South African Crunchies - GS World Thinking Day

This year our troop chose the country of South Africa to participate in Girl Scout World Thinking Day.  As part of our WTD presentation, we thought we would like to offer a little treat to our "visiting" troops.  Crunchies are popular cookie (or biscuit) in South Africa and are reminiscent of a chunchy-style granola bar.  There are several recipes out there on the web.  I based our recipe mostly on this recipe from "Lick Your Own Bowl".  I adapted the recipe a bit for American ingredients and added a chocolate drizzle on top for an extra finish.  Truthfully, they are excellent plain and actually my daughter prefers them that way!

South African Crunchies

1½ sticks butter
2 Tablespoons golden syrup, or cane syrup*
¾ cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour or whole wheat flour
2 cups whole rolled oats
1 cup coconut

1 Tablespoon grated orange zest (from one orange)

1-2 oz. chocolate melting wafers, optional

Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Prepare a 9 x 13” pan by greasing lightly and lining the pan with parchment paper. Measure the dry ingredients (oats, flour, coconut, zest, and salt) into a large mixing bowl. 

 In a saucepan, melt the butter with the sugar and syrup on a medium-high heat, stirring to combine. When the mixture reaches a low boil, turn off the heat. Carefully add the baking soda and stir gently. The mixture will bubble up a bit, so be careful. Add the hot butter/sugar mix into the dry ingredients and stir to combine until evenly coated. 

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and spread evenly. 

 Place another piece of parchment or waxed paper on top and smooth and press the mixture into the pan.

 Remove extra paper and bake for 15 minutes until golden brown. After removing from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes before removing from the pan and cutting in to squares. 

Crunchies

Optional – after cutting into squares, melt chocolate in a microwave safe dish. Drizzle melted chocolate over crunchies using the tines of a fork. Allow chocolate to set before serving. (Makes about 4 dozen)

* may substitute dark corn syrup if you can't find the cane syrup.

Crunchies with chocolate drizzle

Girl Scout Sleeping Bag SWAP

Girl Scout Sleeping Bag SWAP

What you will need:
Felt Sheets
Yarn
Wooden Beads
Mini Craft Sticks
Sharpie markers
Craft Glue
Safety Pins
Hole Punch
Scissors and/or Fabric cutter
Ruler
Stickers or labels with Troop #

1.)  Start by cutting felt into strips 9" x 1 1/4".  You should get about 9 strips per sheet of felt.

2.) You will need some small lengths of yarn to tie up the roll 5" long.  And you will need smaller (2") lengths for the "hair".  I used a bundle of rug loom yarn in various brown/yellow/beige colors.  The girls can cut the yarn to make shorter "hair", too!

3.)  Use the Sharpie markers to draw faces on the beads.

4.) Next, punch a hole in the felt strip about 1/3 of the way down the strip.  Roll the short end of the felt and tie it with the yarn.

5.)  Glue a small craft stick to the felt and fold the felt up and over to make the "sleeping bag".  Leave enough room to glue the bead to the top of the stick for the head.

6.)  Add glue to the bead for hair and then attach it to the craft stick carefully.  I used a paper plate to keep the glue mess to a minimum. :)

7.)  Once dry, you can add the safety pin to the bed-roll part and attach the Troop# label.  So cute!