I am very fortunate to have a group of
beautiful women in my family; most of them have quite a sweet tooth and all of
them have a sweet personality. They are
all great cooks and very passionate about food – particularly sweets. I don’t think I am exaggerating when I tell
you this – I have never seen a group of women get so excited about cakes,
slices, desserts, in fact anything sweet. I would go as far to say that in my
opinion one of their favourite things to do would be to have some cake with a
strong cup of tea over a chat with each other.
It is something that I get much enjoyment from watching. I myself don’t share the same passion for
sweet as I am more at one with savoury, however I love food and one of the main
things that I love about food is how it brings people together and bonds them
in such an ordinary and seamless way.
At our family gatherings there are many of
us and it’s growing each year. The
dessert table is always the one with the most dishes on it and it gets the most
amount of attention. It is the one that provides the shrieks of happiness. I am
always waiting with much interest to see who has made what this time – an old
favourite or has someone been experimenting with something new since we last
met? There was even one Christmas when
my brother in law and his wife had a ‘trifle off’. Each thought they had the best trifle
recipe. A panel of judges was assembled from
within the family to determine who had made the best trifle. It was a tough
contest but of course the sweet lady was triumphant.
Each of the girls has their speciality, possibly
more than one. But they have mastered each one with patience, passion and a
desire to share with those that they love.
That’s the thing – the sweetest thing, that no matter why or when, food
is always the one thing that threads people together. For happy times, sad times, difficult times,
celebration times, family and friends come together and share their food and it
becomes the fundamental point of the gathering.
It is the easiest way to express your condolences or your delight
without a spoken word. You can just hand over a baked good and the other person
knows exactly what you are trying to say.
So this love or near obsession for all things
sweet that the lovely ladies in my family have, has prompted me to ask them to
share their number one sweet recipe with me so I could share it with you. It was not easy for some of them to choose
just one. Although this was to be
expected!
Over the next few months one by one I will
share each recipe with you to try. In
the meantime here is the list of number ones and the first recipe that I will
share with you. If you do try one I would love your feedback.
·
Sue’s Golden Dumplings
·
Angela’s Butterscotch Pudding
·
Fiona’s Hazelnut Slice
·
Marita’s Trifle
·
Keely’s Peach and Raspberry
Tart
·
Jess’s Fruit & Custard Tart
·
Veronique’s Easy Chocolate Cake
·
Rachael’s Apple Crumble
·
Amanda’s Caramel Butternut Snap Cups
The Sweetest Thing - part 1; Sue’s Golden Dumplings
This is one of Sue’s favourite sweets recipe. It’s loved by many in the family.
What you need –
DUMPLINGS
1 cup self raising flour
1 tablespoon butter
1 egg, lightly beaten
A little milk
SAUCE
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon golden syrup
1 tablespoon butter
What you do –
Place sauce ingredients in pan and heat.
Rub butter into flour, stir in egg and enough milk
to make a fairly stiff dough. Roll into little balls and drop into the boiling
syrup for about 5 - 10 minutes.
Sue usually doubles the sauce.
THANK YOU SUE. Enjoy everyone!
Sue found this recipe
in the NMAA COOKS RECIPES FOR BUSY MOTHERS COMPILED BY NURSING MOTHERS'
ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA
