I made this slice for our road trip to Canberra. It’s the Queen’s Birthday Long Weekend and traffic is guaranteed to be heavy with the opening of the ski season. For my overseas readers, yes we do have snow here in Australia. Strange but true. The upshot is I’m not planning on stopping anywhere en route this weekend. It will be a door to door journey. Both ways.

What to bake when you are in a hurry? Something easy. An old school  melt and mix recipe that requires nothing more than a bowl, a wooden spoon and basic pantry ingredients.

Old Fashioned Coconut Slice

125 g butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup coconut
1/2 cup plain flour
1/3 cup self raising flour
1 tablespoon cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 egg

Icing
1 cup icing sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa
1 teaspoon softened butter
1 tablespoon milk

PREHEAT oven to 180 C. . Grease an 18 x 27 cm slice tin and line with baking paper for easy lift out.
MELT butter over low heat.
SIFT together the flours and cocoa into a medium sized bowl. Stir in coconut and sugar.
ADD melted butter, vanilla essence and a lightly beaten egg.  Mix with a wooden spoon to combine.
PRESS mixture evenly into the prepared tin. Bake at 180C for 20 minutes or until just firm to the touch.
MEANWHILE prepare the icing. Place all ingredients into a small bowl and beat until well combined and smooth.
SPREAD slice with icing while still hot. Leave in the tin and place into the fridge to cool.
WHEN icing has set, cut into long fingers or small squares. Store in an airtight container.