National Fairy Bread Day


Happy Fairy Bread Day everyone! I have been fortunate enough to team up with Dollar Sweets and ReachOut to spread some sprinkles and promote young adult mental health :) 

I have been involved with ReachOut for over 5 years now and what started as a way to get out of my comfort zone and challenge myself has turned into an amazing relationship and a passion for wanting to reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness. For those who don't know ReachOut is Australia's online only youth mental health service and it's been around for 22 years. This year due to Covid online health services (especially mental health services) have surged in demand and ReachOut has been busier than ever. So it's important to not only support them (like they support young people) but also promote them so that young people can get the help they need and know it's ok to be not ok.

Some facts about mental health:

  • 1 in 4 young people will deal with some sort of mental health issue and out of that very few will get the help they need. 
  • Unsurprisingly given the above statistic it's no wonder that suicide is the leading cause of death in young people beating out road accidents.
  • You can't tell by looking at someone if they have a mental illness or not. I often get the comment that I don't look like I have anxiety and while I'm sure it's meant as a compliment, it makes me annoyed that people don't take mental illnesses seriously. Just because you can't see it doesn't mean it's not there! 
  • Sometimes medication or therapy alone won't fix it. For many people a mix of the two is required. It's all up to the individual and what works for them. 
  • Mental illness can be environmental, chemical or both. For some people it's the type of environments they're in, for other's its due to a chemical imbalance and for others it can be both. Regardless of what it's caused by all diagnosis's should be taken seriously.

 Fairy Bread is an iconic sweet treat here in Australia made using bread spread with a thin layer of butter and dipped in hundreds and thousands (or sprinkles) it's that easy. You can fancy it up with different types of hundreds and thousands, cutting the bread into fun shapes with cookie cutters or using different spreads as a base instead of the butter. 

I was lucky enough to receive this super sweet package in the mail thanks to dollar sweets and I immediately started dreaming up of what I could bake using all the sprinkles. 

It didn't take long to think up a couple of recipes so first up was a fairy bread


cake inspired by Katherine Sabbath, I just took my favourite cake recipe and made it in a square tin levelled it out (and flipped it over) before spreading on a layer of butter cream (tinted pale yellow for butter) and topping it with classic hundreds and thousands before cutting it into big triangles. 

Then I decided to make some fairy bread biscuits inspired by Cookies and Cups. I made my favourite sugar cookie recipe (shared below) cut it into squares and then triangles before baking. After they had cooled I spread a thin layer of buttercream (leftover from the cake) and dipped them in hundreds and thousands. Here's the recipe for my favourite sugar cookie recipe:


Sugar Cookies (recipe from Family Circle kids cookbook 2)

125 grms of softened butter or margarine (I personally prefer margarine in these cookies as it makes them softer)

2/3 cup icing sugar

1 egg yolk (if doubling the recipe just use a whole egg)

2 teaspoons vanilla essence

2 cups of plain flour

 

  • 1.       Cream butter/margarine with sugar, egg yolk and vanilla until light and creamy
  • 2.       Add flour and mix until combined, shape into a ball.
  • 3.       Place in the fridge for 30 minutes and preheat oven for 180 degrees
  • 4.       Roll out on a floured surface or between two sheets of greaseproof paper, until about half a centimetre thick. Cut out into desired shapes.
  • 5.       Place on a tray lined with greaseproof paper leaving a few centimetres between each cookie. Bake for around 10 minutes until the edges are starting to brown.
  • 6.       Decorate as desired or leave plain.

 

  


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