Kashata Squares #CreativeCookieExchange

A cross between candy and cookie, kashata is a popular snack in East Africa. Kashata is usually made with peanuts or grated coconut, or both, and is cooked on a stove or over a fire so no oven is needed. 

A few months ago when I was preparing for my trip to Uganda, I started researching Ugandan food. I was looking for local ingredients to use in muffins, for one thing. I wanted to bake my Monday Muffins ahead of time since I knew I wouldn’t have an oven in the hut that I was staying. My second objective was finding a sweet treat I could make for the students, without an oven. I came across kashata on several websites with varying amounts of the basic ingredients and copied and pasted a little from here and a little from there to come up with a mixture that sounded delicious. But I never ended up making them. After a long dusty day teaching the children, it was all we could do to make ourselves some dinner and fall into an exhausted sleep. When the theme for this month’s no bake cookies was announced, I knew exactly what I wanted to make. Maybe next time I go to Uganda, I’ll manage to make them for the children.

Ingredients
1/2 cup or 100g sugar
3/4 cup or 55g freshly grated coconut
1/2 cup or 75g roasted peanuts
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon flour
2 tablespoons water

Method
Mix all the dry ingredients, except the sugar, together in a small mixing bowl.

Sprinkle the sugar on to a frying pan and cook it over a medium heat, stirring, until it melts and just begins to brown. Mine melted into clumpy pieces of sugar and then finally melted into syrupy stuff again.

Reduce heat and quickly add the dry ingredients, stirring well.

Continue stirring for about a minute, making sure everything is well mixed.

Add the two tablespoons of water and mix again.

Pour out on sheet pan lined with greased foil. Press into a square with a spoon.

Allow to cool for a bit and then cut into smaller squares.

Mine were really crumbly but I did manage to cut them into squares, some missing a corner or two. This didn’t affect the taste. I would have eaten these with a spoon, if necessary.

Enjoy!


Are you looking for No Bake Cookies to Beat the Heat? I've got some great ones for you! 

• Chunky Chocolate Fruit and Nut Cookie Slice from Jill at Made with Love
• Indoor S’mores Bars from Karen at Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Kashata Squares from Stacy at Food Lust People Love
• Nutella Clusters from Tara at Noshing with the Nolands
• No Bake Bourbon Pecan Cookies from Renee at Magnolia Days
• No Bake Coconut Cookies from Kathya at Basic N Delicious
• No Bake Cookie Butter Cookies from Heather at Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
• No Bake Kit Kat Squares from Holly at A Baker’s House
• No Bake Lemon Cheesecake Cookies from Becca at It’s Yummi!
• Strawberry and Cream No Bake Cookies from Miranda at Cookie Dough and Oven Mitt

The Creative Cookie Exchange theme this month is Beat the Heat with No Bake Cookies. Even if we don’t want to turn on the oven, we still want cookies! If you are a blogger and want to join in the fun, contact Laura via email (thespicedlife AT gmail DOT com) and she will get you added to our Facebook group where we coordinate events.

You can also use us as a great resource for cookie recipes. Be sure to check out our Pinterest Board and our monthly posts. You will be able to find them the first Tuesday after the 15th of each month!