ORANGE CRISP BISCUITS

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These biscuits are a little unusual as they use jelly crystals in place of sugar. The original recipe has orange flavoured jelly, but I’m sure you could use other flavours successfully. I top them off with a chocolate button just to add an extra kick.

Final

ORANGE CRISP BISCUITS

  • 125g butter
  • 1 packet orange jelly crystals
  • 30g sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 60g coconut
  • 60g ground rice
  • 125g plain flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • Pinch of salt
  • Chocolate buttons

Cream butter with jelly crystals and sugar. Add beaten egg and the dry ingredients previously mixed together. Place in small spoonfuls on a tray lined with baking paper and bake 15-20 minutes at 180ºC.

MRS WOOD’S XMAS CAKES – 2 SOLDIER’S CAKE TINS

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I’m sure Mum would have gotten this recipe from Mrs Wood to bake cakes to send over to Dad in England during WW2. Mrs Wood was Mum’s sister’s mother-in-law. She was a wonderful cook and I can remember visiting her house in East Malvern where there would always be plates of biscuits and freshly baked cake for afternoon tea. The Soldier’s Cake Tins referred to were used to bake a cake in to be sent overseas to the troops. The tins came with a lid so the cakes were baked then sealed to be sent off. Cake shops also sold fruit cakes that fitted into the special “Willow” cake tins. Fruit cakes with brandy were usually the cakes made this way as the brandy stopped the cake going mouldy during the time it took to reach the soldiers, wherever they were serving.

Mrs Wood's Xmas Cakes

MRS WOOD’S XMAS CAKES

  • 500g butter
  • 8 eggs
  • 500g castor sugar
  • 500g plain flour
  • 125g Self Raising Flour
  • 1kg sultanas
  • 500g raisins
  • 250g currants
  • 125g mixed peel
  • 60g almonds
  • 2 tablespoons brandy
  • 1 teaspoon mixed spice
  • 1 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon carb soda
  • 2 tablespoons boiling water

Combine the fruit and brandy, leave overnight to marinate. Beat the butter and sugar together, add eggs one at a time. Add sifted flours and spices. Add fruit and nuts. Combine boiling water and carb soda and mix in well. Bake in prepared tins – 3 hours, turn after 1½ hours. Soldier tins measured 7½ inches = approx 20cm. So the mixture makes 2 x 20cm cakes – the ingredients can be halved for 1 cake.

CHOCOLATE HAZELNUT SLICE

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This is a great example of Mum collecting the ingredients and basic cooking method and working the rest out as she went along. The way it’s been written down it looks like the block of Hazelnut Chocolate was almost an afterthought, but it certainly adds to the flavour. When we made it we changed the almond to hazelnuts, but you could make it with plain chocolate and the almonds if you liked, I guess that would make it a Choc Almond Slice though. The verdict the way we made it was Yummm.

Choc Hazelnut Slice CROP

 

CHOCOLATE HAZELNUT SLICE

  • 1 block Hazelnut chocolate
  • 125g butter
  • ½ tin condensed milk
  • 2 tablespoons golden syrup
  • 1 packet slivered almonds
  • 1 packet Marie biscuits

Combine butter, condensed milk and golden syrup. When mixed add crushed biscuits, almonds and melted block of chocolate. Mix well and spread into tray. Put in fridge until set.

ZUCCHINI CAKE

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Around the 1970s it became popular to grown zucchinis in backyard vegetable patches, they were easy to grow and produced a good crop. As a result recipes for slices, soups, and cakes started to pop up everywhere. This cake is just one of the many. We tried it out without the nuts, mixed fruit or coconut. It came out very moist and we feel that it needs the either the nuts or fruit to give it more flavour. Lemon icing would be a good addition as well.

Zuccini Cake

ZUCCHINI CAKE

  • 1kg zucchini (small one are best)
  • 3 eggs
  • 2¼ cups sugar
  • 3 teaspoons vanilla essence
  • 1 cup oil
  • 2 cups Self Raising flour
  • 1 cup plain flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon carb soda
  • 3 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 cup of either walnuts, mixed fruit or ½ cup coconut – if desired

Wash and grate zucchinis (skin and all). Beat eggs well and gradually add sugar and beat till thick and creamy. Add vanilla, oil and zucchini and nuts/fruit/coconut, if using, mix well. Add dry ingredients that have been sifted together. Pour mixture into 2 loaf tins or a large cake tin. Bake at 180ºC for 1 hour or 1¼ if using larger tin. Mixture is not very thick. Ice, if desired.

HOT & SPICY ALMONDS

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Long before we found out that almonds were so good for us Mum was making these for nibbling on.

Hot Spicy Almonds

HOT & SPICY ALMONDS

  • 250g unbalanced whole almonds
  • 1 teaspoon chilli powder (or paprika if less spicy wanted)
  • 1 large clove garlic
  • 50g chopped butter
  • Salt

Peel & crush garlic, put in heavy frying pan with all the other ingredients. Place over medium heat and toss mixture with spatula or wooden spoon until nuts turn light brown and look nicely crisp. Allow to cool and store in a clean jar.

CHICKEN & TORTELLINI SALAD

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Mum used whatever pieces of paper came to hand to write down recipes. This piece had someone’s address on it, but there was still lots of blank space to add a recipe!!

Chicken & Tortellini Salad cropped

CHICKEN & TORTELLINI SALAD

  • 300g tri coloured tortellini
  • 2 teaspoons oil
  • 4 single chicken fillets
  • ½ bunch English spinach shredded
  • 1 large ripe tomato finely chopped
  • Lemon rind to garnish

Dressing:

  • 2 teaspoons French mustard
  • 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
  • 1 clove garlic crushed
  • ¼ cup lemon juice
  • ½ cup light olive oil

Add pasta to a large pan of boiling water. Boil uncovered till tender. Drain. Rinse pasta under cold water, drain well. Meanwhile, heat oil in non stick pan, add fillets, cook 5 mins on each side or until cooked. Cut diagonally into 2 cm strips. Make dressing – combine all ingredients in jar, shake well. Combine, pasta, fillets, spinach and tomato in large bowl, add dressing toss well. Garnish with lemon rind.