You don’t want to miss this classic Australian dessert treat made with bread, margarine and sprinkles. It is served on birthdays and is a favorite among the children in the country!
Hello Reader! I try my hardest to research recipes as best as I can before posting to ensure I am representing each culture correctly. If this recipe is from your country and I have made a mistake or you have suggestions for how to make it more authentic, I would love to hear! Please leave a comment below letting me know what should be different, and I will rework the recipe. It is always my intention to pay homage and respect to each cultural dish that I cook. Thanks for reading!
Recipe Origins
Australian food is filled with wonderful delights, ranging from savory Sausage Rolls to Zucchini Slice to scrumptious Lamingtons. But if you really want to get in the Australian psyche — if you truly want to experience an Australian treat unlike any other — then you must try Fairy Bread.
Fairy Bread, described in its simplest form, is simply bread with margarine and sprinkles.
More specifically, to make this recipe you must:
- Take a slice of the cheapest, most processed white bread that you can find.
- Slather it with a thick layer of butter or margarine.
- Dump mounds of sprinkles (AKA Hundred and Thousands) on top of the bread.
- Cut the bread into triangles.
TA DA! There you have it, folks.
Some will tell you that Fairy Bread is primarily enjoyed as a treat at children’s birthday parties. And while that’s true, the honest Australians will tell you that they still eat it at 40 years old, enjoying the reminiscence of childhood in the form of this unique snack.
Why Make this Recipe
- 3 Ingredients: And they’re inexpensive ingredients too. You probably have them in your house.
- 3 Minutes: No cook time. Just assemble and eat.
- So Australian: This snack will really allow you to taste Australia.
What Ingredients Do I Need?
Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the recipe at the bottom for quantities.
- Bread: Cheap white bread, as processed as you can find it.
- Margarine: You can use butter if you want, but margarine is preferred.
- Sprinkles: Specifically non-pareils or, as they’re known in Australia, Hundreds and Thousands (the really small, circular shaped ones)
How to Make this Recipe
Step 1: Butter the Bread
Spread a thin layer of margarine on each slice of bread. You may not need to use all 2 tbsp of margarine.
Step 2: Add the Sprinkles
Pour the sprinkles into a bowl that is large enough to fit the entire piece of bread.
Dip the bread in the sprinkles, margarine side down, leaving a thick coat of sprinkles on the bread.
Step 3: Cut
Cut the bread diagonally from corner to corner. You can enjoy as is or repeat the cut with opposite corners so that bread is cut into four little triangles. Enjoy!
What Not to Do
I try to keep personal stories out of my blog posts these days. But today I must tell you one, and I think you’ll forgive me as this story is begging to be told.
A while ago, I posted a TikTok Video about Fairy Bread. Prior to making this video, I had watched a few YouTube videos on how to make the classic Australian dessert, read a few articles, and even asked a neighbor that had lived in Australia.
My primary question was: Can You Cut the Crusts Off of Fairy Bread?
While the resounding answer was “It Doesn’t Matter,” when the video was posted, the Australians of TikTok sure did tell me otherwise.
The video has been seen by 65 THOUSAND people, and many MANY of them made fun of me for cutting the crusts off the bread. The Daily Mail wrote an article about the fiasco, and I was even invited on Australian talk radio to “confess” to my sins!
So, needless to say, I’ve learned some lessons in what not to do. I didn’t do all of the DON’Ts below, but have seen other creators do some of these as well, so I compiled all of the tips into one list.
Here They Are:
- DON’T Use High Quality Bread
- DON’T Cut the Crusts Off (I mean, you can…. Some Australians do. But prepare to be verbally assaulted.)
- DON’T Cut the Bread Before Putting the Sprinkles On
- DON’T Use Any Other Spreads (Peanut Butter, Nutella, etc)
Expert Tips
- You don’t have to dip the bread in the sprinkles. You can also pour the sprinkles over the top of the bread, but this is much messier.
- The crusts are so important because this is what you use to hold your bread with. Most Australians will eat the bread and then discard the crust.
- You must serve your Fairy Bread cut into triangles!
Recipe FAQs
There are a few myths as to where the term “Fairy Bread” comes from, though no one actually knows for sure.
First of all, “Fairy Bread” was the name of a poem written by Robert Louis Stevenson in A Child’s Garden of Verse, published in 1885.
Later, the Hobart Mercury, an Australian newspaper, wrote an article about the child inmates at the Consumptive Sanatorium. The article stated that they would be eating Fairy Bread and butter covered in 100’s & 1000’s.
It may be more likely that this second example is where the actual name for the food came from, as it describes the food in detail. It seems, though, that the Hobart Mercury was describing the actual bread as Fairy Bread, and not the dessert itself.
Turns out, this treat tastes exactly how you would expect.
Close your eyes and eat a bite and you will very easily be able to guess that you’re consuming bread with butter and sprinkles.
If I had to wager a guess, I’d say that the draw of this dessert is the nostalgia that accompanies it.
The dessert transports Australians back to the simplicity of childhood. It carries them back in time to a period when the biggest joy in life was a piece of Wonder Bread covered in sprinkles.
National Fairy Bread day is celebrated every November 24.
The first Fairy Bread Day didn’t occur until 2014. The founder of the holiday ate a bite of fairy bread and decided it was too special not to celebrate. That’s all there was to it!
Did you enjoy reading about this Australian birthday tradition? Then you might like these other popular desserts from countries around the world:
If you make this recipe at home, leave a review/comment on this post letting us know what you thought!
And don’t forget to share a photo of your finished product on Facebook and Instagram and tag @TheForeignFork and hashtag #TheForeignFork.
Fairy Bread from Australia
Equipment
- Butter Knife
Ingredients
- 4 slices white bread
- 2 tbsp margarine, softened
- 1 (3.75 oz) Bottle Non-Pareils Sprinkles/Hundreds and Thousands
Instructions
- Spread a thin layer of margarine on each slice of bread.
- Pour the sprinkles into a bowl that is large enough to fit the entire piece of bread. Dip the bread in the sprinkles, margarine side down, leaving a thick coat of sprinkles on the bread.
- Cut the bread diagonally from corner to corner. You can enjoy as is or repeat the cut with opposite corners so that bread is cut into four little triangles. Enjoy!
Notes
- Bread: Cheap white bread, as processed as you can find it.
- Margarine: You can use butter if you want, but margarine is preferred.
- Sprinkles: Specifically non-pareils or, as they’re known in Australia, Hundreds and Thousands (the really small, circular shaped ones)
- You don’t have to dip the bread in the sprinkles. You can also pour the sprinkles over the top of the bread, but this is much messier.
- The crusts are so important because this is what you use to hold your fairy bread with. Most Australians will eat the bread and then discard the crust.
- You must serve your Fairy Bread cut into triangles!
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