Seeing that it is the end of the year, I decided to take a short meander down memory lane.
What is more nostalgic than the memory of food? And, if you grew up in an Afrikaans-speaking household, the “Kook en Geniet” probably took a prime position as the main source of recipes and meal inspiration. This iconic publication first saw the light in 1951 (self-published by S.J.A de Villiers) and have since been revised en republished several times since.
My Mom’s copy of the “Kook en Geniet” is held together by a self-adhesive plastic cover and may even have a page or two missing.
I bought myself a new copy a couple of months ago, and I have to admit, I find the mention of microwaves and food processors in the newer edition quite strange, but I guess in order to remain relevant and to still be seen as the ultimate cooking guide, even the “Kook en Geniet” had to “modernise” (tongue-in-cheek) a bit.
It is cooking baking season to boot. My Dad always loved crunchies, so seeing that we are in a nostalgic mood, why not bake some cookies in his honour. (If you’re not familiar with “crunchies”, it is basically oats and coconut cookies.)
Okay here we go!
Kook en Geniet: Crunchies
(makes about 6 dozen biscuits)
750 ml (3 cups) coconut
250 ml (1 cup) cake flour
1 litre (4 cups) rolled oats
375 ml (1 ½ cup) sugar
2.5 ml (½ teaspoon) salt
5 ml (1 teaspoon) ground cinnamon
250 ml (1 cup) butter or margarine
37.5 ml (3 tablespoons) golden syrup
10 ml (2 teaspoons) bicarbonate of soda dissolved in 62 ml (¼ cup) milk
Combine all the dry ingredients
Melt the butter with the syrup and add to the dry mixture
Add soda, dissolved in milk, mix with a spoon
Press this crumbly mixture firmly into the greased baking sheet to a depth of about 1 cm. Flatten the top
Bake in a moderate oven for 15 to 20 minutes (the smell of freshly baked goodies in the kitchen is just incredible!).
Cut into squares of the size desired (I have one of those sheet frame cookie cutters – it makes things a lot easier. I also like the smaller size, easier to just pop in your mouth!)
Lift out the squares and allow to cool
And voila!
Even when baking cookies my mind immediately wanders to “wine pairing recommendations”. Wine and cookies, why not!? Keeping with our ‘classic’ theme, I immediately thought of Nederburg Wines, and the legacy behind the wine estate. We had the privilege of spending some quality time on a cool and rainy day at Nederburg a couple of months ago, what a wonderful treat!
I decided to try the Nederburg II Centuries 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon with the crunchies.
Yes, traditionally you would not really pair a cab with something sweet, but I thought that the golden syrup and cinnamon on the cookies will pick up on the dark spice and ripe berries in the wine. The little bite-sized crunchies indeed created a lovely contrast with the full-bodied red. It was good!
The coming together of a few classics – the Kook and Geniet, crunchies and Nederburg!
*I received Nederburg II Centuries as a media drop #gifted