This ebook edition published in 2012 by Struik Lifestyle (an imprint of Random House Struik (Pty) Ltd)
Company Reg. No. 1966/003153/07
1st Floor, Wembley Square, Solan Road, Gardens, Cape Town 8001
PO Box 1144, Cape Town 8000, South Africa
First published in 2005 in hardcover by Struik Publishers
Second edition published in 2008 in softcover by Struik Lifestyle
Copyright in published edition: Random House Struik (Pty) Ltd 2005, 2008, 2011
Copyright in text: Fay Lewis 2005, 2008, 2011
Copyright in photographs: Fay Lewis 2005, 2008, 2011
www.randomstruik.co.za
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner/s.
Publisher: Linda de Villiers
Editor: Joy Clack
Designer (content pages): petaldesign
Designer (cover): Helen Henn
Photographer (content pages): Neil Corder
Photographer (cover): Neville Lockhart
Dcor stylist: Tina Bester, Lisa Clark (cover)
Dcor stylists assistant: Michelle Haarhof
Food stylist: Justine Kiggen
Food stylists assistants: Anke Roux, Erica Brown and Henrietta Madyum
Proofreader: Tessa Kennedy
ISBN 978-1-43170-277-0 (Epub)
ISBN 978-1-77007-762-1 (Print)
ISBN 978-1-43170-278-7 (PDF)
Coffee AT MY TABLE
With the African bush as the backdrop use a combination of natural elements such as veld grass and quills with old black-and-white enamelware to create the perfect setting. Tins to hold sugar cubes and brown sugar may be wrapped in cream hessian and labelled with alphabet beads on a leather thong, and chocolate brown felt will keep the coffee pot warm. Add touches of colour with bright mohair blankets.
buttermilkRusks
These rusks (on the left of the photograph) are delicious served straight from the oven (as soon as theyve dried out) with home-made preserve better than any scone youll ever savour. Do not substitute margarine for the butter, as butter gives a far better taste.
- 9 250 ml cake flour
- 375 ml white sugar
- 15 ml baking powder
- 5 ml salt
- 5 ml cream of tartar
- 7.5 ml bicarbonate of soda
- 500 ml buttermilk, sour cream or plain yoghurt
- 2 jumbo eggs
- 500 g butter, melted
- Preheat the oven to 190 C. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cream of tartar and bicarbonate of soda in a large mixing bowl.
- Add the remaining ingredients and mix and knead until the dough is soft and pliable.
- Coat three loaf pans with cooking spray, or grease with butter or vegetable fat. Shape the dough into balls and place two balls side by side in rows into the prepared pans. Bake for 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the loaf comes out clean. Turn the loaf out onto a cooling rack and leave to cool.
- Break the rusks into smaller pieces (do not cut with a knife). Dry out the rusks at 100 C or in the warming drawer of the oven for 68 hours.
MAKES 48 RUSKS
bran and wholewheatRusks
- Use the same ingredients as for the , but replace the 9 250 ml cake flour with:
- 6 250 ml wholewheat flour
- 2 250 ml muesli crunch cereal with raisins
- 2 250 ml All-Bran Flakes
- Substitute the white sugar with 250 ml brown sugar
- Follow the method for . As this dough is slightly sticky and less pliable, you will need to flour your hands when shaping the balls of dough.
crunchieBiscuits
Oats are among the most nutritious of all the grains, and rolled oats have been used to make breakfast porridge for generations of families throughout the world. These biscuits are great with morning coffee and excellent to add as a healthy snack in a school lunchbox.
- 50 ml golden syrup
- 300 g butter
- 10 ml bicarbonate of soda
- 100 ml boiling water
- 500 ml cake flour
- 500 ml oats
- 500 ml desiccated coconut
- 250 ml brown sugar
- Preheat the oven to 160 C. Melt the syrup and the butter in a heavy-based saucepan.
- Dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in the boiling water and add to the syrup and butter. Add the flour, oats, coconut and sugar and stir until combined.
- Coat a lamington pan with cooking spray, or grease with butter or vegetable fat, and press the mixture into the pan. Bake for 35 minutes.
- Switch off the oven, remove the pan and cut the biscuit into squares. Return the biscuits to the oven for 5 minutes to harden. Remove and leave to cool.
- The clever cook can melt a 200 g slab of chocolate of their choice in a microwave oven on 50 per cent power, or in the top part of a double boiler over boiling water. Dip the tips of the cooled crunchies in the chocolate and keep aside until the chocolate has set.
MAKES 30
thin, crispChocolate Chip Cookies
These cookies are rich and buttery, with soft, tender centres and crisp edges.
- 500 ml cake flour
- 5 ml baking powder
- 200 g unsalted butter
- 125 ml white sugar
- 200 ml brown sugar
- 5 ml salt
- 10 ml vanilla essence
- 2 jumbo eggs
- 60 ml water
- 500 ml dark or milk chocolate chips
- Preheat the oven to 180 C. Sift the flour and the baking powder together in a small bowl and set aside.
- Cream the butter, sugar and brown sugar together in an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the salt, vanilla essence, eggs and water. Beat until well mixed.
- Spoon in the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Prepare four baking trays lined with baking paper and drop spoonfuls of the dough about 10 cm apart onto the prepared trays. Bake for 1215 minutes or until the cookies are golden brown. Remove the cookies from the oven and cool on the baking trays for 12 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, and let the cookies cool completely.
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