Marshmallow and Strawberry Jam Slice

I expect my husband's former colleagues will now be free to withdraw from their gym memberships. Those yoga buffs in the Botanical Gardens will have to go elsewhere to seek their clients. (Seriously yogis and personal trainers, we could go into business here--I keep them eating and you keep them working it off. Win win situation) Belts will once more be able to be tightened, notch after notch.
Seriously, I'm going to have to start finding other places to off load the goodie boxes. At least until all the "I will not indulge in sweet food" new years resolution wears off, and people begin to succumb once more to the beckoning of the truffles and slices and cakes.
Is there anyone out there that hasn't decided to eat more healthily this year? I'll take that as a no. Don't worry, the pictures of recipes on this blog are all completely fat free--if you can resist the temptation to make them.
Even the queen of sugar here has been painstakingly closing her eyes to the come-hither look that comes at me from the slice box every time I open the refrigerator. Marshmallow and jam slice lays cut into squares within, just waiting to be eaten.
Truth be told, I almost didn't send this slice along to Luke's work for morning tea with his collegues. "Luke" I said "I dont know if I can send this slice, it may just have to stay home with me. I just cut it up, and it looks pretty messy."
I left the kitchen and returned some ten minutes later to find the slice on the bench somewhat reduced in size. "I think we may have--mice"
The tell tale strand of sticky marshmallow trialling down my husband's chin made me laug, and then he said "You have to let me take this to work!"
So reluctantly I put the messy looking slice into the catering box and shipped it off with hubby the next morning. He returned to tell me it had been a hit, and I must put up the recipe on the blog--so here it is.
Fear not the stringy sticky mess! I found out the next day, while cutting the remainder of the slice, that if I had only let it cool down a little more before dipping the blade into it, I would have come out with neatly cut squares. After refrigeration, the marshmallow had reset and it was simple and mess free to cut. Unfortunately I took the photos of the slice after cutting it the first time, so it does look a little oozy...but oh so good!

             

MARSHMALLOW & STRAWBERRY JAM SLICE (Adapted from Coles Recipes)

1/3 cup sugar
1 cup unsweetened dessicated coconut
1 cup plain flour3
Weet-Bix, crushed
150g butter, melted
2/3 cup strawberry jam
400g marshmallows (I used Pascal's berry swirl marshmallows)


Preheat the oven to 180C (or 160C if your oven is fan forced). Grease and line a  18 x 28cm slice or lamington tray with baking paper and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the sugar, coconut, flour and crushed Weet Bix. Combine well, then stir the melted butter in until well incorporated.
Using the back of a spoon or fork, flatten this mixture into the lined tray and press down until there is an even layer on the bottom.
Bake for 20-30 minutes, until golden.
Remove from oven and spread the warm base with the jam. Arrange the marshmallows on the top of the jam to cover the entire surface. Return to the oven for about 7 minutes until marshmallow begins to soften. Place underneath the grill on high for 30 seconds to 1 minute for a slightly browned top.
Cool completely before cutting.

NOTES: For clean cuts, use a wet blade. Slice is best served the day it is made, or the day after. Ensure it is stored in an air tight container.

Mad Easy Jam Coconut Macaroons

Coconut, shmokonut, we all love it around here. Thanks to this subtropical climate I live in, such flavours are much desired and a great match for the other tropical fruits that grow locally here, such as mango and banana. But there's long been a combination I've desired to see together. I'm a terrible matchmaker-most matches I make end in tears, so I'm better of sticking with food rather than ill-suited couples. I give myself brownie points for trying though (lets make that dark chocolate fudgy brownie points).
The local Woolworth store here has these amazing coconut drops with strawberry jam on the top, and I have been long looking for a recipe. The coconut is sweet and moist, but the little drops hold together beautifully and hardly look cooked--how do they do it? Anyway, I have not been able to find any recipe to compare. But I'm back with the Secret Recipe Club after my post baby break, and I was given the blog A Couple In The Kitchen to cook from. They have a great 4 ingredient recipe for coconut macaroons--and I just had to try it. It's so simple, quick, and gluten free--exactly the type of recipe a new mummy like me needs between baby sleeping and waking. They're also strangely addictive, and are sure to disappear from the kitchen very quickly.

When you first inhale that warm coconut aroma, and the sweet scent of boiling strawberry jam, you will realise that eating these coconut jam drops straight out of the oven is well worth burning the tongue for.

I've adapted the recipe a little to see if I could make them anything like the Woolworth's coconut drops. (It turns out, to my absolute glee, that they are very much like those delicious morsels! They're soft, sweet and moist with a little crunch on the outer--divine!) My husband also has a strong aversion to almond essence, which was in the original recipe, so I made them just vanilla instead. I also did not have sweetened flake coconut (I don't think we even sell sweetened coconut here in Australia!) so I used dessicated coconut, and found that the sweetness from the condensed milk was enough to satisfy any sweet tooth. I think the addition of strawberry jam also added just a little more sugar, and made these darling little coconut jam macaroons the perfect addition to an afternoon tea platter or even a festive little treat for the Christmas table.
Please don't forget to check out  A Couple In The Kitchen's blog...they are recent award winning bloggers!

MAD EASY JAM COCONUT MACAROONS (adapted from A Couple in the Kitchen)

3 cups dessicated coconut (unsweetened)
300g sweetened condensed milk (approx. 3/4 can)
3 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 cup strawberry jam

Preheat the oven to 180C.
Line one large baking tray with non stick paper. In a large bowl, place the coconut, condensed milk and vanilla essence. Stir until well incorporated. Scoop amounts the size of a golf ball into your hand and gently form into a round shape. Using your index finger, make a small indentation to the top, and place on tray and lightly flatten. Repeat until all the mixture is used up. Then fill the indentations with a little jam. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until lightly browned. Allow to cool on the tray before removing.

Makes approximately 18

Rummaging the Archives--Coconut Whirl Biscuits

I recently promised some of Mum's golden oldies that I ransacked from her recipe drawer at home. I love scrummaging through the deteriorating scraps of paper and magazine cutouts, the handmade school cookbooks with pages missing, and those tattered and written on old recipe books from who knows when. You never know what you're going to find. Sometimes I find something and it hits home. I remember that!! And all of a sudden a memory of my childhood comes back, as vivid as ever. Then when I bake it, more of the memory floods in. Its like finding photos of the past that you've never seen before, of when you where a child, and all of a sudden something you hadn't thought of in 20 years comes back into the mind.
So here's one of those recipes. My mum used to make these when I was very small. They are a soft biscuit with tangy lemon, coconut and the subtle sweetness of strawberry jam to balance the delightful flavour combination. So pretty and tasty for an afternoon tea with friends!

 

COCONUT WHIRL BISCUITS

2 cups plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 pinch of salt
2 tbsp butter
1/4 cup milk
4 tbsp sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
3 tbsp jam
6 tbsp coconut
1 tsp grated lemon rind
squeeze of lemon juice
extra coconut

Make a dough from the flour, baking powder, salt, butter, sugar and milk. Roll out into a rectangle shape on a lightly floured surface.
Combine jam, coconut, lemon juice and rind together and spread over the top of the dough until the surface is well covered. Roll up into a sausage shape, and cut into 1cm thick slices. Arrange on a lined baking tray and brush the tops with beaten egg. Sprinkle each with extra coconut and bake at 180C until lightly golden (approximately 15-20 minutes.)

Makes 28