I have fond childhood memories of the crunchies my Granny made when we visited her in Joburg. Chewy, buttery and delicious, they were amongst my top favourite tea time treats. Part of the allure was that it was such a novelty. Back then Pretoria and Johannesburg were very far apart and we didn’t visit often. We would sit with the grown ups nibbling on crunchies and other delights whilst sipping on tea out of my Granny’s beautiful china tea cups. How novel and grown up it was. Afterwards we would play with the old toys Granny had collected over the years, many of which belonged to our aunt and uncles – my children still play with them when we visit her and she still makes crunchies almost every time!
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My mother gave me this recipe after she made them as a treat for her grandchildren. It differs from the traditional South African crunchies in that it is made with honey instead of golden syrup and with the addition of raisins. I have had this recipe, in my mother’s handwriting, tucked away in my Cook and Enjoy recipe book for a very very long time. I rediscovered it while cooking dinner the other night and it just seemed like the right time. I probably don’t need to mention this, but the rolled oats used in the recipe are the same as the oats one would use to make oats porridge… I have a slightly embarrassing story on how I discovered that myself… for another day!
I adapted the recipe slightly on a whim, using half raisins half cranberries. I also doubled the recipe and spread the mixture in a large metal oven pan. Apparently using a tin is important as the crunchies will continue “cooking” after they have been taken out of the oven. Since I doubled the recipe I had to adjust the cooking time to 30 minutes in total. The crunchies will be soft and crumbly while hot, but will firm up as they cool. This is a great recipe to bake with the kids in the holidays as it makes for a tasty, healthy(ish) snack!
Ingredients
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1 cup sultanas / raisins / cranberries
- 1/2 cup wholewheat flour
- 1t baking powder
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup dessicated coconut
- 100g butter
- 1T honey
Method
- Preheat the oven to 160C
- Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl
- Melt the butter in a small pot and stir in the honey
- Add the butter mixture to the dry ingredients and mix
- Press the mixture into a 28cm x 18cm tin
- Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown
- Cut into bars whilst hot
- Leave in the tin to cool
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