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I’m sick but I’ve been bitten by the cooking bug. The smell of fresh bread is wafting through my house and now I’m planning to make some cookies from a recipe I’ve used hundreds of times based on one from The Nursing Mothers’ Association of Australia Cookbook (circa 1978).
They call it fruit slab but I make it into individual cookies and I’ve changed the recipe substantially over the years so it’s barely recognisable but I like to give credit where credit is due. I don’t think the book is available anymore. Anyway here is my version of the recipe:
Ingredients
40g butter
35g olive oil (who says you can’t subsitute oil for butter?)
1 cup white SR flour
.5 cup wholemal plain flour
1.5 cups sultanas
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup raw sugar
.5 tsp cinnamon
.25 tsp cardamom
.25 tsp ground ginger
2 eggs
Method
Melt butter in the olive oil. Put all the flours, sugar, spices and eggs into a bowl and mix. Add the melted butter/oil, mix and then add the coconut and sultanas. I like to mix with my hands you get a better homogeneity.
Grease a silicone baking sheet and spoon little piles on the sheet. Cook in a fan-forced oven at 180C for 10 minutes. Switch the oven off and leave the cookies in there for another 5 minutes. Cool and EAT!!!
Here’s the result…
This has long been a favourite recipe of mine too! And believe it or not, that cookbook IS still available. It went out of print for a while but returned because of popular demand, particularly from people whose originals had been so well used that they were worn out and from their children who grew up on favourites from this great family cookbook. The book is available on line from MothersDirect, the retail subsidiary of the Australian Breastfeeding Association (formerly called the Nursing Mothers’ Association of Australia) http://www.mothersdirect.com.au/catalogue/cid/2/parent/1/pid/2/t/catalogue/title/books
They also have shops in Melbourne and Brisbane.
Hi Dot
Thanks for the heads up on this. My own book is in tatters. I did check online before I posted but could only find references to the out-of-print version. I certainly heartily recommend the book to anyone who likes good home cooking.
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I’ve just come across your post while searching for the fruit slab recipe! My mum has that book and made the slice for us as kids. I’d like to make it but can’t find the recipe – and mum’s away travelling so I can’t ask her. Might have to give your cookies a go instead 🙂