A Dusty Struggle and some Choc Fruit Squares

It has been a bit of a struggle finding things to cook for dinner out of my number 1 dusty cookbook.
Sooo much cream, sooo much butter and a few scary, heavy combo's that just scream heart attack!
Maybe a time warp back to 1984 in the heat of a West Australian summer wasn't such a great idea.
Still, we must plow on.
Whilst dinners have been a struggle, this book is very good for cakes & slices (which is not good for the self imposed post christmas, cake withdrawal programme - an attempt to fit back into clothes worn pre-christmas … which is sadly not working).
It has been far too hot here to bake anything but the kids and I have found a couple of no bake options to try.

A couple of important points before we continue:

I am not a food stylist
I am not even a great cook
I am good at eating
It is too freaking hot to do much at all

This is the first new recipe that we have tried out of 1984.

Sultanas are a fruit so these squares must be healthy, right??? - especially if you ignore the chocolate, biscuits and sugary condensed milk.

We made a couple of little changes:

No walnuts for us as my kids don't like nuts.

We substituted the sherry for orange juice and the dark choc for milk choc as that was all that was in the pantry.

It is really quite yummy.
Next time I would use a smaller tin to make it a little thicker and if the weather is cooler the chocolate on top may actually harden (although soft and gooey is quite delicious).
We will make this one again as it will make a nice treat in a lunch box.
So we'll call this a "Dusty Cookbook" success!

(not so good for the Cake Withdrawal Programme however ….)

Have you pulled out a Dusty Cookbook yet?

Jenny xx