Hertzoggies

What is a Hertzoggie?

The Hertzoggie is a traditional South African pastry that holds a special place in the country’s culinary heritage. It is named after General JBM Hertzog, who served as Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa from 1924 – 1939. This sweet treat is believed to have originated in the Cape Malay community of South Africa and was thought to have been a favourite of General Hertzog. (Wikipedia)

My mother used to bake Hertzoggies for me and my brother during our school holidays. I always helped her in the kitchen when it came to the cookie topping, but had never baked it myself. Today will be the first time I bake the famous Hertzoggie – let’s see how it goes.

Put it on the table:

In short, a Hertzoggie has a fluffy dough with a dollop of apricot jam in the centre and is topped with a coconutty meringue – delicious!

Note: I’ll start with the crust ingredients and how to make that, before I get to the topping.

CRUST

Ingredients for the crust of Hertzoggies

120g butter

37,5ml (2½ tablespoons) castor sugar

3 egg yolks

500ml (2 cups) all-purpose flour

10ml (2 teaspoons) baking powder

5ml (1 teaspoon) salt

5ml (1 teaspoon) vanilla essence

40 ml (8 teaspoons) water or milk

Whisk the butter and sugar together until creamy, add the egg yolks and beat well.

Whisk butter and sugar until creamy

Add egg yolks and beat well

Add the rest of the crust ingredients and mix into a dough. Let the dough rest for about 20 minutes. (I was so busy shaping the ingredients into a dough that I didn’t take a picture, but I’m sure you get the picture).

The dough after adding the rest of the crust ingredients

Roll out the dough to a thickness of 2–3 mm on a floured surface. (I could have rolled it out a bit more to get a thinner crust, but it didn’t really make a difference to the taste).

Dough ready to be rolled out

Press out circles of dough to fit into cupcake pan and place in the cavities of the cupcake pan.

Dough circles in the cupcake pan

TOPPING

Ingredients for the topping of Hertzoggies

3 egg whites (from above 3 eggs separated)

25ml (5 teaspoons) boiling water

200ml castor sugar

400ml coconut

5ml (1 teaspoon) baking powder

Apricot jam (fine and cold)

Preheat the oven to 180°C/356°F. Whisk the egg whites and boiling water together until soft peaks form and whisk in the sugar little by little. Beat until stiff peaks form.

Whisk egg whites and boiling water, add sugar and beat until stiff peaks form

Add the coconut and baking powder and beat just until combined.

Add coconut and baking powder

Now we come to the part that is more familiar to me (*sigh – thank goodness).

Spoon apricot jam into the pastry shells – not too much, as you don’t want it to bubble its way through the topping during the baking process.

Apricot jam in the pastry shells

Round it off with generous tablespoons of the egg white and coconut mixture over the jam to cover it completely.

Finally, it’s time for the topping

Bake for 15 minutes until cooked and slightly brown.

Freshly baked Hertzoggies from the oven

I think, for a first try, my Hertzoggies were a fair success. Just don’t make the same mistake I did and immediately want to taste it … that apricot jam is hot!

Traditional Hertzoggies