Country Women's Association

On Wednesday, 30th June, the CWA of NSW featured on the TV show Masterchef. The Masterchef contestants baked traditional CWA recipes for 100 CWA members and were then judged by the Masterchef Judges and CWA Cookery Judge, Alison Mutton.

Part of the largest female lobby group in Australia, the Country Women's Association of New South Wales, including ACT, is well represented with 430 branches and over 11,000 members. Throughout NSW and the ACT, Branches meet monthly to take on any number of initiatives - be it fundraising for medical research, lobbying for better services for families or helping out in times of emergency, as well as handicraft and cookery skills.

Recipes from the CWA Masterchef Episode

Plain Scones (recipe from The CWA Cook Book: Seventy Years in the Kitchen)

Sift together 450g (3cups) plain flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder and a pinch of salt. Rub in 1 tablespoon butter and gradually add 150ml milk and 150ml water. Stir together lightly with a knife to make a smooth dough. Roll out 1cm thick, cut scone into shapes and bake in a 220ºC over 7-10 minutes.

Fruit cake (boiled) (recipe from The CWA Cook Book: Seventy Years in the Kitchen)

Cream 3 eggs and 220g (1 cup) sugar in a bowl. Put 180g (1 cup) pitted dates in a saucepan with 125g (1 cup) sultanas, 125g raisins, 60g (½ cup) chopped walnuts and 1 tablespoon mixed peel. Add 500ml (2 cups) water, bring to the boil and boil for 10 minutes. Add 115g chopped butter; remove from heat. Sift 300g (2 cups) plain flour into the bowl with the creamed sugar, then add 1 teaspoon mixed spice, ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 2 teaspoons cream of tartar and 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda. Add the boiled fruit and mix well. Spoon into a tin and bake in a 180ºC oven for 30-40minutes. Ice and sprinkle with walnuts.

Neopolitan Cake (suggested recipe for The Land Cookery Competition)

125g butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 cups self raising flour

Pinch salt

½ cup milk

A few drops strawberry essence and pink colouring

¼ cup coconut

6 tsp strawberry jam

Cream butter and sugar until creamy. Add eggs one at a time and beat well. Sift flour and salt, add to creamed mixture alternately with milk.

Divide mixture in two. To one half, add coconut, to the other half add essence and colouring.

In a prepared 20cm tin, spread white mixture on bottom.

Drop strawberry jam in drops all over the mixture, and finally pour the pink mixture on top and spread out.

Bake in moderate oven approx 45 mins or until cooked.

When cold, ice with pink icing.

Fig & Apple Jam (suggested recipe for The Land Cookery Competition)

**Fruit is weighed after preparing

1 ½kg diced figs

½kg granny smith apples, peeled and coarsely grated

¼ cup lemon juice

1 ½kg sugar

2 cups water

Place figs, apples and water in a heavy based saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cook with lid on until fruit is tender.

Remove lid and skim off as many seeds as possible when they rise to the top.

Pre-heat the sugar. Add sugar, stir over low heat till sugar is dissolved.

Bring to the boil, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes.

Add lemon juice and continue to boil for another 10 minutes and begin testing by placing a little jam in a cold saucer. Jam is ready if it wrinkles on top and begins to gel. Remove from heat, stand 5 minutes. Fill heated jars and seal.

Lamingtons (recipe from The CWA Cook Book: Seventy Years in the Kitchen)

Cream 140g butter and 140g (⅔ cup) sugar in a bowl. Add 2 beaten eggs with 4 tablespoons of milk and a few drops of vanilla essence. Finally, stir in 270g (1 ¾ cups) sifted self raising flour. Grease a rectangular cake tin and pour the mixture into it. Bake in a 180ºC oven for 30 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool and leave until the next day. Cut into squares. To make icing, cream together 85g butter and 215g (1 ¾ cups) icing sugar. Mix together 1 tablespoon cocoa powder with a little hot water and add to the butter mixture. Stir in a few drops of vanilla essence. Ice the cake squares all over, then roll them in desiccated coconut, or browned coconut. To brown the coconut, spread coconut on a shallow plate or baking tin and place in a 150ºC over for a few minutes.

The Land Cookery Competition Schedule states: Points to look for in judging: Daintiness of size (approximately 4cm square), texture of cake, quality of finish and general presentation.

The CWA Cook Book: Seventy Years in the Kitchen is available from bookstores or from the CWA of NSW Head Office. See www.cwaofnsw.org.au/merchandise/home.do for more information.