We may have only moved to Stanley back in August, but the family’s knowledge of penguins and love of them is much more ingrained. It all started when we were still a family of 4 and took a trip to London Zoo when we were visiting my parents. Atticus, at just over a year, was completely mesmerised by the penguins and it seems they stole his heart. When in the gift shop, he made a beeline for the toy penguins and Grandma purchased him one. It went everywhere with him and we ended up buying a second one online in case the first went missing in action. That initial penguin has made the trip out here, but we did have to limit the number of toy penguins the kids brought as I was sure we would be convinced to add to their collection during our time here.
I was compiling my list of potential Christmas bakes when I found a coconut mice recipe. The first thought that struck me was how much I love coconut. Then the idea of Coconut Penguins popped into my head. What could be better?! I mean it is a penguin made of coconut and sugar! Unsurprisingly the kids were fully on board with this idea and we have had requests for more Coconut Penguins ever since we finished the first batch.
Ingredients
- 250g icing sugar, sifted
- 200g condensed milk
- 175g desiccated coconut
- Black food dye
- Silver balls
- Jelly diamonds (orange and yellow)
- White chocolate buttons (or yellow smarties!)
- Mini smarties (orange and yellow)
Method
- Line two baking sheets with baking parchment or silicone baking mats.
- Sift the icing sugar into a large bowl (my kids love doing this job and always shriek; “it’s snowing!”)
- Add in the condensed milk and desiccated coconut and mix. The mixture will be stiff, so smaller children may require some help.
- Add generous squirts of the black food dye (it is difficult to get it truly black and ours looked more grey, but this didn’t detract from the kids’ enthusiasm for them) and mix again.
- Take tablespoon-sized amounts and shape them into oval patties and put on the baking sheets. There is a sticky fingers warning here! Slightly damp hands will prevent this to a degree.
- Decorate with two silver balls for eyes, half a jelly diamond for the beak, a white chocolate button for the tummy and two mini smarties for the feet.
- Put in the fridge to set and then enjoy.
This recipe appeared in Penguin News on Friday 13 December 2019.
