Autumn wonderland

Make no mistake about it: autumn is upon us. Which means it’s time to bring out the winter-weight duvet (for those duvet days, obviously…) as well as start planning to cook all your favourite warming soups, stews and other special autumnal dishes.

Drinks that comfort and revive – from strong cups of tea to indulgent hot chocolate – are also an essential of the season, and we’ve got the perfect accompaniment for them. The classic South African soetkoekie (sweet biscuit) is an ideal mid-morning or mid-afternoon treat, and whipping up a batch of these delicious – and easy to make –biscuits is the perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon when it’s chilly outside.

Soetkoekies are one of Reuben Riffel’s childhood favourites:

‘On Sundays,’ he says, ‘the whole extended family would gather at Ouma’s house for a huge family lunch… There was always too much food, but my cousins and I would still want pudding, so my mother would make us roly-poly cake with jam, syrup and custard late in the afternoon. At the same time she would bake a big batch of soetkoekies, klapperkoekies and gemmerkoekies – sweet biscuits, coconut biscuits and ginger biscuits.’

So here’s a recipe – from Quivertree’s award-winning book of recipes and real-life Karoo stories, Karoo Kitchen – for soetkoekies. Enjoy:

OLD-FASHIONED SOETKOEKIES (SWEET BISCUITS)

‘I choose a cool day to make these (or I bake them in the evening), because the dough tends to become too soft in hot weather’

800g cake flour
1 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg, freshly grated
2½ cups sugar
1 cup butter or margarine
1 cup rendered pork lard (essential for deliciously crispy biscuits)
4 eggs, beaten

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Sift together all the dry ingredients. Add the sugar and rub the butter and pork lard into the mixture. Stir in the beaten eggs to form a stiff dough. Knead the dough well and roll out to about 3mm. Press out biscuits, place them on a greased baking tray and bake for 10-15 minutes.

For more delicious local recipes, get your own copies of Karoo Kitchen and Reuben Cooks. And you’ll discover lots more autumn food inspiration in the rest of Quivertree’s fabulous food titles too, which you’ll find in our catalogue.