Thursday, February 26, 2009

A childhood favourite


When I was in Christchurch a couple of weeks ago Mum and I were talking about chocolate coconut clusters, which are biscuits (cookies) which used to appear in the iconic Edmonds cook book. I remember making them when I was young. The latest versions of the Edmonds cook book don’t have the recipe, so I posted on foodlovers to see if anyone could give me the recipe – which someone kindly did.

I made the clusters earlier in the week and they were just how I remembered them. They are quite large cookies (you could make them smaller but I think part of the appeal is their size) and are essentially two softish coconut and chocolate cookies joined together with chocolate butter cream. I added more cocoa and less milk. It must be childhood nostalgia which makes me like them, as they are not the kind of cookie I would usually go for – I prefer crisper more shortbready type cookies like shortbread, yo-yos and chocolate chip cookies made with condensed milk.

This recipe just makes a small batch, so you don’t get a lot of cookies due to joining them together. You wouldn’t need to join them together, but then you couldn’t call them clusters if they were single!

Chocolate Coconut Clusters (adapted from the old Edmonds cook book)

75g butter
75g sugar
1 egg
1 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 c coconut
2 tbsp cocoa
1 tbsp milk

· Cream the sugar and butter and then beat in the egg.
· Stir in the dry ingredients and lastly the milk
· Roll into balls and flatten with a fork
· Bake at 180c for 15 minutes
Once cold joint together with chocolate butter cream icing

8 comments:

Snooky doodle said...

what a nice treat :)

tamz said...

so excited to try this! i had a similar bought cookie that was my childhood favorite ~ Romany Creams ~ and i've often wondered what recipe i could use to try and replicate them! these look and sound just like romany creams... yummmm!!

i really love your blog, so glad i came across it. i tried one of your ideas for dinner the other night and it was SCRUMPTIOUS! the stuffed chicken breasts with ricotta and basil.... yum! my husband was very impressed, and i'll be making it again this week :) thanks for the inspiration!! i can't wait to try the bacon and pea pasta you suggested, sounds delish.

Elyse said...

I don't think it gets much better than this! These cookies look delicious, and I can only imagine how delicious they must taste. I can't wait to try them--chocolate and coconut are one of my favorite combinations!

Anonymous said...

Yummy.... they remind of my fav bikkie you can buy at the supermarket... kingston creams by Arnotts.. cocnutty and choc cream in the middle, yummy... Still havent made the shortbread yet due to an injury but will as soon as I can...

Cakelaw said...

Yum - these look delicious.

steph- whisk/spoon said...

mmmm--chocolate and coconut is the best combo!

tamz said...

i gave these a try and was very impressed with the results!! so much like my old favorite Romany Creams, tho I think they used melted chocolate to stick the cookies together. thanks again for sharing!

http://cupcakemate.blogspot.com/2009/03/chocolate-coconut-clusters.html

Danella Rutherford said...

Thank you so much Tammy. My son wanted the recipe for thses as we used to call them chocolate coconut crumbles. However, because they didnt go very far I used to put the mixture in a sponge roll tin, and trhen once cooled ice with choc icing and sprinkle with coconut while still wet on icing. Yummy. goes a long way furhter this way.

sometimes did a double batch and put one in freezer un-iced. Once they have been thawed then you ice them and yummy!! Nice squares.
so thank you very much Tammy. I am a Nana now of many years and my old 78 edmonds was long gone and they dont use those recipes now for some reason, which is a real shame.
Bless you for sharing.
Danella