Category Archives: Coconut

Vintage Cooking: Scott’s Farewell Square

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Several weeks ago I was reading about the centenary memorials for Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his crew, who died returning from the South Pole in 1912.

Scott’s is a remarkable story. His led his second expedition to Antartica, the Terra Nova Expedition, with the express objective of being the first to reach the South Pole. The mission would be a race, with Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen also planning an expedition.

No way home: All members of Scott's expedition, from left Laurence Oates, H R Bowers, Scott, Edward Wilson and Edgar Evans perished on the return journey from the South Pole

Scott and his crew; from left: Oates, Bowers, Scott, Wilson and Evans (photo credit here)

Scott’s expedition was plagued with misfortune, but Scott and his colleagues Edward Wilson, Henry Bowers, Lawrence Oates and Edgar Evans finally reached the South Pole on 17 January 1912. Unfortunately, they arrived to the heartbreaking news that Amundsen’s team had beaten them by 33 days.

Doomed mission: Scott, right, and his team attempted to be the first to reach the South Pole but on arrival found Roald Amundsen's tent and a record showing he'd discovered the pole two months previously

photo credit here

Scott and his colleagues started the march back to base, but all five perished on the way. Edgar Evans was lost following falls on a glacier. A month later, Oates was barely able to walk, and left the tent voluntarily, famously saying “I am just going outside and may be some time.” The three remaining men marched a further 20 miles and set up camp 11 miles away from their base depot. A blizzard then prevented further progress. Supplies ran out and the men eventually succumbed to cold, starvation and exhaustion.

Why is this on my blog?

The centenary of Scott’s death reminded me of a recipe I spotted in Alexa Johnston’s book Ladies, A Plate. The recipe had originally caught my eye because Alexa had found the recipe in an old book that was produced by St Mark’s Presbyterian Church in Pine Hill, Dunedin – that happens to be the neighbourhood church where I grew up; I was christened there in fact! It would appear the recipe was invented as a farewell when Scott had departed Port Chalmers, Dunedin for the Antarctic in 1910 – Dunedin had been given a half-day’s holiday and thousands turned out to farewell the party. As Alexa says, the square has plenty to sustain a man on a long cold journey.

I must admit I didn’t have huge expectations for the slice – looking through the recipe, it has the hallmark ingredients of any common vintage NZ slice recipe – Weet Bix, coconut, dates… yawn, I thought. But I was wrong.

It turned out far more delicious than I had expected – I think the huge quantity of dates keeps the base really moist, and the chunks of interesting bits makes it perilously addictive. I was supposed to send the batch with my husband to work the next day, but not that much made it there.

I highly recommend making this square in honour of Scott and his team. It’s also my entry for this month’s Sweet NZ, hosted by Frances at Bake Club.

Scott’s Farewell Square
Recipe from St Mark’s Presbyterian Church, Pine Hill, Dunedin
Reproduced in Ladies, A Plate by Alexa Johnston

4oz butter
6 oz brown sugar
1 dsp golden syrup
1 egg
6oz flour
pinch salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 Tbsp cocoa
3oz coconut
2oz walnuts
4 Weet Bix
4oz dates
2oz raisins

Icing:
1 cup icing sugar
2 Tbsp cocoa
1 Tbsp butter
extra coconut, for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 190°C. Line a  shallow tin with baking paper.

Cream the butter and sugar until light, then mix in the golden syrup and the egg, combining everything well. Sift in the flour, salt, baking powder and cocoa and mix to combine, then add the remaining ingredients. Stir everything thoroughly together. Tip the mixture into the prepared tin, spread it out evenly, and bake for 15-20 minutes. Remove from the oven and put on a wire rack to cool.

Make a thin chocolate icing from icing sugar sifted with cocoa and mixed to a spreading consistency with melted butter and little hot water. Spread over the cake, sprinkle with coconut and cut into squares when the icing has set.

Note: if golden syrup isn’t available where you are: firstly, that’s very sad. Secondly, try using maple syrup instead.

(References for this article come from Wikipedia, and news articles here, here and here, as well as Ladies, A Plate).

Raspberry Cloud Cake

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Golly, I thought I was off to a good start writing my first post back on 1 January 2012, but then I haven’t been back until now! I’ve been trying some new dishes over the last week so I’ve got a few things to share with you over the next few days. I hope you’re enjoying a fabulous summer!

It was my birthday earlier this week. Hooray! I was very spoilt. We had my husband’s sister and her partner staying, so all had pancakes at our local cafe Peppermill, then my sister-in-law and I went into town for manicures and the boys cooked us a bbq dinner. Obviously our nails were too delicate to do dishes, so the boys covered that too.

As for dessert, I told my family that I wanted to make it myself. The thing is, I have loads of dessert and cake recipes marked to try, but throughout the year, there’s only two of us, and  we’re fairly conscious of eating healthily, so I don’t always have the opportunity to try them out. So on my birthday, I allow myself to make whatever I want, regardless of how terrible it is for you, or how few people there are to eat it (ironically, this recipe isn’t actually that bad for you, and there were four of us, so we got through it over a couple of days).

I chose this recipe from Annabel Langbein’s The Free Range Cook. It’s a lovely book and worth having for the scenic photography alone. I’ve made a bunch of recipes from the book; I love the way it lists a recipe that might turn into a marinade, salad dressing, dipping sauce, etc. for loads of different foods and dishes, so you get a lot of mileage out of the time you invest in the kitchen. I’ve had my eye on the gorgeous photo of the Strawberry Cloud Cake for ages. The time had come. I used my favourite raspberries in this version, but you can use fresh sliced strawberries, too, as per the original, or I was thinking blueberries might also make a nice variation, maybe with lemon or orange…

I used frozen raspberries. I know they’re in season at the moment – but they are so expensive fresh! And when you’re just going to freeze them anyway… fresh seemed like a silly idea. I used Orchard Gold berries which were terrific.

This cake looks impressive but is SO easy. My sister-in-law asked how I made it, and I told her the ingredients, and described the method as “Stir. Put. Chill. Beat. Put. Freeze.”

Make sure you do have a springform tin before you start; I wouldn’t like to try turning this out of a plain cake tin! And I’m no nutritionist, but please also note that as it contains uncooked egg, very young ‘uns and pregnant ladies might like to steer clear.

One more tip – if you use a dairy-free spread, this cake will be dairy-free, and I think the biscuit crumbs are the only gluten-containing ingredient, so if you use gluten free biscuits, you’ll have a gluten-free cake, too.

Raspberry Cloud Cake
Adapted from Annabel Langbein’s “Strawberry Cloud Cake” in The Free Range Cook
Serves 8-10

Base
150g wine biscuits, crushed into crumbs (or any plain sweet biscuits)
½ cup dessicated coconut
1½ tsp cinnamon
100g butter, melted

Filling
2 egg whites, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
250g frozen raspberries (don’t thaw them, use them frozen)
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract

To serve
fresh or (thawed) frozen raspberries
white chocolate

Line the base of a 26cm springform cake tin with baking paper. I also gave the sides of the tin a light spritz with non-stick spray, just in case.

To make the base, mix the biscuit crumbs, coconut, cinnamon and melted butter together, and press firmly into the base of the prepared tin. It will be quite a thin base. Put that in the fridge while you make the filling.

Put the egg whites, sugar, frozen raspberries, lemon juice and vanilla in an electric mixer and beat for about 8 minutes. The mixture will be thick and fluffy, and you shouldn’t be able to feel any gritty sugar when you rub a little bit of the mixture between your fingers. Using a scraper, pile the mixture on top of the chilled base. I had serious doubts about whether all my mixture would fit, but keep flattening it down and you should be ok!

Place a sheet of baking paper over the top of the filling, and put the cake in the freezer for at least 4 hours. Annabel says it will keep in an airtight container in the freezer for up to a month.

To serve, top with extra raspberries and white chocolate. Note: did I bother to properly drain and pat dry the thawed raspberries? No. Did the colour start spread out across the cake as soon as I placed them on top? Yes. Did I try and disguise it by hurrying white chocolate buttons onto the cake? Yes. Did it work? Wee-eell, I suggest drying the berries next time, but keeping the chocolate anyway. 
Cut the cake with a knife that’s been run under very hot water and dried. Prepare to gasp as you bite into the marshmallowy deliciousness.

ANZAC Biscuits

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I have a raft of sweet posts saved up for the next few days… I had a bit of a baking festival over the last couple of weeks. All my favourite biscuits and puddings. My golden baking rule is that I’m not to bake unless we are expecting people or it is destined to be taken off-site (work morning teas, gifts, etc). I have not been following this rule. Sigh.

But I am on a new health kick inspired by the lovely spring weather. So for now the baked goods are safely tucked locked away in the freezer. I’m a pretty healthy eater all the time actually, so it’s not too severe a change, but I’ll admit that typing up these recipes and adding images to the post isn’t easy… the freezer is calling me. Caaaaaaaaaaaallliiiiiiing me. Must remind self of beautiful fresh and healthy recipe posts coming up in another week or two.

For now, I hope you like ANZAC biscuits! I love them. They fall into my beloved category of fairly modest baking – they’re not the size of a CD and the height of a thick book, bulked up with chocolate. While I love multi-media sized chocolate-stuffed food, I can’t eat it every day. But ANZAC biscuits, like my Grandma’s apple shortcake and my Nana’s jam drops make an ordinary afternoon cup of tea a little more ‘treaty’ without turning it into a meal. Know what I mean?

This recipe makes lovely chewy, golden syrupy biscuits. They compete with gingernuts for the coveted ‘best biscuit with cup of tea’ title. They’re good on baking day but even better the next. If you haven’t tried making ANZAC biscuits at home before, try this recipe out. They are nicer than bought ones (I should know, I bought the tin and ate the originals!).

ANZAC Biscuits

1 cup rolled oats*
1 cup coconut
¾ cup flour**
1 cup sugar
4oz butter
2 Tbsp golden syrup
1 tsp baking soda
2 Tbsp boiling water

*I used the big wholegrain ones this time around, but normal porridge type oats are the classics
**Try wholemeal flour. It doesn’t negate the butter and sugar, but you might feel more virtuous!

Preheat the oven to 180° and line baking trays with baking paper.

Mix together the oats, coconut, flour and sugar. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan, gently heat the butter and golden syrup, stirring them so they melt together. Find a small ramekin or cup and mix together the baking soda and boiling water. Let it fizz a wee bit and dissolve before adding it to the saucepan. Keep it over the low heat and stir the mixture very briefly- it will foam up a bit and smell divine. Add this mixture to the bowl of dry ingredients. Stir the lot together – the mixture will form a crumbly dough.

I use a round (as in hemi-spherical, if that’s a word) tablespoon measure to form the biscuits. I use it like an ice cream scoop, pack it fairly firmly and gently ease the little mound of dough onto the baking tray. Don’t flatten them, they do that on their own in the oven – so be sure to leave a bit of space around each biscuit. Mine take exactly 10 minutes. Leave them to cool a little and firm up on the trays before transferring to a rack to cool completely. Makes 36.

When is a macaron not a macaron?

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When it’s a macaroon!

I know, this isn’t a new debate, and it seems to drive some people bananas. So I might as well just wade on in there.

To clarify, these French almond meringue type confections, sandwiched together with ganache or buttercream, are macarons:

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These coconut puff-type biscuits, also made with ground almonds, which you were more likely to find on a ’70s New Zealand afternoon tea table, are macaroons:

What drives people nuts is that the French sandwiched macarons are often referred to as macaroons. And I’ll admit, that when I posted on them a while back, I referred to them as macarons but called the post Swoons for Macaroons.

I’m usually an annoying perfectionist when it comes to this kind of thing (I have a major in linguistics and languages – including French; I pretty much studied pedanticism at university). But I really wanted to call that post Swoons for Macaroons! I was weak; what can I say.

And I’m not entirely ashamed. I’m in good company calling them macaroons – proper macarons have been referred to as such by Cuisine magazine, Nigella Lawson, and even at Ruth Pretty’s a few weeks ago we kept stopping to correct ourselves – including Ruth!

However, in the interests of accuracy, here is a humble apology. I should have held off using the Swoons for Macaroons title a few weeks ago, and saved it up for a post on this most deserving of biscuits. Coconut macaroons seem a little… unloved. But I rather like them. Also, I’m not an expert on dietary requirements, but this recipe appears to be gluten free. Even better!

This is a recipe from Nigella Lawson’s How To Be A Domestic Goddess. It’s a favourite book, it makes me wish I had loads more people to cook and bake for. I want to try so many of the recipes but we don’t have that many occasions for her gorgeous desserts and cakes unfortunately! I’ll keep chipping away at it though.

Coconut Macaroons

2 large egg whites
¼ tsp cream of tartar
100g caster sugar
30g ground almonds
pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract (or coconut essence)
250g shredded coconut

Preheat the oven to 170°C and line a baking tray or two with baking paper.

Beat the egg whites until frothy – no more – then add the cream of tartar. I like Nigella’s instruction to then “carry on beating, Missus, until soft peaks are formed.” Add the sugar, a teaspoon at a time, and whisk until the peaks can hold their shape and are shiny. Fold in the almonds, salt, vanilla and coconut. The mixture will be sticky but should still hold its shape when clumped together.

Nigella recommends forming into domes about 6-7cm in diameter (resulting in 8 from this mixture). I prefer these little mallow puff-sized treats, but you can really make them whatever size you want. I think this batch made about 16. I don’t flatten them; Nigella and I think they look nice as little mounds – but again, I guess it’s personal taste!

Nigella’s cook for 20 minutes, until they’re just beginning to turn golden in parts. Mine took more like 12-15, so check them often according to how large you’ve made them. Viva La Macaroon!