pretend truffles

these are pretend truffles, and purists will scoff and say worse, but i think they aren't half bad considering they have pretty healthy ingredients. again, i made these with the thermomix...it was there, and when it's there, it's easy to use.

250 grams almonds, brazil nuts, sunflower seeds.....whatever nut/seed you have on hand
75 grams sesame seeds
100 grams honey
40 grams cocoa

place everything in the thermomix bowl and blitz on speed 10 for 5-10 seconds, depending on the texture you like. form the mixture into balls, roll in coconut and refrigerate to firm up before serving.

homemade granola

a couple of years ago, miss c went camping with a group of friends and they had to rough it (read: bring their own food and cook it). by chance, i made a batch of this truly delicious concoction and insisted that she bring a couple of snaplock bags of it along. she wasn't keen to bring it, not because it wasn't yum, but because she felt it might have defeated the purpose of the camp, but brought 2 packets along.
on her return to civilisation, she expressed her regret. everyone wanted some of her precious snack, and not only that, they wanted the recipe!!!!
take this recipe as a base and add to and subtract, so you can customise it to your own liking - i like adding my fruits and nuts to the granola just before serving so i can vary it to what i'm feeling like having on the day. if you like your nuts toasted, add them while the granola is being toasted.
no need to say, this also makes a fine snack and a good trail mix substitute.

4 cups rolled oats
2 cups shredded or dessicated coconut
2 cups sliced almonds
3/4 cup light olive oil
1/2 cup honey
6 cups of your favourite dried fruits and nuts - i like cherries, cranberries (craisins), apricots, pears, cashews, pepitas, raw almonds

preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius.
line a large baking sheet with baking paper.
toss the oats, coconut, and almonds together in a large bowl.
whisk together the oil and honey in a small bowl and pour over the oat mixture and mix it around with a wooden spoon until well combined and all the oats and nuts are coated. pour onto the baking sheet and spread evenly and lightly - you don't want the clumps of granola to be dense because they'll be rock hard after baking. *
bake, stirring every now and then, until the mixture becomes golden and toasty, about 45 minutes. make sure your granola dries completely because any dampness will cause it to go stale quickly.
remove the granola from the oven and allow to cool, stirring occasionally. if you wish, add your dried fruits and nuts of choice at this stage and combine well.
store the cooled granola in an airtight container.

*these days, i use my thermomix to do a lot of the work; i melt the honey and oil together in the thermomix and toss the oats, coconut and almonds into the bowl and let the machine do all the stirring before tipping everything out onto the baking sheets for baking.

choclate crackles

miss c had her party on saturday, and she made specific requests; she wanted fairy bread and chocolate crackles. can you believe it? she's nearly 18 (we had the party early) and she wanted children's party food. beanstalk did voice his disdain by asking if i had to listen to her, but then, i had already worked out what i was hoping to do.
the fairy bread was a real hit. it was gone...
chocolate crackles were popular too, but the time they were brought out, most of the crowd had had their fill.

250 grams copha
5 cups rice bubbles
1 cup coconut
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
5 tablespoons cocoa

melt the copha.
combine the rice bubbles, coconut, icing sugar and cocoa in a large bowl and pour over the copha and mix thoroughly.
spoon into 24 paper patty pans and leave to set.

that's it.

lemon coconut squares

i know this slice is as old as the hills and most people know how to make it, but i had never made it until recently. i avoided making it because i knew how delicious it was, having eaten other people's creations; i had to show some restraint - if i made it, i'd eat it, simple as that. what was i thinking?

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
125 grams butter
250 grams biscuit crumbs
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 cup coconut

lemon icing
1 3/4 cups icing sugar
3 tablespoons lemon juice
30 grams butter

place condensed milk and butter in a small saucepan and stir over gentle heat until the butter melts. stir in the biscuit crumbs, rind and coconut and combine well. press into a laminton pan lined with baking paper. chill for an hour.
make the lemon icing by combining the icing sugar, lemon juice and butter until smooth. spread over the prepared base and allow to set. once set, cut into squares to serve.

anzac biscuits

i always like to make anzac biscuits on anzac day. this is what we do.

there are lots of recipes out there for anzac biscuits and most are quite similar and contain the essential ingredients. this is my favourite recipe for them. mind you, when i make them, quantities sometimes vary, especially with the golden syrup. i usually eyeball that because it's messy to measure (i know you can warm the syrup or oil your measuring utensil of choice and all that, but these are homemade biscuits and it's good to have inconsistency with homemade. that's what makes it special), and invariably put in too much, but that's all right - the biscuits still turn out fine.

1 1 /4 rolled oats
1 cup plain flour
3/4 cup desiccated coconut
3/4 cup brown sugar
125 grams butter
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons golden syrup
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

preheat the oven to 150 degrees celcius.

line a baking tray with baking paper.

combine the butter, water and golden syrup in a medium saucepan. place over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the butter melts. remove from the heat and stir in the bicarbonate of soda.

combine the oats, flour, coconut and sugar in a medium bowl and mix well.

pour the oat mixture into the saucepan and stir to combine.

roll the mixture into walnut sized balls and place on the lined baking tray about 5 centimetres apart.

press the balls down slightly with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar.

bake the biscuits for about 20 minutes or until done to your liking. if you like them chewy, try 18 minutes. if you like them crunchy, try 22 minutes.

sit down and enjoy these biscuits with a glass of milk or put a scoop of your favourite icecream between two biscuits and have yourself a anzac ice cream sandwich.....if you are someone with patience, put the wrapped ice cream sandwich in the freezer for a while and let the biscuits soften - i love them this way, but hey, if you're a crunchy person, you do your thing.

coconut mint crunch kisses by whisks

sounds like a real mouthful, doesn't it? well, i really tried to shorten it down from "chocolate coconut peppermint crunch kisses"!
i made these for miss k to take to her coeliac friend's place this morning. i was actually trying to think of what gluten free treat to make last night, but only came up with this recipe this morning. yesterday, we went to sticky where we got a huge bag of pepermint candy and i was determined to think of some thing gluten free to make with them. initial thoughts were to make a slice with the crushed candies and rice cookies, but the combination just didn't appeal to me, so this is what i came up with. if everything is at hand, and the candies crushed, this really only takes a moment to make - the rest is chilling time - it took me less than 10 minutes (felt like 5) to put together and while it was in the fridge, i had my shower and breakfast. it was then chilled sufficiently to cut and bring to lizzie's place!

375 grams dark chocolate
150 grams butter
300 grams peppermint candies, crushed
1 1/2-2 cups shredded coconut

melt the butter and chocolate on defrost in the microwave. once the mixture starts feeling quite warm, stir until smooth. add the candies and coconut gradually, stirring to coat. pour into a lined 15cm x 26cm tin. smooth the surface and sprinkle with extra shredded coconut. cool, then refrigerate. once firm, use a round 3cm cookies cutter to cut out the kisses to serve.