Party Fun – Lolly Log

 

Hi there! This is a Kiwi classic and apparently also in Australia and the United Kingdom. It’s a fun thing to make for a child’s birthday party. I haven’t made this for 20 years…..geez, showing my age now! Mum makes it occasionally and this is her recipe but they are all basically the same. It’s un-baked and super basic with the ingredients being lollies, plain malt biscuits (I use Griffins), cinnamon, butter, condensed milk, shredded coconut and desiccated coconut to roll it in. I like to use Eskimo and Banana lollies but you can add other lollies if you like, like M&M’s, Peebles, Jelly-Beans, Pineapple Lumps, pieces of chocolate or any type of lolly really.

I made it this week because Master 9 had a shared lunch for school. The theme was weird & wacky and I suggested meringue mice but he said “ew, who would eat those!” so I went for colourful instead! His class won a radio competition through The Hits and enjoyed two bouncy castles AT SCHOOL, WoW!! Lucky little fritters! I couldn’t remember ever being that lucky at primary school but I did remember how each year a circus….yes, an actual circus, would pop it’s tent up on our field once a year. What the heck, we were lucky the lion or the bear didn’t escape and eat us all! Poor animals I am so glad that in New Zealand there is a law now prohibiting the use of wild animals in circuses, I love animals and find that very cruel and sad. On a happier note, here’s the recipe…..

 

INGREDIENTS

250 g / 8 oz packet of plain malt biscuits (I use Griffins)
170 g / 6 oz soft lollies (I used eskimos and bananas)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
125 g / 4 oz butter
1/2 cup condensed milk
1/2 cup desiccated coconut to decorate

Optional – extra 1/2 cup shredded coconut

 

Note

• You can double this recipe to make two smaller logs or one huge, big fat one!

 

STEP BY STEP

So to get started first roughly chop up the lollies and leave them aside.

Now in your food processor process the biscuits until they are fine crumbs.

Fine crumbs will give you a nice firm log, whereas big crumbs will create little gaps in your log and it may be a bit crumbly. Imagine big stones in a bucket and little stones in a bucket…..there are a lot of gaps between the big stones. So if you ever have a crumbly cheesecake base or any biscuit crumb base this is why, or if they are fine but are still crumbly it could be that there is not enough butter in the recipe to stick them together, or you simply haven’t pressed them into your tin firmly enough. Anyway, that’s enough ‘crumb’ troubleshooting for today! (I can really bleat on I know)

Now place the crumbs and the lollies into a medium-sized bowl.

Tip* If you don’t have a food processor you can use a thick plastic bag (one where you can seal up the end). Lay it flat on the bench and lay a tea-towel over it. Using a rolling pin bash the biscuits to crush them up. It’s not a perfect solution as I’ve done it a few times and the bag has split, also it doesn’t quite get them as fine as they need to be……so, if you are trying this good luck! Maybe you have a better method I need to know about.

Next add the cinnamon and shredded coconut (if you are using it) and mix it all together.

Now, cut the butter into cubes and place them in a small saucepan with the condensed milk. Stirring often, melt the two together over a low heat. Once totally combined (no more melted butter showing) pour into your bowl with the other ingredients.

Then mix it all together and lay it all out on a piece of baking paper. Proceed to mould it into a log shape (or a square, you could call it lolly-square, whatever makes you happy). Make it as short and fat, or as long and thin as you like.

So once you have your ‘log’ shaped, wrap it tightly in the paper and leave it in the fridge to set for at least one hour, allowing the butter to harden.

Once set, unwrap the log (leaving it on the paper) and sprinkle some of the desiccated coconut on top. Place the rest around the log and roll your log around in the coconut so it sticks to all the sides.Then chop the ends off, not just to eat them (because that’s probably what you will do, or is that just me?) to tidy it up and make it neat. I cut mine into 12 slices, but you can slice it as thin or as thick as you like.

There you go, a cool, fun, lolly log, perfect for parties and also makes a cute gift, presented in a little box.

Storage – Because this isn’t baked and is made with melted butter, I would store it in the fridge and it will be good for up to 5 days. 🙂