Fairy Bread

Synonymous with children's birthday parties in Australia, fairy bread is an unusual dessert consisting of triangle-shaped slices of white bread that are smeared with butter and topped with tiny, multi-colored balls of sugar called hundreds and thousands in Australia, also known as sprinkles in the rest of the world. No one really knows where fairy bread came from, but its closest relative is called hagelslag, a Dutch chocolate sprinkle topping for sandwiches. Some claim fairy bread was inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson's eponymous poem. The earliest written reference of the dish is found in a 1934 issue of the Sydney Morning Herald, in an article called Christmas Dinner with Toddlers. Easy to prepare, fun, and colorful, fairy bread remains a staple of birthday parties throughout Australia and New Zealand.