Thursday, January 19, 2012

Butternut snaps and popcorn

Butternut snap cookies
Food Diary (January 19, 2012)
Breakfast: Rolled oats with kiwi fruit, sunflower seeds and flax seeds
Lunch: Rice and beans
Dinner: Potato, onion and sausage stew
Baking/sweets: Butternut snap cookies

Butternut snap cookies were invented in Australia, I think. Unlike ANZAC Cookies and pavlova whose origin is disputed it seems the case for butternuts is fairly clear cut.

Butternut snap cookies get their name from butter and coconut. They are similar to ANZAC Cookies except butternuts contain eggs and don’t contain rolled oats. They are lighter. Even though its called butternut, very little butter is used but the butter taste is present for sure. I haven’t had the original butternut snaps for a long time so I cannot compare the taste. But these are delicious. If I had to choose between butternut snaps and ANZAC I would choose both. The recipe is available here.

Before I move on, I want to share a little story about kiwifruits. In New Zealand, fruits and veges are extremely cheap or even free when they are in abundance. Sometimes there would be a heap on the side of the road that anyone can take, as much as they want. I was in a supermarket with a friend and we saw kiwifruits selling for 1 New Zealand cent a kilogram. That’s about 0.8 US cents. We rubbed our hands in glee and proceeded to take our time to select the finest specimen. We had time on our hands, and unfortunately that was the only thing we had. We had a good laugh at the checkout when we realized none of us had any money, not even a few cents. The ones I bought yesterday caught a little bit more, unfortunately.

Today's Favourite Photo
German Cookies



Today’s Favourite Blog
Source: BBC
Northern Peruvians had been eating popcorn 1,000 years earlier than previously thought. Researchers say corncobs found at an ancient site in Peru suggest that the inhabitants used them for making flour and popcorn. The oldest corncobs they found dated from 4700BC. But they didn't have it while watching movies, which is not quite the same I suppose. 

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13 comments:

  1. I thought there were some alien connection to the peruvian legends. So that would mean they were already watching alien movies way before anyone else. Makes sense they had popcorn.
    Your cookies are so evenly golden (tanned)! I could never do that .. maybe it's just my wonky oven. :D

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    1. Or maybe watching live aliens and eating popcorn:)
      it not your oven - the photo was taken under artificial light, unnatural tan

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  2. Both your cookies and Sonia's cookies look delicious! Interesting story about popcorn and Peru connection!

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  3. It's such a pleasure to open this page and see... three cookies ;-) They look excellent abnd if they are at least half as good as Anzac Biscuits, I'm totally lost.
    It's good to know people don't starve in New Zealand :-) Kiwi fruits are apparently very healthy. They are cheaper every year here because now even France grows kiwi. Did you know they were first called Chinese gooseberries and because New Zealand wanted to export them to the US, they were advised to change the name because it was the cold war time. Thus the name was created (after the bird of course).

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    1. Thank you, has to be three cookies, not two or four:)
      I didn't know about the history of kiwifruit, very interesting. I wonder if its exported to China and sold as Kiwifruit?

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  4. Perhaps the Peruvians were watching plays while eating popcorn?

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  5. I thought maybe the butternut snaps had butternut SQUASH in them. But butter and coconut sound like a delicious combination no matter what!

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  6. Popcorn is a staple whenever I go to the movies, but not such much at home. Hmm....

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  7. Oooh, it's been so long since I've had butternuts! They remind me of childhood :)

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    1. I quess since its so readily available, you don't make a point of having it regularly

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