25 January 2008

What is it?


In a very roundabout sort of way, this picture reminds me of my childhood. I think it might have been on the kids' page of my mother's weekly magazine that strange pictures were published with the caption "what is it" and I would spend ages trying to guess the answer. The answer to this strange picture is Chocolate Chews. I have been making these for nearly 30 years and they are still a great favourite. They were always a good standby for the school lunch boxes and now that there are no longer any lunch boxes to fill, they are a wonderful sweet treat with a cup of tea or coffee. They are ridiculously easy and quick to make (probably why I make them so often). The recipe was published in 1975 in a book compiled by the Nursing Mothers' Association of Australia, my copy of which is looking a bit the worse for wear. The recipes are all very simple to make (designed obviously for nursing mothers with little time for cooking and baking) and when they were young Melissa and Amanda also used to enjoy cooking from it. Mandy was very pleased with herself recently when she found a copy in a second-hand book sale. I wonder if she will be putting chocolate chews in her childrens' lunch boxes in a few years. If she does that would be a nice tradition.
These days, there is no such thing as the Nursing Mothers' Association and they are known as the Australian Breastfeeding Association. I wonder why it has become politically incorrect to be a nursing mother. Somehow 'breastfeeder' doesn't sound nearly as nice as 'nursing mother', but maybe I'm just showing my age.

3 comments:

Shannon said...

oh my lord. too tasy for words.

Anonymous said...

These are a favourite recipe from my childhood! I know this post is pretty old, but is there a recipe elsewhere in the book for the 'chocolate icing'? Would love to make these for my own kids!

Di said...

I make a very simple icing for these.
To about 2 cups of icing sugar, add one dessertspoon of cocoa, a good knob of butter and slowly add enough hot water to combine them all together. Spread over the slice and sprinkle with coconut or chopped nuts. Enjoy!