I realised that I'd been a bad mother today when I discovered that Jemimah didn't know what a Chocolate Crackle was. How could she get to seven and not know that? Chocolate Crackles are the ultimate Australian children's party food - aren't they?I guess not. It has been a number of years since I kept a packet of Copha in the fridge just because. These days there is not a lot of call for shortening.
Copha is out of fashion, along with lard and suet and butter. It has gone the way of the jar of dripping that sat the side of my mother's stove. FAT IS BAD FOR YOU! When the dripping disappeared so did Mum's roast beef sandwich. Along with the suet went Gooseberry Pudding. Nowadays it is hard to find suet at Christmas time...and I lurve suet pudding!! But I digress.
Chocolate Crackles.
You can't go through childhood without cooking chocolate crackles. It's un-Australian. That's what it is.
I rectified my error this very day.
Jemimah made them alone. She read the recipe (reading). She measured the ingredients (maths). She observed the way the fat melted (science). She cooked (kitchen garden). She had a ball (fun)!
You can see them in the pic. They're really quite good!
They're full of Copha. Copha is bad for you. It is solidified coconut oil and is a solid at room temperature. It's hydrogenated. That means that it is treated with hydrogen, changing the unsaturated fat bonds to saturated ones. That makes it even worser for you!
Chocolate Crackles are not healthy. That's not the point. They're delicious, and if you have them once every seven years, who cares if they're healthy or not?
I don't really need to give the recipe - it's on the Copha packet. If you can't get Copha then you can't really make Chocky Crackles. You'd better make something else instead. Something you can make and I can't...
If you're in Australia you are in luck. New Zealanders can get this wonderful product too. Yours is called Kremelta. The German version is Palmin.
So for the New Zealanders and Germans here's the recipe:
1 block Copha (250g)When did eating get so serious, I ask you. Eating used to be fun.
4 cups Kellogg's Rice Bubbles
1 cup icing sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa
1 cup desiccated coconut
Mix dry ingredients.
Melt Copha over low heat and allow to cool a little. Add to dry ingredients.
Stir.
Spoon the mixture into patty pans and set in the refrigerator.
Makes 24 biggies or 49 littlies. We like littlies better - the biggies are too rich for those of us who are deprived and rarely eat a diet high in fat.
As it turns out, Jemimah did know what Chocolate Crackles were once she'd tasted them. Turns out I'm not such a bad mother after all.
At least I got to eat some Chocky Crackles.
You are very funny! You know what? I never really like chocolate crackles as a child! I don't know why, but I loved fairy bread, so that keeps me in the 100% aussie isle ~ don't you think?
ReplyDeleteDefinitely, Sarah. Fairy Bread counts. I don't make Jemimah fairy bread either - too much sugar probably - plus you need white bread and lots of butter.
ReplyDeletePerhaps we should do that next? What do you think?
I never knew what chocolate crackles were until today:) So, either all my friend's kids parties have been un-australian or too 'health conscious'. Thanks for once again 'australeducating' me (I coined that word just now:))
ReplyDeleteon the other hand, we do make fairy bread here occasionally and that with wholemeal bread too (I didn't know it had to be white bread?) does that make us more 'australian'?
Chocolate Crackles - thumbs up.
ReplyDeleteFairy bread - thumbs down.
That was my kids anyway.
Jeanne, your mums dripping by the stove brought back such great memories for me. Now my mum marvels that I cook (succulent) roasts with just a bit of water in the pan!
Australeducating - I love this word!!
ReplyDeleteDon't think you can have healthy wholemeal fairy bread though. I really think it has to be white. Thin store-bought white too - no homemade stuff...Sorry.
:)
Ahhh, when it comes to chocolate crackles my English heritage comes through. I can't stand copha and therefore can't stomach chocolate crackles. Chocolate crispies on the other hand .... mmmmmmm.
ReplyDeleteNot sure what copha is exactly, but I'm guessing it's like "bad" shortening--not the all vegetable oil kind! "Fairy Bread?" Is that bread-butter-sugar? If so we do have that! The crackles look like Rice Crispie treats made with rice cereal and [yuck] melted marshmellows. Most kids love them--I hated them. I like the Peanut Butter ones--made with Corn Syrup and Peanut Butter with semi-sweet chocolate on top!
ReplyDeleteI am pretty sure I would rather like them. I do adore Rice Krispie treats. I remember having butter and sugar sandwiches as a child - always on thin, white store-bought bread and...I lived :)
ReplyDeleteSometimes it is all I can do to see the boys eat Peeps at Easter. It makes my teeth hurt so I wonder when I got so serious.
All my computer time is used keeping up with your posts. Not that I'm complaining but it makes it hard to pass sweetly given awards on.
Back to working on our schedule. Year 2 starts on Monday and I haven't even picked a poet.
lol I did a crackles post on the lat blog I crashed [regular occurance round here. I lost Ditz that time too] & sparked a loooong discussion about replacement fats. No such thing. Anything bar copha just does not work. We know. We once tried. Just once. Eeeew!
ReplyDeleteOh & I believe Fairy Bread is a native to Oz. How weird is that?
Hi Jeanne,
ReplyDeleteMy daughter, son and I have a severe allergy to coconut, so they have never had chocolate crackles either. Does that make me a bad Mum? lol
However, we have had fairy bread - my daughter (12) still loves it.
Blessings,
Jillian
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Oh, and we still have butter and cook our lamb roasts in the fat of the sheep. Our grandparents did this and they lived to 92 - definitely something to be said for it!
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm chocolate crackles!Thanks for bringing me back to every birthday party, cake stall and school fete of my childhood:) Your post made me realise in horror that my girls have also never made chocolate crackles with me, nor lamingtons. Fairy bread is also a hit in this household............whatever way you look at it LARD is tasty!
ReplyDeleteFreya reminded me of my Dad's favourite, Lamingtons. Mum mad them every year on his birthday from scratch. No way I would bother with sponge cake and all that icing! But mum's were great!
ReplyDelete