I don’t know about all of you, but when I was growing up, my mother used to make these on a regular basis. Now I do the same and enjoy every minute of it. Handtertjies is a very soft flaky pastry filled with apricot jam and baked until light brown. It tastes great when it just comes out of the over, but can be enjoyed either warm or cold.
Here is the recipe, and remember to use apricot jam! If you are in England, I know, you all love strawberry jam, and it will work just as well. Choose the one you prefer and off you go…
Ingredients:
1/2 lb butter (margarine is also fine, but the butter gives it a nicer taste)
2 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of cream of tartar
‘n pinch of salt
1/2 cup of ice cold water (just enough to bind)
Method:
1. Use you fingers to rub the butter in with the flour, salt and cream of tartar. (It is easier to freeze the butter and grate it in!)
2. Mix the water and fold in with a knife..
3. Bind the dough, cover with a cold wet cloth and leave in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.
4. Roll out the dough and use a round shaped cookie cutter. Place one or 1/2 teaspoon of jam in the middle and fold over, making a half moon.
5. Press around the outside with a fork.
6. Smear milk on the top and bake in a pre-heated oven at 200 degrees Celsius for about 15 – 20 minutes, until light brown.
Pumpkin is one of South Africa’s favourite vegetables. Most restaurants serve pumpkin and spinach as vegetable side dishes with main meals and all mothers buy it for their families. There are many ways in which you can serve the great varieties of pumpkin available like butternut squash, herbert squash, “boer” pumpkin or red pumpkin, to mention just a few.
Not all types of pumpkin are in season and therefor available all through the year, so you have to use the one that is in season at a certain time. The most common and quickest way to prepare pumpkin is to boil it in a little bit of water, season lightly with salt and add some cinnamon. Otherwise you can mix the pumpkin with flour, salt and egg and bake “pampoenkoekies” in a little bit of oil, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and serve warm.
Another favourite recipe from times gone by, a truly traditional South African recipe, is “pampoenmoes”. You can either bake this in the oven or boil it in a little bit of water in a saucepan. This is a recipe worth trying:
Ingredients:
8 slices of white bread
Butter
Apricot jam
2 cups of pumpkin (1 butternut squash should do. Slice very thinly)
Salt
Sugar
Cinnamon
Method:
1. Butter the bread on both sides and spread apricot jam on the side facing up. Place one layer in an oven proof glass dish, jam facing up.
2. Cut the pumpkin thinly, season lightly with salt and place on top of the bread.
3. Mix the sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle over the pumpkin.
4. Repeat this until all the pumpkin and bread is used up, finishing with a layer of pumpkin. Dot a few extra clots of butter on the top.
5. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour in a pre-heated oven of 180°C
Serve the pumpkin hot with vegetables and maybe a lovely chicken dish, maybe a pie? This is a great dish to try and impress your friends with. It is very easy to make, so try it and see what happens!
This is a fantastic recipe for Shortbread, a speciality of the Scottish. It is one of South Africa’s favourites and this is a recipe for home-made shortbread. Easy enough to make, just follow the recipe and bake, but not for too long. The trick is that the shortbread should not be dark. It should still be light, but hard baked.
Ingredients: 4 cups of flour 1 cup of castor sugar 2 cups of butter (margarine doesn’t work well) 1/4 teaspoon of salt
Method: 1. Butter the flour and the sugar together. 2. Add the castor sugar and salt. 3. Roll the dough so it looks like a long sausage.
Rolled and cut
4. Cut into circles and place on a baking tray. 5. Sprinkle some sugar on top and bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 6. Bake for 10 minutes. If it is not totally baked, leave for another 10 minutes.
Shortbread in panBaked shortbread
Try the recipe yourself and please give us feedback!!! Did you enjoy the recipes? Send us photos to our email…
Pampoenkoekies is a wonderful addition to any meal… You can use many types of pumpkin and in South Africa the most common pumpkin used is Herbert Squash. When we lived in England we could not find it though, so we tried butternut. It worked wonderfully…
The trick is to make sure the pumpkin is very dry. If it is watery, the pampoenkoekies will stick and won’t be easy to make.
Ingredients:
2 cups of pumpkin (1 medium sized butternut squash)
4 tablespoons of flour (mix white or brown rice, tapioca and chick pea flour in equal quantities)
2 teaspoons of gluten free baking powder
Salt
1 egg
Oil
# If you are not a celiac, you can just use regular wheat flour instead of the mix
Method:
1. Boil the pumpkin in a bit of water until soft (between 10 and 15 minutes). Make sure the pumpkin is very dry before using. Mash the pumpkin.
2. Add the flour, baking powder, salt and egg. Mix well.
3. Warm up a bit of oil in a frying pan. Place spoons full of pumpkin in the pan and fry on both sides until light brown.
4. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top or make a sweet syrup to pour over.
Sweet syrup:
1 tablespoon of butter/margarine
3/4 cup of water
3/4 cup of milk
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1 tablespoon of cornflour
1. Bring the butter, water and sugar to the boil.
2. Mix the cornflour with a little bit of water and add. Let it boil for about 2 minutes.
3. Pour warm syrup over the pampoenkoekies instead of the cinnamon sugar.
Marshmallows have been one of my favourite for a long time… So when my mother used to make marshmallow tart, we were all very excited 🙂
Ingredients: 1 tin (397g) of condensed milk
1/2 cup of lemon juice
12 red cherries, cut in half
1 pack (125g) of marshmallows
1 cup of cream
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 small tin of crushed pineapples
1 pack of tennis biscuits (coconut cookies)
Method: 1. Mix the condensed milk and lemon juice together and let stand until it gets thicker.
2. Add the cherries and cut marshmallows and mix.
3. Beat the cream and vanilla together until stiff. Add to the mixture and stir.
4. Pineapples are added at the end. Mix well.
5. Place the tennis biscuits in 2 tart pans (round or square) and pour the mixture on top.
6. Crumb 1 or 2 biscuits and sprinkle on top of the 2 tarts.
7. Leave in the refridgerator for around 2 hours to set.
How about something VERY simple and easy to enjoy as a snack, day or night… I love cinnamon very much and therefore this wonderful cinnamon toast recipe is one of my favorites. Very EASY and quick to make, no hassles.
-Take 2 slices of bread and lightly toast one side under the grill.
– Remove and butter the other side (that is not toasted).
– Mix cinnamon with regular white sugar and sprinkle on top of the buttered toast.
– Leave under the grill until the sugar starts to crystallise.
– Remove from the grill (oven) and eat while still nice and hot!
Ingredients:
2 cups of butter (margarine)
2 cups of sugar
1 cup of fine apricot jam
1 tablespoon bicarbonate of soda
1 tablespoon of strong coffee
‘n little bit of boiling water to dissolve the coffee in
1 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
8 cups of flour
Method:
1. Cream the butter and sugar together and add the jam. Mix well.
2. Dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in a little bit of milk and add.
3. Dissolve the coffee in the boiling water and add the vanilla. Mix and add to mixture.
4. Add the flour and knead together with your hand.
5. Bake at 180 degrees celcius for about 10 minutes on the bottom oven rack. Move it to the top of the oven and bake for a further 10 minutes. Check to make sure the cookies don’t burn.
6. Let it cool down and stick two cookies together with the filling.
Filling:
1 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of butter (margarine)
1/3 cup of milk
1 tablespoon of coffee
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
Let all the ingredients boil together for 5 minutes while stirring.
Remove from the heat and mix until cold. The filling will thicken up.
If you find the mixture to be too much, you can always halve the recipe.
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“Plaatkoekies”taste absolutely great. It is very easy to make and everyone will love it. It will be an instant hit with young and old. It tastes best when it is served with marmite or golden syrup. If you feel like treating yourself, add a spoon full of cream on top. You have to try this!
Ingredients:
1 cup of milk
1 egg
2 tablespoons of caster sugar
2 cups of flour
A pinch of salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
Method:
1. Beat the milk and egg together.
2. Add the sugar and beat well.
3. Sieve the flour, salt and baking powder together and add.
4. Let the mixture stand for 1/2 hour.
5. Place spoons full of the mixture into warm oil and fry on both sides. Turn the “plaatkoekies” over when air bubbles form on the top.
6. Spread a little bit of butter on top and add marmite or syrup.
This recipe is easy and tastes brilliant. Go ahead and try ityourself!
As I sit here typing on my computer, I can hear the rain falling outside, just hard enough to hear. This is called pancake weather in South Africa!! Whenever the rain comes, we bake pancakes as a family and enjoy the sound of the rain outside.
I baked pancakes yesterday when the rain started, so it worked out very well in the end. We had 2 savoury pancakes with tuna and mayo as well as ham and cheese. The traditional way you should have it though is with cinnamon sugar! Whenever I eat a pancake I remember the lovely church fates. Everyone always buy cinnamon sugar pancakes by the dozen!
I would like to share with you a great pancake recipe so you can bake them the next time you have a rainy day…
Bake while it rains and eat as you go along!
Ingredients:
5 cups of cold water
1/4 cup of oil (not too much)
3 tablespoons of white vinegar (malt is fine if you don’t have white)
6 eggs
3 cups of flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Method:
1. Beat the liquids together.
2. Sieve the dry ingredients and add a little bit at a time.
3. Beat very well.
4. Bake the first pancake in a little bit of oil in a frying pan. (paper thin)
5. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, rol up and enjoy!
Try this recipe to make you feel warm inside! This recipe is enough to feed alot of people. If you are only baking for a few people, you can just halve the ingredients.
In the past the Generals used to name cookies they liked after themselves so everyone would know who’s favourites they were!
Here follows the recipe for these lovely cookies that I baked just the other day. They are really quick and very easy to make. Even if you have never baked them before, roll up your sleaves and sink your teeth into this one!
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
A pinch of salt
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 cup of margarine
3 eggs (white and yellow seperate)
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
If the pastry is too thick, add 2 tablespoons of milk.
Method:
1. Sieve the flour, salt and baking powder together. Rub the margarine in with your fingertips.
2. Add the egg yolk and the sugar. Mix and let is rest for about 15 minutes.
3. Roll the dough and place round pieces of dough in little muffin pans.
4. Place a small teaspoon of apricot jam in on top of the dough.
Filling:
1. Beat the white of the eggs together well.
2. Add 1/2 cup of sugar and 1 cup of desiccated coconut to the egg whites and mix.
3. Place a spoon full of this on the top of the apricot jam.
4. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180°C for 10-20 minutes.
Once you start eating them it is really hard to stop, so make sure you bake enough!
