2 down 78 to GO! Tasty politics - Smuts vs. Hertzog

"Smutsies vs. Hertzoggies the desserts that proudly represented the two South African political parties prior to the 1924 elections.”  

Who said politics couldn’t be tasty? Today we represent our political parties with t-shirts, flags, badges and ‘toyi-toying’. The winning party is usually the one who served the most ‘free’ food.

It wasn’t any different back in 1924, instead of burning tires, chucking stones and stabbing members of the opposing parties, Jan Smuts and J.B.M Hertzog had an infamous ‘food fight’ of their own.

In the countryside it was easy to spot the two different opposing parties and their followers. Supporters of the South African party of Jan Smuts were known as the ‘Sappe’. They drove pimped out Chevy's and if you supported the party you made and served Smutsies, so named after Jan Smuts.

‘A Smutsie is a little tartlet baked in a cup cake pan filled with apricot jam and topped off with a light cake mix’.  

Supporters of J.B.M Hertzog and the National Party on the other hand were known as the ‘Natte’. They were seen driving flashy Ford’s, I’m talking spinning rims and ear deafening bass yawl. Their supporters also made and served the exact same dessert but with a little twist. Instead of topping the Smutsie off with cake mix it was topped off with an egg white/coconut filling. It was no longer a Smutsie but a Hertzoggie, so called after J.B.M Hertzog.

Enough about politics and history back to cooking! Today we are talking less ‘toyi-toying’ and more SMUTSIES.

If you are a lover of all things baked especially jam filled treats then this dessert is for you. A sweet Nutmeg base filled with homemade sticky apricot jam and finally topped off with a light buttery cake mix is what this dessert is all about. Nothing gourmet and nothing fancy just plain baked goodness.    

SMUTSIES

• 125g butter
• 200g (1 cup) sugar
• 1 egg
• 375 ml (1 ½ cup) self-rising flour
• 1,25 ml (1/4 tsp) salt
• 1,25 ml (1/4 tsp) freshly ground nutmeg 

Step 1 – Cream the butter and the sugar and add the egg.

Step 2 – Sift the flour, salt and nutmeg and add bit by bit to the butter, sugar and egg mix.

Step 3 – Mix everything together and leave to cool in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Step 4 – Roll out the cookie dough about 5mm thick on some floured cling wrap.

Step 5 – Use a round cookie cutter to cut-out the cookies

Step 6 – Line the bottom of your sprayed cup cake pan with the cut-out cookies

Filling 

• 125g butter
• 180 ml (3/4 cup) sugar
• 2 eggs
• 5 ml (1 tsp) vanilla essence
• 250 ml (1 cup) self-rising flour
• 125ml  (1/2 cup) smooth apricot jam  

Step 7 – Cream the butter and sugar together and add the eggs and vanilla essence. 

Step 8 – Sift the self-rising flour and add it bit by bit to the creamed butter and sugar mixture. Mix well. 

Step 9 – Add a teaspoon of apricot jam to each of the cut-out cookies in the cup cake pan.

Step 10 – Add a tablespoon of the filling mixture on top of the apricot jam.

Step 11 – Bake the tartlets in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Step 12 – Remove from the oven and let it cool for a moment before taking it out of the pan and storing it in an airtight container.