Christmas Cooking ~ Coconut Ice

Hello dear Christmas friends! It's so lovely to see you.

I hope that you will forgive me for not being a very good blogger over here at Keeping the Christmas Spirit Alive, 365 lately. I've been doing a few days of substitute teaching each week and I've also been busy nursing sick family members.

I've also been busy baking this week and I crazily volunteered to make sweets for my daughter's school carnival. I'm probably one of the only Aussies over here who has never made coconut ice before so I set myself the challenge of learning how to make it. Of course, I headed to Pinterest to see if I could find a good recipe or some inspiration. 

Source: almostbourdain.blogspot.com 

Here is my version of Coconut Ice!

Coconut ice is a sweet and delicious confection that is often found at school fetes, church fairs, fundraising cake stalls and birthday parties. It is made with desiccated coconut, confectioners sugar and condensed milk and its origins are British/Scottish. It is also one of a few sweets that doesn’t require any cooking, so it’s a safe recipe for little hands to get stuck into. The messiness factor is something that the kids will also LOVE about this yummy treat!

Big Al loved pouring the ooey gooey condensed milk into the bowl!

Coconut Ice:

Ingredients:
1 tin sweetened condensed milk
750g or 4 cups icing sugar
1 250g packet McKenzie's Shredded Coconut
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
Pink food colouring

Directions:
Mix all ingredients, except for the pink food colouring together and divide in half. This is the hard part! I tried using a spoon but that was a big waste of time. I suggest that you roll up your sleeves and use your hands! Evenly press one half of the mixture into a foil lined slice tin. Colour the other half of the mixture with a few drops of pink food colouring. Press the pink mixture onto the white layer.

Refrigerate for approximately 30 minutes and then cut into little squares; I suggest using a serrated knife.

The recipe that I used was found here. The page also has a link to an excellent conversion chart.

You can also add other edible colourings for a festive/seasonal variety.

www.harplounge.com

White and orange at Halloween

Source: taste.com.au 

Red and green at Christmas!

Source: merrymadecardscrafts.blogspot.com 

It would make a wonderful addition to party bags especially as you can make it well in advance and it will last for at least a month in the fridge in an airtight container.

 Let's hope they actually sell at the fair! 

Well, I hope you might try making some coconut ice next time you need to contribute something to a bake-sale or fund raiser. I'm sure you'll love it!

Thanks so much for stopping by and celebrating a little bit of Christmas joy!
I hope to see you over at Natasha in Oz this weekend for my Say G'Day Saturday Linky Party, a weekly Party for you to showcase anything and everything! Just click the button to join in!

Best Christmas wishes,

Natasha 

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