Ava, Nate, and now Grace, love fairy bread. They always want me to make it for their birthdays and it's the first thing they go for at their friends' parties. What is this divine confection, you ask? It's white bread cut diagonally, spread liberally with margarine or butter and sprinkled generously with candy sprinkles (often called "hundreds and thousands" here). And it is an Aussie tradition. No kid's party is complete without it. I love that it's so simple. You can just imagine some Aussie mum coming up with it 30 years ago. Maybe she forgot to bake cookies for her kid's party. Maybe she opened her pantry and tried to come up with something exciting and out of desperation grabbed the bread and sprinkles. Candy sprinkles will sell anything, I guess.
Now, just like I'm still not good at proper Vegemite spreadage, I don't think my fairy bread is up to scratch just yet. I'm probably too stingy with the sprinkles. It's one of those things that, if you didn't grow up with it, it's hard to get just right. But here's some I made for Ava's last birthday:
By the time I set the tray down and got the camera to take a picture, half of them were gone. So, as you can see, fairy bread is a big winner. Even my scantly sprinkled ones! To me, it seems like this ought to be an American invention. It seems that Americans are usually the ones to invent the sugary, fatty snacks with zero nutritional value. Twinkies, anyone? Ho Ho's? Deep-Fried Snickers Bars? But the Aussies beat us to the punch on this one. Nicely played, guys.
Nate has his preschool party on Thursday, where he gets to bring his own "party lunch". You can bet that fairy bread will be on the menu. Or else.
That is amazing. Makes me think of Buddy the Elf and his sweet tooth--he would love it. And who doesn't have those ingredients on hand?
ReplyDeleteAt Ava's birthday party last month I thought it was weird that you were giving the partiers buttered bread. I heard you call it fairy bread and I imagined you had come up with the name . Who knew it is an Aussie tradition? It was a crowd pleaser too. It seems strange to me that it's the end of school for y'all. Two happy things together,Christmas and summer vacation. Okay, y'all get on a plane and come here for your summer break. Okay?
ReplyDeleteIt is very Buddy the Elf!
ReplyDeleteI love learning about stuff like this.
I wonder what would happen if I showed up to Laura's school party with Fairy Bread?
Os-tra-cized.
It's funny how you say that the kids all went for the fairy bread, 'cause all I can see in that photo is the bird tray. It is AWESOME.
ReplyDeleteBuddy the Elf, for sure!
ReplyDeleteI think pav is ours too & it pretty much takes the cake for pure sugar! 'P
ReplyDeleteI love how sprinkles can come to the rescue for bread-and-butter! Around these parts, sprinkles make yogurt a totally fancy dessert!
ReplyDeleteWHAT? you didn't know about fairy bread before you came here? you've surprised me twice today!
ReplyDeletebtw that fairy bread of your is pretty scantily spread:) go on throw some more sprinkles on next time! ( I use an empty sauce (ketchup) bottle to sprinkle my hundreds and thousands on)
I looooove Fairy Bread! And you just gave me an idea for what to make for the prize giving tomorrow night!
ReplyDeletemore sprinkles next time, thats why they're called 100's & 1000's you need a lot of them!
ReplyDeleteHa--I hadn't thought it, but it IS a total Buddy the Elf snack. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I know--those are sparsely sprinkled even for ME, Jo! :) I think I was running low that day. Someone else told me to fill a whole plate with them, then dip the bread, butter side down. I'll have to do it that way next time! And yes, Rosemary and Ganeida--fairy bread and pavlova are uniquely Australian!
Glad to inspire you, Maggie! Hee hee.
Oh, and Veronica--I LOVE that tray. I even blogged about it last year. It's from Ikea, natch.
My mom apparently used to have butter and sugar sandwiches when she was a kid and would visit her grandparents on the farm. When she told me this as a kid, I thought, "What could be better than butter and sugar on a sandwich? BRILLIANT." And all the while, the Aussies had outdone it with the sprinkles, too. YUM.
ReplyDeleteYes, you are to stingy with the Hundreds and Thousands... the Fairy Bread needs TONS of hundreds and thousands... Vegimite... more butter then Vegimite... I have my daughter onto it.. I am training her the Australian way... but could do with some Tim Tams to really show her the way :)
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