Dottie’s Lemon Slice
She was known as ‘Dottie’ or as my dad affectionately called her, ‘Old Girl’.
This recipe pays homage to my paternal grandmother. Her name was Iris Dorothy Lewis. If there was ever a lady who was the quintessential English Lady, it was her. She never swore, she never got flustered and she would always wear silk nighties to bed. She really was a Lady.
She had a way of making every day phrases seem like poetry. She would refer to red-bellied black snakes as ‘snakes with the red undercarriage’ and dresses weren’t dresses, they were ‘frocks’. When she recalled the antics of what her three boys used to get up to, she would laugh so hard, tears would stream down her face as she tried to get through the sentence. She was strong, she was independent, and she was beautiful.
Growing up I remember she always had a rectangle tin in the fridge filled with one of her homemade slices. I never ate them (if you have read my bio then you will understand why), but before she passed away, I asked her to give me her favourite slice recipe. And here it is…
Dottie’s Lemon SLice
As far as slices go, I have never been drawn to them. I mean, I always saw them in the bakery but what little girl would turn down a delicious chocolate cupcake. Having grown up since then (thank gosh) and moved past the infatuation of cupcakes, I can now appreciate a zingy lemon slice with a buttery, crumbly base. This is the first slice I have ever made, and I tell you what, it sure as heck won’t be my last.
Ma suggested keeping it in the fridge, although I guarantee it won’t make it that far.
This recipe is exactly how Dottie wrote it.
Ingredients
1 pkt arrowroot biscuits
1 large lemon
150 grams cooking margarine
½ tin sweetened condensed milk
Icing sugar
Method
Crush biscuits and add zest of the lemon.
Melt margarine and condensed milk slowly and add to biscuits.
Mix well and press into a slice tin.
The icing is icing sugar, 1 dessertspoon of margarine and lemon juice.
Place in deep freezer overnight.
Keep in fridge.
Julia’s notes.
I am sure my grandmother won’t mind me giving some notes on the recipe. She would want you to have the perfect slice. From what I can remember from it, here are some tips.
When I made this, the consistency of the biscuit base was a little too wet so add the margarine and condensed milk a little at a time. You want a crumbly texture like wet sand. When making the icing, if you have a particularly big lemon you may need to add more icing sugar. Although Ma didn’t write down exactly how much icing sugar was needed, I used about 2 ½ cups for a big lemon. You want the consistency of thick honey.
