Category Archives: Slices

Raspberry slice

Posted on by under Slices, Sweet

Raspberry slice

Most people have a wide range of friends. When you meet someone new and try describing your friends to them, how do you start? Do you say “my nursing friend” or “my university friend”? If you’re like me, and like most people I have met, you will probably say “oh, she’s my glamorous friend” or “he’s my adventurous friend” or “she’s the dare devil”. And if life were a stall of baked goods, your friends may resemble different cakes, biscuits and slices. Which leads me, in a convoluted segway, to this raspberry jam slice.

There’s no two ways about it, this raspberry slice is gorgeous. Sophisticated and homely, tart yet sweet and toothsome. I suppose that with a description like that, you can consider this slice as a warm squeezing hug from your most glamorous friend. Comforting yet elegant.

The key here is to buy quality jam. Not lip-puckeringly sweet jam, but homemade slightly-tart very-flavoursome jams. And as denoted below in the graceful hand of my Nana Jean – any jam will do. In fact, I am sure marmalade would do. Heck, even nutella would do, if you are that way inclined! Go for it… and be sure to let me know about the results!

Me? Lacking any jam in the fridge, and lacking any farmers markets in our town this weekend, I ventured to the supermarket with my brother. We chose a seedy crimson red raspberry jam because it was teasingly labelled ‘homemade’ from ‘grandma’s own secret recipe’. How fitting, you must be thinking to yourself. A homely small grandmother-esque jam for My Nana’s Menu. Wrong. I read the label when I got home: product of Serbia. Anyway, it was divine, despite the carbon footprint.

in the making

And took less than an hour from start to finish.

The base isn’t as firm as most baked slices. It is like a flexible cake layer which soaks up the vibrant jam, which turns hot and sticky and fragrant in the oven. The coconut layer oozes out to a chewy, toasty and moreish topping. Overall, a very nice special occasion (or bake sale) slice indeed.

Effortless and inspiring. Like the very best friendships!

Hope your weekend baking efforts have been just as successful.

Happy Sunday hombres!

Meg.

~ ~ ~

Raspberry slice

Raspberry slice

¼ lb butter

¼ cup sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 ½ cups SR flour

½ jar (ish) of good-quality jam

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

Beat butter and sugar to a cream. Beat in the egg, then the flour. Use your hands if necessary to form a glossy dough.

Butter and line a flat tin. I used a brownie tin, which was too large, but the dough is firm enough to create any size you like. Press the dough out flat with a knife, and spread with jam.

1 egg

½ cup sugar

1 cup desiccated coconut (or shredded coconut)

Beat all ingredients and spread over the top of the jam with a fork. Bake for 25 minutes, or until golden.

Let the slice cool in the pan before slicing into thick fingers.

The best brownies for a diet, or to serve your enemies

Posted on by under Slices, Sweet

Nana Jean was a wily soul. When cornered by an acquaintance imploring her for a recipe she would deflect, muttering ‘oh I have it written down somewhere’, only to conveniently forget its whereabouts. By my father’s accounts, Nana was proficient at culinary misdirection.

Seemingly, Jean’s covert cooking operations extended to her cookbook. Unfortunately for me, there are dozens of recipes without specified oven temperatures and no mention of what dish in which to cook the cake or pudding. And this brings me to these brownies.

When you think of brownies, what comes to mind? Nuts and fruit? Slice-shaped baked cake-like wedges? Chocolate?

Yes, well, there was no mention of chocolate in this recipe.

No melted chocolate. No cocoa. Nothing.

And no nuts.

The horror.

I did some cursory review of brownie recipes online. I headed to Epicurious, which espoused the virtues of cocoa as opposed to melted chocolate (it’s an interesting concept – read about it here). I had in my possession a packet of cacao, and so tried to substitute this for cocoa. I also guessed the quantity of chocolate powder, hoping (or perhaps even naively believing) that I had inherited some kind of sixth-sense for baking. I haven’t.

Cacao – not so innocent

And so we come to the title of this article. These brownies truly resemble brownies. They are gorgeously studded with sultanas and walnuts – they haven’t sunk to the bottom of the dish; by some kind of culinary magic they are perfectly suspended through the slice. They smell amazing when pulled from the oven. They are very convincing imitations of brownies. But they taste truly awful. The cake is bitter and as for the texture… well it’s a bit stodgy. Sort of claggy. Perfect for those on a diet – you’ll get all of that giddy excitement of indulging in something as truly sinful, truly comforting as a brownie, and once you’ve taken a bite you have absolutely no desire for more. Your craving has evaporated. And your enemies, if they have the displeasure of tasting these brownies, will be suitably revolted.

However, I am not going to grace you with my recipe. Just in case some unwitting soul skips right to the recipe and wastes a great deal of time, hope and promises on delivering a plate heavy with brownies. You’re welcome.

And as a postscript, it was suggested to me by a friend that Jean may have simply written down the parts of the recipe she thought she may forget. That in all her cookery experience she had no need of cocoa quantities, no need to state the obvious with the nuts, no need to discuss oven temperatures and baking dishes. I like this interpretation. It’s nicer than thinking of Jean purposefully omitting things from her cookbook during her youth, to the chagrin of her grandchildren some 80 years down the track.

Yes, so, I am currently on the search of the perfect brownie recipe. I sorely need to redeem myself in the eyes of my disappointed younger brothers. Do you have a tried and tested go-to never-fail smiles-all-round brownie recipe? All tips, directions or commiserations will be gratefully received!

Meg

Coconut ice from across the seas

Posted on by under Slices

Coconut ice

Coconut ice originates from post-war England.

Sugar was no longer scarce. Sweet tooths long oppressed returned with a vengeance. Housewives set to the task of lavishing sweetness upon their husbands and children. And so coconut ice was born.

Sweet, moreish morsels made creamy by the addition of coconut. They are cute as a button, don’t you think? How joyous it must have been to see a plate heaped with these pink and white slices after the years of rations during the war.

It would be rare for an Australian child to be unfamiliar with coconut ice. But unfortunately, the youngest generation have been regaled with supermarket versions of the sweet. Anaemic, uniform rectangles that fit into their rectangle plastic cubicles and further wrapped with hospital-issue-esque plastic sleeves. If there is any romance in such sweets, it is a mundane and bland romance indeed.

So, in the spirit of recreating Jean’s menu, I donned one of my aprons (floral) and set to work on her recipe.

I have read that there are two versions of coconut ice. The more mainstream version calls for condensed milk and icing sugar. It is a simple mix and set method. The less well-known version requires the cook to create a sugar syrup of sorts, blended in with the coconut and then press the pillowy mixture into a pan to set. It is the latter version that Jean documented.

Given the success of the cream puffs the other day, I had high hopes for this coconut ice recipe. I mean, it truly rejoices in the human desire for sweet, toothsome treats. And what joyless soul could say that is a bad thing?

I made two batches as my first batch turned to ashy coconut dust after I duly boiled the mixture for 15 minutes. The second batch I boiled for only 5 minutes. This yielded a more pleasing texture. However, I was a little heavy-handed with the food colouring. Instead of a pale blush pink, my confections are a lush, jewel-like magenta.

And as for the taste? Well I have to admit that I do not have the kind of palate that craves intense sweetness. Chocolate? Sure. Cakes? Certainly. But I can give or take lollies. And when I tasted these cute little rectangles when they were just set, they were like an edible sugar injection. For kids, a fast train to candy-licious heaven. That said, after a night mellowing in the fridge the coconut flavour has really intensified. So the key here is a generous resting time in the fridge.

So would I recommend the recipe? Yes, if you love sweets. Or, like me, you fell in love with the romantic history of coconut ice.

Meg

PS. Oh, and I meant to mention Podkins’ board on pinterest of old books. I’m a little bit in love.

~~~

Coconut ice

Coconut ice


1 cup sugar

¼ cup milk

½ cup desiccated coconut

Red (or pink) food colouring

 

Line a loaf tin with baking paper. It does not need to be oven-proof. Even a rectangular lunch box tub will do.

Add the sugar, milk and coconut to a saucepan. Bring to the boil and stir continuously for 5 minutes. This ensures the sugar dissolves, softens the coconut and infuses the mixture with a divine fragrance.

Take the saucepan off the heat. Spoon half of the mixture into the lined tin. Press the soft mixture down, making sure there are no gaps. Add about 3 drops of food colouring into the remaining coconut mixture. If using pink colouring you will need to add more to get a flushed rosy hue. Mix well before spooning over the white layer in the baking tray. Press down.

Allow to set in the refrigerator or, alternatively, sit the dish on the bench to glisten and tease your family until it has cooled completely. Cut into rectangles and serve with a nice cup of tea.