Chinese Chocolate Chews

 

Do you ever need to bake something quickly on the weekend when you hear that friends are coming over later, and you have a lot going on? Or you just feel like something chocolatey and easy to bake, that sounds like me.  This is an iced chocolate biscuit slice to solve that problem. So quick, easy and delicious as well, and who doesn't love a chocolate slice with lots of chocolate icing. If you have nuts on hand, crush a few and sprinkle them across the top while still warm, or sprinkle coconut over the top. If you are cutting down on sugar, I think that a sugar substitute would also work well in this recipe. This recipe is from one of my Mum's original recipe books which I was reading through just the other day, and I spotted this one. I don't think a recipe like this one ever dates.

Now that I have baked this slice, I realise that Mum made it frequently and we always loved it. I never knew that she called it Chinese Chews though, but then I never asked. It was just Mum's Chocolate slice. I love the back story behind family recipes however I don't know it for this one unfortunately. I'm fairly sure though that a friend from her Church gave it to her many years ago. This recipe is also unlike some of the other Chinese Chews recipes which also include nuts and dates. I have no idea why this one is different, however the ingredients in this are simple and always on hand.  During very hot weather though, I suggest you keep it covered in the refrigerator, or it will lose it's nice chewy texture.  

Ingredients:

1 cup Self Raising Flour

1 cup coconut
1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa
1 beaten egg
1 cup sugar
1 cup mixed dried fruit
125g Melted butter

Let's Cook:

Place the dry ingredients and mixed fruit  in a bowl.
Add the melted butter and the beaten egg and mix well.
Press onto a greased slice tray.
Cook until slightly brown, and firm to the touch. It will be coming away from the edge of the slice tin. This will mean the edges are nice and chewy.

Ice with Chocolate icing while hot using a warm knife dipped in hot water, and cut into squares.

This is the original hand written recipe from my Mum's recipe book, and as you can see she thought it was good, always a good sign. I know that Mum often used Fairy margarine when cooking, now of course I generally use unsalted butter unless otherwise specified, however it was also a matter of economics back in those days. 1/4 lb. of melted Butter or Marg. in the recipe instead of 125 g. is always a dead giveaway as to the era of the recipe.

Recipe taken from Mum's original recipe book. She's written good on it, so it must be.

Chocolate Icing:

I rarely measure ingredients when I make icing, so I made a special effort to do that this time. With icing, it is often just about adding enough liquid or more icing sugar until the desired consistency is achieved. However the following ingredients are as close as possible to what I used this time.

 Ingredients:

1 cup icing sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa
1 tablespoon melted butter
2 tablespoons warm milk
Some warm water if needed

Method:

Sift the icing sugar and cocoa into a medium sized bowl.
Add the melted butter and mix into the icing sugar.
Add the warm milk and mix in well until the chocolate icing mixture is glossy and just runny. If it is still stiff, add enough warm water, very slowly, until it is spreadable. The icing will firm up as it cools. It can then be smoothed onto the hot slice base with a knife dipped in hot water.

Chinese Chews just iced

Do you have any idea about the origin of the Chinese Chews biscuit recipe that you might have?

This is a recipe that I wrote up when I first started blogging many years ago, and now I have a whole new cast of wonderful readers, so I hope you enjoy it. It's a simple recipe for the weekend. It's been too long since I made this one, so I'll be making it again this weekend. I am also trying out something new on the blog, which I hope you will notice, so hopefully it will work.

Have a lovely weekend everyone. I hope it's not too hot for those friends in the Northern Hemisphere, I am really feeling for you all with the extreme temperatures. We are enjoying the perfect Winter weather here at the moment, with clear blue skies, and 23 deg. C maximum temperatures. 

Warm wishes,

Pauline

An original recipe by Pauline @ Happy Retirees Kitchen