Nan's Coconut Buns (With Recipe)

Morning all!

It's been eight years since my Nan passed away but she's always on our minds. She was very traditional, liked to say it as it was (i.e. "Emma stop tucking your hair behind your ears, they'll stick out), but one thing I loved was her old-fashioned ways. Dinners there would always be some warming stew and lunchtime was always a cucumber sandwich (with a dash of vinegar and cracked black pepper). I'm very grateful to my Nan for showing me how to knit, how to make colourful scrapbooks and giving me some sewing advice too or I might not be half as creative and craft-obsessed as I am now. She was very independent (my Granddad passed away back in 1994 so she had many years on her own) and was still cycling along the busy Cambridge roads well into her eighties. Every Christmas she stayed with us, which meant every Christmas the pennies would come out for a card game of Newmarket before she'd hurry into the living room to have the TV at full volume to watch every single soap on TV! I love recalling the funny memories you have of family members who have passed, it shows that regardless of how much time passes, you'll always remember them and they'll put a little smile on your face as you do something that reminds you of them.

Almost every weekend when we visited my Nan, she would always have a batch of freshly baked coconut buns waiting for us and we'd polish them off pretty quickly (especially my brother!). For many years now I've been meaning to make some coconut buns like Nan's, so imagine my delight when I discovered her hand-written recipe on a sheet of paper tucked into one of her old cookbooks! I made a batch last week and I have to say they tasted lovely, very refreshing thanks to the fresh orange but I don't think they were a patch on the famous Nanny Skinner coconut buns!

Anyway, here's the hand-written recipe should anyone wish to make them; if you struggle to read Nan's writing (I did have to look twice at a couple of words!), then let me know and I'll write out the recipe for you. They were very tasty and very cheap to make (I bought all of the ingredients in Lidl and their desiccated coconut was very nice). Nan's recipe is to make a cake but I did the same amount of ingredients and it made 24 small buns.

 

Here's a few photos of my baking progress, they were all demolished within a couple of hours of arriving at my Parents on Thursday!

 

 

 

 

Always thinking of you Nan and Granddad xx