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August 23, 2010

Sweet Tooth

I have a terrible sweet tooth. I blame my father. He’s always liked anything sweet ranging from dessert to cakes and sweets. It would be much easier if I hadn’t inherited this gene, but I try to control myself as much as possible.

My father is a farmer. He’s worked hard all his life and has never had a weight problem. My sister thinks, and I agree, he should be allowed to indulge his sweet tooth. He can’t hurt his teeth since he has false ones. :grin:

He has a lolly jar that my sister fills periodically. There used to be a running joke. My sister would fill the jar and before she knew it, the lolly jar would be empty again. My father always denied everything and said that Joe ate them. (Joe was my sister’s big foot cat. He was a real character but he died earlier this year) This is how the conversation would go:

“My lolly jar is empty.”

“But I filled it a few days ago,” my sister would say.

“Joe has been in the lolly jar again,” my father would say. “He’s a real fiend. I told him off but he keeps eating the lollies.”

After Joe died, my father forgot for a minute. He tried the lolly jar is empty and Joe ate them.

“Ah-ha!” said my sister. “You can’t blame Joe. He isn’t here.”

My father is still trying to come up with a good excuse.

Those of you with a sweet tooth will probably curse me in a moment. I found this recipe for Coconut Ice in my favorite food magazine – Taste. It’s incredibly easy and uses the microwave rather than a saucepan on the stove top. It would be great for those times when you need to make something for a fete or school fair.

Coconut Ice

1 kg icing sugar or 2.2 pounds(confectioner’s sugar in US)
1/2 cup milk
200 g butter or 1.76 sticks of butter
4 cups long coconut threads
2 – 3 drops red food coloring

Mix the icing sugar, milk and butter in a large microwaveable bowl and microwave for 2 minutes or until the butter has melted. Stir in the coconut.

Spread half the mixture into a baking paper-lined slice tin. Smooth until flat. Add a couple of drops of red food coloring to the remaining half and mix well. Spread on top of the white layer and carefully smooth until flat. Refrigerate the coconut ice until firm then cut into squares and store in an airtight container.

Notes: If I’m making it for myself I make half the recipe. I couldn’t purchase the long coconut threads and use normal dessicated coconut. I’ve given the conversions NZ to US.

This is really yummy stuff. :grin:

Do you have a sweet tooth? What is your biggest sugary indulgence?

11 Comments

  1. Nessa

    Your story about your father is funny.

    We have a similar one but it’s not quite as innocent. We went to a wedding once (with an open bar.) The lines were so long my father would get 2 beers at a time. When asked who the second beer was for, he’d say Bob. My father got quite drunk and blamed it all on Bob. There was no one at the wedding named Bob.

    Thanks for the US conversions. I’m going to give your recipe a try. Sounds very good and nice and easy.

  2. Maria D.

    My father has a huge sweet-tooth too and absolutely no control. He also still only weighs 10 lbs more than he did in high-school. If we leave any sweets out- he will eat them all in one sitting so we’ve taken to doling them out..lol

    My sweet tooth loves anything chocolate and red licorice :grin:

  3. Heather

    Love the lolly story. I’m not big on hard candy, but anything chocolate…that’s another story. Especially dark chocolate or moist brownies (no nuts). Mmm…

  4. Becky

    The Lolly story is so funny. It reminds of the story my grandmother told me about her homemade chocolate chip cookies and her 4 kids and my grandfather.

    My grandmother would make cookies from scratch, bake them, take them off the pan and set them on a rack to cool. While my grandma had her back turned one by one the cookies would be snatched off the rack until there were hardly any left. Eventually she got smart and wouldn’t turn her back on the cookies for even a second and they wouldn’t be allowed a cookie until after meals. Now my Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and I all snatch cookies when she’s not looking. :grin:

  5. Shelley Munro

    Nessa, I had to laugh about Bob. That’s the sort of thing Mr. Munro might try.

    Maria – It sounds as if your father and mine wouldn’t play nice with their sweets. :grin:

    Heather – I don’t think you can go wrong with chocolate.

  6. Shelley Munro

    LOL – Becky – how does she expect you all to withstand the temptation? She probably should make double each time. :grin:

  7. Fedora

    Massive sweet tooth, Shelley :) My downfall is gummy candy, but I pretty much love it all! Candy stores are not a pretty sight for my pocketbook ;)

  8. Becky

    Shelley – I definitely agree. She should make double even triple batches. We keep telling her that, but she insists that if we would all just behave the cookies wouldn’t be gone almost as soon as they come out of the oven. I don’t think she realizes just how good her cookies are since has never eaten a single cookie she has ever made. I think it’s a crime. :grin:

  9. Mary

    I love sweets, but I love to bake so I am always making one thing or another. I really like pumpkin pie. Or chocolate pie, or chocolate cake, pumpkin cookies…lol Yeah I have a sweet tooth too.

  10. Shelley Munro

    Fedora – it’s tough having a sweet tooth, isn’t it?

    Becky – she doesn’t taste her own cooking? that is a crime. Mind you, it sounds as if she’d have to fight all of you off those cookies! :mrgreen:

  11. Shelley Munro

    Mary – I love to bake too. I think it’s very satisfying making your own stuff, and if it indulges the sweet tooth as well, so much the better!