From: The Jean Bowring Cookbook
Contributor: Helen Croaker
Recipe
4 ounces butter
½ Cup Sugar
2 level tablespoons coconut
2 level tablespoons cocoa (unsweetened)
1 beaten egg
¾ cup crushed walnuts*
½ pound crushed sweet biscuits
Place the butter, sugar, coconut and cocoa in a saucepan and stir until the butter has dissolved. Cook for 2 minutes. Cool slightly, then add the egg and walnuts and enough of the crushed biscuits to make a good consistency. Press firmly into an 11 inch by 7 inch greased shallow tin. When cold, ice with chocolate icing. Cut into small finger lengths.
* Please feel free to leave out the nuts if you cannot eat them. You can add more crushed biscuits, or something like preserved cherries if you wish.
Notes for a Modern Kitchen
113 grams (~4 oz) butter
½ Cup Sugar
2 level tablespoons coconut
2 level tablespoons cocoa (unsweetened)
1 beaten egg
¾ cup crushed walnuts *
223 grams (~8 oz) crushed sweet biscuits
Place the butter, sugar, coconut and cocoa in a saucepan and stir until the butter has dissolved. Cook for 2 minutes. Cool slightly, then add the egg and walnuts and enough of the crushed biscuits to make a good consistency. Press firmly into a 28 cm by 18 cm greased shallow tin. When cold, ice with chocolate icing. Cut into small finger lengths.
Arnott’s Marie Biscuits are the crushed sweet biscuits (cookies) traditionally used in these.
* Please feel free to leave out the nuts if you cannot eat them. You can add more crushed biscuits, or something like preserved cherries if you wish.
Background
If anyone knows anything about the origin of the hedgehog slice, we would be most grateful to hear! All that we could find out is that they were popular during the seventies and continue to be today. They are a quick, light way to have a chocolate fix without committing to a Brownie.
A slice is – as the name implies – usually something thin and cut up into pieces not unrelated to short bread and sweet biscuits. Consider it a quick type of flat cake that can be mixed and baked (or not baked!) in a few minutes. They are usually served for morning or afternoon tea. Many of the classic Australian recipes such as caramel slice, vanilla slice etc became popular during the 1970s in women’s magazines and cookbooks.