Fifteens an Irish Cookie

On a recent trip to Ireland, we stopped at a gas station, looking for things to help us pass the time as we drove from Dublin to Galway, east coast to west coast, it takes TWO hours.  We picked up a five euro CD set of the Rat Pack classics, some mixed nuts, and a little package that said “Fitness.”  This Irish cookie seemed like a great car snack. In Poland we often see cereals or bread labeled at Fitness.  I assumed the little package would have some kind of whole grain cookie or crackers, but I wasn’t wearng my glasses.

In better light, I could see that the package said “Fifteens.”  What on earth?   The little bars had pink and white marshmallows and maraschino cherries – not exactly the fitness snack I’d been expecting, but we enjoyed them nevertheless.

Subsequent stops at Irish gas stations offered us homemade fifteens.  We’d really stumbled onto something here.

I had to google the name to look for a recipe.  Apparently, this is a Irish cookie that everyone’s Irish granny used to make.  When you see the ingredients, you’ll know where the name comes from.  I’m already planning my next batch which I will bill as gourmet fifteens – brandy soaked cherries, homemade marshmallows, and maybe some chocolate.

Ingredients

15 marshmallows (pink and white), quartered
15 glace cherries, halved
15 Digestive biscuits, crushed
150 ml sweetened condensed milk (about 2/3 cup)
desiccated coconut

Directions

• In a bowl, combine the marshmallows, cherries, and biscuit crumbs
• Stir in enough sweetened condensed milk to make everything stick together with a paste like texture
• Sprinkle plastic wrap or foil with coconut
• Scrap the dough onto the coconut covered wrap and shape into a log or a flat rectangle
• Making sure all sides of the dough are covered in coconut, wrap tightly and refrigerate for several hours
• Slice into fifteen cookies