Cooking for fun in the school holidays

Press, 31 August 1983, Page 11

Cooking for fun in the school holidays

Cooking is a good schoolholiday occupation, especially when the weather is unreliable.

Here are two recipes which have been made many times by my children.

Both recipes may require some supervision the first time they are made by young children.

The orange slice requires icing, so it takes a little longer than the coconut ice.

Each recipe uses half a can of sweetened condensed milk.

If you are not going to make both recipes on the same day, cover the opened tin with plastic cling film and hide it somewhere in the refrigerator where it will not be easily found by hungry raiders!

It is easier to work with condensed milk when it is warm and runny. For this reason it is a good idea to stand the tin in a container of hot water for 10 to 15 minutes before opening it.

Alison Hoist’s

Food Facts

Uncooked coconut ice

2 cups coconut 2 cups icing sugar . 1 teaspoon vanilla % can sweetened condensed milk 4-5 drops red food colouring

Put the coconut, icing sugar and vanilla in a large bowl. Tip in the condensed milk (from a warmed can, see above) and mix, first with a knife or fork, then with your hands. Sprinkle a little extra coconut on a shallow cake tin or try and put half the mixture on it, pressing it

out into a square. Add the red food colouring to the mixture left in the bowl. If you have raspberry or strawberry essence, add about Vt teaspoon if you like. Mix well, then put the pink mixture on top of the white mixture. Sprinkle a little extra coconut on top, put it in a cool place for 15 to 20 minutes, then cut into squares with a wet knife.

Uncooked orange slice 1 packet wine biscuits, crushed IOOg butter __________

% can sweetened condensed milk. 1 cup coconut grated rind of 1 orange Icing: 1 cup icing sugar 2 tablespoons soft butter orange juice to mix Crush the biscuits in a plastic bag using a rolling pin. They should be evenly sized, and fairly small, but very small crumbs made in a food processor tend to be too fine for this slice. Melt the butter in a medium sized pot. Remove from heat as soon as it is melted. Stir in the condensed milk (from a warmed can, see above), the coconut, orange rind and biscuit crumbs.

Press the mixture lightly into a sponge roll tin so it is about Icm thick.

Sift the icing sugar into a bowl. Add the soft (but not melted) butter, and enough orange juice to mix the icing to a spreading consistency. Spread it thinly over the slice then make wavy lines on it with a fork.

Leave in the refrigerator until set, then cut in pieces.