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Deliciously golden and crunchy, these traditional South African crunchies leave no stone unturned when it comes to delivering the ultimate biscuit experience.
There are thousands of different crunchy recipes out there, making it one of the easier biscuit bases to adapt. Adding additional ingredients such as raisins, choc chips, and a variety of nuts you can truly make it your own.
If you live in New Zealand, an ANZAC biscuit is what we would compare these crunchies to.
It’s no secret that my family simply adore biscuits. So much so that I’m always looking for a variety of new biscuit recipes to add to my repertoire to mix things up. We have the cookie jar neatly stored next to the coffee machine, leaving no cookie untouched with every passing moment. I’ve tried a few crunchy recipes before, and have had some of them not set and others become too hard. So when I made this recipe and it set to perfection, I knew I had to save it for future use.
You may think that these crunchies are healthy as they contain oats, however, with a cup and a half of sugar and 2 tablespoons of honey or syrup, this is not the case. However, they do not let down in the taste department. And now that I have a base, I’m going to experiment by adding other ingredients next time, and possibly seeing if I get the same results with less sugar. I’ll keep you posted. If you prefer a simple “soetkoekie”, then consider baking our Outydse Soetkoekie recipe.
This recipe, published in The Huisgenoot, Top 500 Wenresepte is one to keep on hand. The book is available at Amazon. And following it as per instructions will yield approximately 48 squares of deliciousness.
How to make Crunchies – The South African Way
Melt the sugar, butter, and syrup in a pot over low heat. In a separate bowl mix the oats, coconut, flour, and salt. Put the sugar mix to the side to cool slightly. Mix the egg and bicarbonate of soda into the chilled sugar mix and stir vigorously. Add the flour mix as soon as the bicarb starts foaming and continue to combine.
Press the crunchie mix into a well-greased baking tray by using the back of a metal spoon. Alternatively, use a sheet of wax paper and press down firmly. The mixture needs to be compacted well.
Bake at 180 degrees Celcius for approximately 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and cut immediately, but let cool down in tray. If you wait until they have dried out they will be too crisp to cut.
Until next time!
Crunchies – The South African Way
Ingredients
- 1½ cups White Sugar 375ml
- 125 gram Butter
- 2 tbsp Honey or Syrup 30ml
- 2 cups Oats 500ml
- 2 cups Coconut 500ml
- 1 cup Flour 250ml
- ¼ tsp Salt 1ml
- 1 Egg Whisked
- 2 tsp Bicarbonate Soda 10ml
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180° Celsuis (350°F).
- Prepare an ovenproof dish.
- Melt the sugar, butter, and syrup in a pot over low heat.
- In a separate bowl mix the oats, coconut, flour, and salt. Put the sugar mix to the side to cool slightly.
- Mix the egg and bicarbonate of soda into the chilled sugar mix and stir vigorously. Add the flour mix as soon as the bicarb starts foaming and continue to combine.
- Press the crunchie mix into a well greased baking tray by using the back of a metal spoon. Alternatively, use a sheet of wax paper and press down firmly. The mixture need to be compacted well.
- Bake at 180 degrees Celcius for approximately 20 minutes or until golden brown.
- Remove from oven and cut immediately, but let cool down in the tray. If you wait until they have dried out they will be too crisp to cut.
Absolutely delicious.