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This is where I note my efforts as I try to recreate some old recipes. Most are taken from my small collection of handwritten recipe books which date from the late 1700's to around 1922. I also have a collection of old tatty old recipe books, well thumbed and heavily splashed from years of use. I love all of them.

The old-fashioned very stylised handwriting writing is sometimes difficult to decipher, measurements and cooking instructions are minimal, no tin sizes given. Luckily I enjoy a challenge. Just to complicate things I cook and bake on my wood-fired Rayburn, which can be... unpredictable.

I suspect this blog is less about the food and more about my passion for these lovely old books and the wonderful women who wrote them.


Thursday 9 February 2017

Indulging my Husband

The forecast today was for wintry showers and grey skies so I decided to stay indoors and do a little baking.     I opened the pantry door and almost fainted at the mess within.   Some naughty little elves have been at work in there flinging things around for I'm sure I put things back in their correct place after my last baking session.

Spring is somewhere just beyond the horizon and I can feel that almost irresistible urge to spring-clean which jars with the equally strong desire to do some baking.

In the end I compromised by cleaning up my baking ingredients, sorting spices, consolidating half-used packets of caster sugar into one clean jar, and so on.   I ignored the rest of the pantry.

I set to making a cottage loaf because I haven't made one for ages - it turned out looking like an enormous chariot wheel -  so I must try harder and could do a lot better.   I'll enjoy playing around with the recipe until I get it right.





The other thing I decided to bake was something which only my husband will enjoy - Coconut Cones.   He has a very sweet tooth and coconut is a favourite with him.   When I first met him he was addicted to Bounty Bars.   We gradually got him weaned off those, but he still adores coconut.

I used a recipe which I found in an old recipe book without covers, so I can't credit it to anyone in particular.   I get the feeling that it may have been produced by the WI, a long time ago, but I could be wrong.   It has the feel of a 1950's book.

Four simple ingredients:

1 egg
4oz sugar
4oz coconut
1 tablespoon ground rice

Simply beat the egg, stir in the sugar, coconut and ground rice and mix well.

Here comes the fun bit - fill an egg cup with the mixture and shake out on to a greased baking sheet.  Bake in a moderately hot oven until golden brown on top.

Don't press your mixture too firmly or you may struggle to get it out of the egg cup.   I also decided to push the boat out and decorate them with half a glace cherry, simply because he also likes them.  

Spoilt, or what?

He loved them; ate two almost as soon as they were cool.  They look a bit dry in the photograph, but I checked and the inside is moist and very delicious - if you like sweet coconut cakes!
x


2 comments:

  1. I love coconut too. Bounty bars mmmm. These are really full of coconut. Perfect

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  2. The tin is now empty, Linda, so I daren't make them too often. He loves sweet things in the same way I love crusty bread.

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