Snowballs

Makes 10 – 12

Ingredients

  • 400ml desiccated coconut
  • Few drops pink colouring
  • 140g butter
  • 125ml sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 5ml vanilla essence
  • 375ml self-raising flour
  • Pinch of salt
  • For sandwiching the cakes:
    • 200ml icing sugar
    • 20ml boiled water
  • For the syrup:
    • 120ml sugar
    • 120ml water
    • 150ml smooth apricot
    • 7ml red food colouring

Method

  1. Place the desiccated coconut in a mixing and add few drops of pink food colouring. Rub the colouring into the coconut to tint the coconut until evenly coloured.
  2. Cream the butter until light and fluffy, then gradually add the sugar. Continue creaming until the mixture is light and fluffy.
  3. Whisk the eggs lightly then gradually add this to the creamed butter, add a 2 teaspoons flour with the eggs to prevent curdling.
  4. Add the salt and vanilla essence. Add the flour and work the mixture into a soft dough.
  5. Divide the dough into portions – I weighed them into 25g balls. Roll each one until smooth and place on a baking tray lined with greased paper.
  6. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 170°C for 12 – 15 minutes. They should be pale in colour with the bases turning light golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack.
  7. Make the syrup – heat the sugar and water in a 24cm AMC pot.
  8. Bring the syrup to the boil once the sugar has dissolved.
    1. Add the apricot jam and simmer until the syrup is slightly thick – not too thick as it will prevent the syrup from penetrating the snowball.
    2. Tint the syrup with red food colouring. Once the snowballs are cool, mix the icing sugar and boiled water into a thick, smooth paste, then sandwich the snowballs together. Leave to harden slightly – this takes a minute or two, then dip the snowballs into the hot syrup and toss them a few times to make sure they are coated. I used tongs for this as the syrup was quite warm.
  9. Place them into the coconut and toss to coat evenly.
  10. Dust off the excess coconut and place on baking paper. These are delicious eaten fresh and may be stored for up to two days.