Dream Kisses

Ever since I got the second Ladies, A Plate book, I have wanted to make this recipe for Dream Kisses. The books are full of old fashioned favourites – I had never actually heard of dream kisses though until I got the book. I don’t seem to have done so much baking lately, as my husband has asked me not to – now that he is at home, if I bake a batch of biscuits, he will eat the whole lot in one day and he reckons it’s not good for his waist line! So, when my in-laws came to stay last week, it was a good opportunity to bake these dream kisses.

Dream kisses are a little like a louise cake made with brown sugar, without jam and with nuts added! The base is simply a shortbread base, but made with brown sugar, then the topping is a combination of eggs, coconut, sugar and walnuts. The recipe didn’t specify what size tin to make the slice in, so I used an 18x25 cm tin. It was actually probably a bit small, but my next size tin which is 20x30cm would probably have been too big. The result being that the topping probably didn’t bake as dry as I would have liked. If I made these again, I think I would still bake them in the smaller tin, but use only 2 eggs in the topping. They were delicious and a hit with my in-laws (and my husband!). The other thing I did differently was that I creamed the butter and sugar in the base, rather than making it in the food processor – mostly because I am too lazy to clean the food processor!

Dream Kisses (from Ladies, A Plate, a Second Helping)

100g brown sugar
250g flour
170g butter

• Cream the butter and sugar. Stir in the flour and press the dough into a greased and lined tin (see above for sizing)
• Bake at 180c for 15-20 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before putting on the topping below

3 eggs
200g brown sugar
70g coconut
100g walnuts, chopped
1 tbsp flour
1 tsp baking powder

• Whisk together the sugar and eggs, then stir in the remaining ingredients
• Pour over the warm base and bake at 180c for a further 20-25 minutes