Fairy Bread

January 26: Australia Day

G’day, mates! We asked our friend, Girlie, who grew up in Sydney, and whom we met while living in New Jersey, for a simple sandwich recipe to celebrate Australia Day (which also happens to be her wedding anniversary). She suggested vegemite sandwich and Fairy Bread. We have tried the yeasty spread before and it is a taste that we have not quite acquired. So we opted for the colorfully sprinkled, sweet and crunchy open-faced sandwich instead. Fairy Bread is fun food at kid’s birthday parties Down Under but can still be a festive feature on the menu for anyone celebrating Australia Day around the world.

Recipe

Ingredients

• Slice of white bread
• Butter or margarine
• Colorful nonpareils (also known as “hundreds and thousands” in Australia; we used the Wilton brand)

Directions
Spread softened butter or margarine on one side of the bread. Sprinkle with nonpareils. Or put the sprinkles on a plate and press the bread, buttered side down, onto them.  Slice diagonally (optional: cut off the crusts).

Notes

• Robert Louis Stevenson wrote a poem specifically for children entitled “Fairy Bread,” which may have been the inspiration for the popular Aussie snack.
• Cookie cutters can be used for unique Fairy Bread shapes. Nutella instead of butter is another variation for the spread. Some also use wheat bread or white toast.
• Happy Australia Day and anniversary to Girlie and Gary from your friends at HI Cookery!

Blondies

January 22: National Blonde Brownie Day

“Do blondes have more fun?” Islander asks her light-haired hubby. “Only with you!” Highlander responds with an appropriate, safe and correct answer that scores major points with his dark-haired wife.  Hair color stereotyping aside, a blondie is a type of brownie that is made with brown sugar instead of chocolate and is a cross between a cake and a bar cookie. We have baked different types of brownies before (search our blog for recipes) and blondies are a nice change for a sweet snack. Have some food fun and bake blondies for National Blonde Brownie Day.

Recipe

(Adapted from Hershey’s)

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) butter, room temperature
• 1 ½ cups light brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 2 cups (12 ounce-package) chocolate chips (we used Hershey’s brand semi-sweet chocolate chips)

Directions

Line a 9×13-inch baking pan with heavy duty foil. Mist with cooking spray. In a bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, cream the butter with the sugar. Beat in the eggs. Stir in the vanilla and milk.

Gradually add the flour mixture. Blend well. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Spread the batter into the baking pan. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F for 30-35 minutes until lightly browned. Remove from the oven and cool completely. Carefully lift the foil out of the pan. Cut the brownies into squares and serve.

Notes

• To this basic blondie recipe, add a cup of chopped nuts or white chocolate chips for a crunchy texture.
• Use cookie cutters for interesting shaped brownies. Or bake in different shaped pans.
• Search our blog for variations of brownie recipes.

Agnesenplätzchen

(St. Agnes Cookies)

January 21: Feast Day of St. Agnes

We often contribute cookies to college students to support the ministry of Islander’s brother, Kahuna. Each week during the academic year, his community of brothers and priests hosts a prayer and dinner social at their house to encourage the students to grow spiritually as well as mentally while at school. Since the Feast Day of St. Agnes occurs around the start of the spring semester, we baked a batch of Agnesenplätzchen for the students and staff to sample. This German jam-filled sandwich cookie is a simply satisfying snack for both study breaks and prayer gatherings.

Recipe

(Adapted from Cooking with the Saints by Ernst Schuegraf)

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cup butter, room temperature
• ½ cup sugar
• 3 cups flour
• 1 jar apricot jam

Directions

Cream the butter with the sugar. Gradually incorporate the flour until it becomes a smooth dough. Refrigerate for about 10 minutes.

On a clean work surface, work in small batches and roll out the dough to ¼-inch thick. Using a 2-inch round cookie cutter, cut out an even number of circles. Place on a slightly greased baking sheet. Refrigerate for half an hour. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from the oven, transfer the cookies to a wire rack and cool completely. Spread the jam on one side of a cookie and sandwich with another. Yield: Approximately 2 ½ dozen sandwich cookies.

Notes

• The original recipe yielded a dry, crumbly dough. So we added a few tablespoons of water at a time to make it more pliable.