Coconut jam (Hertzoggie) slices

Last week I pledged to celebrate Heritage month by giving some of our favourite South African treats a bit of a twist. If you haven't tried my milk tart pancake recipe, do it! You really won't eat pancakes any other way again. When I was in the Klein Karoo a few weeks ago I was given the most beautiful homemade apricot jam from a tannie that owns the tuisnywerheid and after seeing the little hertzoggie tarts on the shop shelves, I instantly knew what I wanted to do with the sweet spread. 

I absolutely adore hertzoggies; with their crisp shortbread cups, jammy centres and fluffy, coconutty (that's a word) topping they are just the perfect accompaniment to a cup of rooibos tea. My only problem with them, is they're a bit of a pain to make. Well, in their defence, any little tart is a mission. So these slices are my shortcut to sweetness.

The shortbread base is actually the very first recipe I copied down from my mother's cookbook into my own little book and it's such a winner I use it for a thousand things. From cookies, to bars to tart crusts, it's definitely a keeper. If you're not an apricot jam fan, give the bars an even more modern twist and swop it out for fig, strawberry, raspberry or whatever you can get your hands on. 

Hertzoggie slices

Makes 12

250g butter or margarine

¾ cup castor sugar

1 egg

1tsp baking powder

2¹/3 cups cake flour

²/3 cup corn flour

1-2 cups apricot jam

3 egg whites

1 cup castor sugar

2 cups coconut

For the pastry, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg followed by the baking powder, flour, corn flour and salt. Press the pastry into a 30 x 20cm greased baking dish and refrigerate. Whisk the egg whites until soft peak stage then beat in the castor sugar until thick and glossy. Fold in the coconut. Remove the pastry from the fridge then spread with the apricot jam. Spread the coconut meringue topping over then bake at 170C for 30-35 minutes or until the top is slightly golden but the shortbread is cooked through. Slice into blocks and serve. 

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Vanilla custard slices

This recipe was given to me by my childhood best friend, Tammy whose mom used to send her to our farm with a tin filled with these creamy slices almost every Friday after school. We'd sit in the treehouse we built ourselves and devour them, getting custard all over our hands and then relishing the process of licking the creamy filling off our fingers. I must add that the recipe wasn't just handed to me, it was handwritten and carefully placed in a folder along with all my best friends' favourite recipes (also scribbled down on paper) for my 18th birthday. The title of the little cookbook? 

'Katelyn's Favouriteistest Favourite Flop-proof Recipe Cookbook - Made with love by all her friends' 

How awesome is that? Pretty awesome. 

Almost as awesome as these custard slices.

Photography by Gunther Schubert of Vorsprung Studio 

Custard slices

Makes 16-20

2 x 200g packets unsalted cream crackers

½ cup cake flour

100ml maizena or cornflour

20ml custard powder

pinch of salt

100ml water

1 tsp vanilla

3 eggs, separated

1L milk

1 cup white sugar

60g butter or margarine

Lemon glaze

1 cup icing sugar, sifted

juice of 1 lemon

Line a 20 x 30cm cake tin with baking paper and arrange the crackers in the bottom.

Make a paste with the flour, cornflour, custard powder, salt, water, vanilla and egg yolks. Heat the milk, sugar and butter and add to the paste while whisking. Return to the pot and cook until the custard is thick, stirring continuously.

Whip the egg whites until stiff then fold into the lukewarm custard. Pour the custard over the crackers and place another layer of crackers on top. Allow to set in the fridge until completely cool.

Mix the icing sugar and lemon juice together with a little hot water to form a paste and drizzle over the tops of the custard slices. Cut into slices and serve.