Coconut Ice / Klapperys

Coconut Ice or Klapperys (as we call it in Afrikaans) is perfect for someone with a sweet tooth! It doesn't require any cooking or other skills and it's guaranteed not to flop. Kids and adults will love it and the entire batch should be finished over a weekend (if not sooner!). I like to make this when I have a craving for something sweet that requires almost no effort.  Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

500g powdered icing
400g desiccated coconut
5ml Vanilla Essence
1 can condensed milk

Method:

1. Mix the coconut, icing, vanilla essence and condensed milk into one bowl.

2. When the mixture is firm you can separate the mixture into two equal halves.

3. Put one half of the mixture into a greased glass bowl and press the mixture it until it covers the base evenly.

4. Put the other half of the mixture into a mixing bowl and add a few drops of food colouring. Mix it well until the entire mixture is coloured evenly. Red is traditionally used to get a pink-ish colour but you can use any colour you prefer.

5. Put the coloured half of the mixture on top of the other half of the mixture in the greased bowl and press it down until the surface it level.

6. Cut the mixture into squares and keep the mixture in the fridge, it gets firmer and and a bit drier when it settles but it is instantly ready to serve.

Let me know if you made the recipe and enjoy!

Spinach and Cheese Muffins

I love these spinach and cheese muffins! They are ideal for lunchboxes or as a snack! They also contain some spinach so it's a great way to get some greens or veggies into a diet (even if the muffins may not be too healthy ) The recipe is very easy to make and it also tastes great if you cut them in half to add cheese, jam or any other topping of your choice.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients (Makes about 12 muffins)

2 Cups Cake Flour
10 ml (2 teaspoons) Baking Powder
A Pinch of Mustard Powder
1 teaspoon Salt
A Pinch of Cayenne Pepper
2 Cups grated cheese (Use as much as you would prefer, more cheese means more flavour)
1 Cup cooked Spinach (Again, use as much as you would like to use)
1/2 cup (125 ml) Milk
6 tablespoons (90ml) Olive Oil
1 Egg
A Pinch of Paprika

Method

1. You can basically just throw everything in a mixing bowl, that's what I usually do and they always come out perfectly.

2. Always open the baking powder before you start adding ingredients as this allows the baking powder to 'breathe' and helps it to rise better. (This is a tip from my grandmother, I'm not really sure if it works but I do it anyway!)

3. Scoop into greased muffin pans with a spoon. Using an ice cream spoon to scoop the batter into the pan is ideal because it result in more equally-sized muffins

4. Bake at 200 degrees Celsius for about  15-20 minutes until golden brown. 


NB: Remember to put butter or grease on your muffin pans! The cheese melts and it will be difficult to remove it from the pan. (I made this mistake a few times...oops!)

Let me know if you made them and what you thought!