Slices that used condensed milk and copha were very popular in the ’70s and ’80s. In our family there were quite a few recipes that were shared between Mum, my aunties and even by then my sisters-in-law. Instead of icing the slice this one uses a bar of milk chocolate as the topping. The copha is added in to prevent the chocolate cracking when you cut it.
These are more of a biscuit than a little cake, but they are another one of Mum’s afternoon tea and supper treats.
It looks like Mum’s collected this recipe off the back of the condensed milk tin. I don’t especially remember her making it, but it looks great and I think I’ll try it out myself.
I can remember Mum having these in the biscuit tin when my brothers and I came home from school ravenous. They still taste good and while they’re still great to have in the tin when the kids get home, adults done mind them either.
I don’t remember Mum making lots and lots of biscuits, but she did make quite a few slices in her time. Unbaked ones like this one were always a favourite, especially in summer when using the oven heated up the kitchen too much. These days with air conditioners that isn’t so much of a problem, but unbaked slices are still a quite a good way to make a sweet treat.
Of the two Christmas treats, these always disappear first. They are quick and easy to make, especially if you buy the apricots already chopped. I always roll them in icing sugar as there is already heaps of coconut inside them.
Every Christmas I make these Chocolate Rum Truffles and the next recipe Apricot Coconut Balls. When my children were little I used to make them, put them in jars and give them to their teachers as a Christmas gift. I’ve kept making them ever year since. The recipe came from a newspaper cutting that I pasted into my folder years ago. As we don’t read the same newspaper I was really surprised to find the same cutting in Mum’s collection. I’m now wondering how I ended up with it, but I’m glad I did.
Just for variety I thought this more biscuit style recipe might be worth trying. Mum cut it out from the Australian Women’s weekly back in March 2001. I haven’t calculated the cost to make them, but I think it would be a bit more than $1.50 these days.
I’m not sure I ever made one of Mum’s shortbread recipes. I found this one in an Australian Women’s Weekly 100 delicious Biscuits and Slices cookbook just after I got married and it’s the one I usually make. I like it because it is cooked in a tray and cut into fingers. The metric butter measurement is 220g.
As well as lots of handwritten recipes I found this one in the collection. It comes from the side of the Rice Flour packet.
