Autumn Fingers

Ingredients

½ cup     flour                    70g

½ cup     coconut               45g

1 cup      rolled oats           100g

2 oz        walnuts                60g

Pinch      salt                        pinch

½ cup     brown sugar       100g

¼ cup     sugar                    50g

4oz         butter                   115g

2 tsp       golden syrup       30g

½ tsp      baking soda        ½ tsp

½ tsp      vanilla essence   ½ tsp

Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C and line a shallow 12 x 8in/30 x21 cm tin with baking paper, or grease it lightly. Chop the walnuts.

1.      Combine the flour, coconut, rolled oats, walnuts and salt in a large bowl. Add the sugars and mix well.

2.      Put the butter, golden syrup and sifted baking soda in a saucepan and melt gently together over a medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until the mixture begins to froth. Pour it onto the dry ingredients and add the vanilla essence.

3.      Stir until everything is combined and press the mixture evenly into the prepared tin and bake for 15-20 minutes until it is golden brown, rotating the tin after 10 minutes. Try not to overcook it.

4.      Cut into bars while hot, pressing the edges gently back down if they roughen. Cool in the tin and store airtight. Makes 24

This was served at a group I went to for supper and I loved it so I asked for the recipe. It has a sweet, nutty, chew, ANZAC biscuit taste. It is from the book A Second Helping by Alexa Johnston, a sequel to her first book, Ladies a Plate.

I followed the instructions as it was written adding the vanilla essence into the melted mixture before I poured it all into the dry ingredients..
I baked it for the full 20 minutes but my oven is a bit hot so it was slightly over cooked. I will probably try it just for 15 minutes next time giving it a bit more if needed.

I will be keeping this one and maybe even buying the book and her first one!

Vi-Bran Muffins

140g (5 oz/1large cup) Flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

115g (4oz 1. 5 cups) Vi Bran

55g (2oz 1/4 cup) sugar

1 egg

1 level tsp soda

225g (8oz) milk

1 tbsp golden syrup

1 tbsp butter

Sift flour, baking powder and salt.

Add Vi-Bran and sugar.

Beat egg well, add soda dissolved in milk, then butter and golden syrup, warmed together.

Stir liquid quickly into the dry ingredients until the flour is just dampened.

Put in cold, greased patty tins.

Bake at 220 deg C for 12-15 minutes.

For variety, raisins may be added.

This is a very old recipe off the back of an Elfin Vi-Bran packet. You can use any baking bran.

I followed the recipe to the instructions beating the egg, adding the soda and milk. I heated the butter and golden syrup and mixed that in to the eggy mixture, before turning it all into the dry ingredients and gently folding it all together. I used a cup of sultanas as a 'variety' and had tossed them in the dry ingredients first. I actually found I only made 11 muffins as there wasn't enough mixture to go around my 12 medium sized muffin tin.
I cooked them for about 14 minutes and that may have been a bit long.

They are a nice bran flavour but are best eaten warm and with a bit of spread - I used butter.

Orange Sultana Cake with Orange Icing

1 ½ cups Pam’s sultanas

250g Pam’s butter

½ cup Pam’s orange juice

1 cup Pam’s sugar

3 Pam’s eggs

2 cups Pam’s flour

2 teaspoons Pam’s baking powder

½ cup Pam’s milk

Orange Icing

1 ¾ cups Pam’s icing sugar

3 tablespoons Pam’s orange juice

Place sultanas in a saucepan.

Chop butter roughly.

Add to saucepan with orange juice.

Heat until butter has melted.

Cool

Mix sugar and eggs together and combine with sultana mixture

Sift over flour and baking powder and mix in with milk.

Pour into a baking paper lined 20cm square tin.

Bake at 160 deg C for 1 hour 20 minutes or until cake springs back

Cool.

Spread with Orange Icing.

Orange Icing.

Sift icing sugar.

Mix in orange juice until combined.

Pam’s is a brand name for store products found in New Zealand in New world and Pak’n’Sav stores.

I used the products I have, but the same ingredients if you understand what I mean.

I heated the sultanas, chopped butter and orange juice and before the butter had completely melted I removed the pot from the heat and stirred the mixture allowing the butter to completely melt.

I find this helps speed up the cooling down process.

While it was cooling I prepared the cake tin and the other ingredients:

Beat the sugar and eggs together, and sifted the dry ingredients.

I then added the egg mixture stirring it in and then stirred in the flour and milk together.

It is quite runny so there is no need to worry about folding it in.

I poured the mixture into my butter paper lined tin and baked it for the time needed.

It could have been cooked for slightly let time.

I made the icing and iced it when it was cold.

I find icing a fruit cake looks more professional if you tip the cake upside down so you are actually icing the base.

This is a good easy fruit cake to make and it is not rich but has a mild orange flavour.

Ginger Fruit Bars

1 tablespoon golden syrup

3 tablespoons First Choice Spread

¼ cup caster sugar

¼ cup boiling water

3 First Choice Wheat Biscuits, crushed

1 cup First Choice Self Raising Flour

1 cup coconut

1 cup chopped pitted dates

½ cup finely chopped preserved ginger

½ cup chopped walnuts

Place syrup, spread, sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat (or in the microwave) and melt ingredients.

Add remaining ingredients and mix well

Press mixture into a lightly greased 18cm x 28cm lamington tin.

Bake at 180°C, for approximately 25 minutes.

Cut into 16 bars.

One of the recipes I like where you melt the liquids, add the dry and press in a tin to bake.

Well I followed the directions as I promised.

“First Choice” is a brand of products produced by a supermarket chain a few years ago. I am not aware of them anymore so I couldn’t use them exactly but I still used the equivalent.

I melted all the liquids in a bowl in the microwave and then added each of the remaining ingredients in order, stirring with each addition.

I used Crystallised Glacé Ginger.

However I under estimated the size of the bowl I needed and so they didn’t quite get mixed enough at the end.

I pressed the mixture into my tin but felt it was a bit dry.

I baked it for the required time but didn’t cut it until it had cooled (It didn’t say when to cut it)

It’s a very nice tasting bar (I like dates in baking) and the ginger is not strong.

However as I suspected it has not held very well together and is crumbly.

I will make it again but will make sure it is all mixed thoroughly and if need be, add a little more “spread” (margarine)

Update

Just a little post to let you know I have had a spot of surgery last week so the recipes have been on hold.
However I am recovering and hopefully will be back into it all at the weekend with new recipes

Florentine Squares

¾ cup sultanas

4 crushed Weet-Bix

¾ cup raw peanuts

½ cup chopped cherries

½ x 395gr tin of sweetened condensed milk

½ cup chopped dates

Combine sultanas, Weet-Bix, peanuts, cherries, condensed milk and shopped dates.

Mix well.

Grease and line 23cm square tin.

Bake 180°C 20-25 minutes. 

Cut into squares before cold.

Lift out when cold.

May be dribbles with melted carob

Makes 16 squares.

Another great recipe of mixing it all in the one bowl.

It’s off an old Sanitarian Weet-Bix box but I couldn’t find it on their website so it’s quite old.

I measured out the condensed milk first then added the other ingredients as listed giving it all a good stir with each addition.

I pressed it into my tin and baked for 20 minutes.

Remember to cut it while its warm as it is easier while still a little soft.

It sets hard when it is cold.

I didn’t have any carob so made up a little runny icing (about two tablespoons) with just cocoa and icing sugar and dribbled it over the slice in a diagonal while it was still in the tin.

I love this and it will become a Christmas treat for us I think. It’s quite healthy with all the dried fruit and nuts too.

Chocolate Raisin Biscuits

125gr butter

½ white sugar

1 egg

1 ½ cup flour

¾ tsp baking powder

¾ cup chocolate raisins

Melt butter in a saucepan large enough to mix all the ingredients.

Remove from heat and mix in sugar and egg, beating well with a wooden spoon until combined.

Sift flour and baking powder into the mixture and mix to combine.

Add chocolate raisins and mix in.

Measure a tablespoon of mixture at a time, and roll into balls.

Place on a greased oven tray and flatten with the back of a wet spoon.

Bake at 180°C for 15-20 minutes or until golden and cooked.

Makes approx. 30.

I love recipes that are like this – melt the butter and add all the ingredients in in the same pot.

I followed the recipe (off an old 500gr Chelsea White Sugar bag) just as it was written.

It was very easy and quick to make.

A 130gr packet of chocolate raisins (Pams) is ¾ cup of chocolate raisins

I found that the chocolate raisins melted a little so gave the biscuits a kind of chocolate ripple effect which was quite appealing.

I cooked them for the full 20 minutes.

These are yummy and meet Katrina’s approval so are a definite keeper.