Crunchies

A while back, I shared a friend's recipe for flapjacks, in which I explained the whole tangle around the word 'flapjack' for a South African expat living in the UK. I promised to share a recipe for the closest South African equivalent to English flapjacks, namely crunchies. Et voila!

This recipe does not come from my own collection. It comes from SJA de Villiers's 'Cook and Enjoy it' (Kook en Geniet) which is one of the most frequently used recipe books in my collection.. I made a batch on Saturday to take to church yesterday to use in the 'Connect room' where my husband and I greet visitors and newcomers. Just as well, because the room was packed to the gunwales yesterday! I came away with two crunchies left in the tin, which my son was happy to demolish when he got off work.

Oven temperature

180C

Ingredients

750ml dessicated coconut
250ml cake flour
1000ml oats
375ml sugar
Pinch salt
5ml ground cinnamon (I have a friend who also adds the same amount of ginger - I don't)
250ml butter (which is about 250g - I hate it when butter amounts are given in ml!)
45ml golden syrup
10ml bicarbonate of soda
60ml milk

Method

• Dissolve the bicarb in the milk and set aside for now.
• In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients.
• Melt the butter and syrup together and add to the dry ingredients. Mix through well. Oh, just use your hands!
• Add the dissolved bicarb/milk mixture and mix that through well, too. This is important, or someone will get a mouthful of bicarb at one point, and nobody wants that, trust me!
• Press into a baking sheet to make a layer about 1cm thick. If necessary, split the mixture into two batches.
• Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.
• Allow to cool slightly, cut into squares and place on a cooling rack. You'll probably need an egg lifter/fish slice (or whatever it's called in your neck of the woods) to do this, because they may still be quite crumbly.
• Allow to cool completely before storing them in an air tight container, or they will cease to deserve their name... not that they taste any less delicious when they're soft, it has to be said!

You should end up with about 72 crunchies.