, I'd fancied the black treacle, but hadn't thought about how I was going to eat it - apart from maybe scoffing it straight from the can, but after my tiny taste test when I first opened the can, that didn't seem like a particularly tasty treacle-y treat.
So I pondered about what to do with the can of black treacle.
I had a quick look in the larder, spotted a packet of porridge oats, and that was it, I decided to make flapjacks - but with treacle instead of honey which is what I usually use.

My black treacle flapjacks came out great.
They tasted really good, with strong flavours of bitter chocolate and coffee liquor.
They were a lot different to my usual flapjacks but seriously tasty, and I think I prefered the black treacle flavour to the honey sweetened flapjacks.

Are you a Black Treacle lover?
How do you eat black treacle?
Have you made black treacle flapjacks?

Sonnet 43 Bourbon Milk Stout - Beer Review

We drank this stout a while ago, but I've only just remembered to blog about it.
Sonnet 43 Bourbon Milk Stout is made in Coxhoe, quite close to where we live.
It's a very enjoyable stout with aromas of chocolate, coffee, and brown sugar.
It pours a lovely almost black colour with an off-white head.
On the palate it has pleasant malty flavours of roasted cocoa, coffee, toffee, a hint of vanilla, and a sweet milky taste, but a slightly bitter finish. We couldn't detect any bourbon flavour.
It's only 4.3% abv but its depth means it feels a lot stronger.

From the label -
Dark malts give this sweet stout an almost black body with a tempting dark tan head. 
Brewed using the finest ingredients gives a rich, full-body and aromas of bitter chocolate and oak as well as multiple flavour levels comprising delicate sweet bourbon, silky chocolate and dry oak. 

''This time to me is a quiet release, 
It's a hug and a handshake, a break and belief.
In gathering together with people we trust,
We all take a moment to remember and fuss.
Sit back and smile and wonder -
Stand up and laugh about blunders.
Lean a bit closer and gather round beer,
Making a case that you all have to hear.
''Another'', is cried from across the bar,
It's gusto, it's guts, it's all taste and heart.
So, create those moments around you,
When building big plans with a nice view.
Bring me a sonnet, a song, and my wallet,
I love it when beer is the right brew.''

Sonnet 43 Brew House,
Durham Road, 
Coxhoe,
County Durham, DH6 4HX, UK
TEL: 0191 377 3039 
www.sonnet43.com

We like stout, and this was an enjoyable one, and the fact that it's a local brew made it a bit more interesting for us.
Have you tried Sonnet 43 Bourbon Milk Stout?
Did you like it?