To be honest I can’t imagine why Mum would have cut out and saved this recipe. I doubt she’s ever tasted bourbon in her life and while she likes a glass of sherry or white wine, I’ve never seen her drink either brandy, cognac or whisky. She does like and often used to make the old style bread and butter pudding, maybe she thought one day she’d go wild…..
On a cold winter’s night Mum often made a steamed pudding for dessert. It was an quick, economical dessert for a family of five. I think it also worked well for Mum as you could put it on to cook mid-afternoon and not have to make it during the tea time rush. This recipe she cut out from the Herald Sun is great because it gives lots of variations of the basic mixture.
I have no idea how this got the name ‘Dutch’ tart, it’s one of the mysteries of Mum’s old recipes. It’s made in a swiss roll tin, a tray that has slightly raised edges (about 2 to 3cm deep) and has dimensions of roughly 23 x 33xm, so it’s hardly a tart, more of a slice really, but who can argue with their Mother….
DUTCH TART
Rub 60g butter into 1 cup plain flour. Mix to a stiff paste with milk. Roll out to fit swiss roll tin. Spread with raspberry jam. Top with cake mixture.
Cake mixture: 5 tablespoons butter, ½ cup sugar, 1 cup self raising flour, ½ cup milk, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon mixed spice, 1 tablespoon chopped dates, 1 tablespoon sultanas, 2 tablespoons walnuts. Cream butter & sugar. Add sifted flour and spices, mix in dried fruits and walnuts and milk. Spread on top of pastry. Bake moderate oven 180o for 30 mins. When cool spread over lemon icing.
I was surprised to find this recipe in Mum’s collection. I’ve made Florentine biscuits many times, but this is the first time I’ve seen a recipe for it as a slice.
This slice looks quite luscious, but then you can’t go far wrong with chocolate, sultanas, cherries, coconut and almonds – can you?
For quite a few years this was one of Mum’s favourite dessert recipes, probably because Dad liked it on his nightly bowl of ice cream. Everytime I looked in their fridge there seemed to be a jar there marinating. I think with the addition of a few other fruits it could still be good today.
Mum saved this recipe from the Herald and Sun cooking column. I think it’s a great slice/slab cake recipe as you don’t need to cream the butter and sugar, you just put the sultanas, water, butter and sugar into a pot, heat then cool, then add the dry ingredients – couldn’t be easier. I made it without the nuts, but I’m sure with them tastes good as well. It certainly disappeared fast.
Beb's Recipe Drawer 