I asked my friend Julia for some recipes from her native country, New Zealand. She sent me this recipe for Afghans, a biscuit I had never heard of before. In fact, I searched online for the origins and there were a few different theories. Normally, the biscuit is topped with a walnut, but I substituted pecans. The secret ingredient is the corn flakes, which give the cookies an extra crunch. Although they look very sweet with the icing, they are not too sweet. They do taste delicious with a cup of tea!
Ingredients
Biscuits
170g unsalted butter
100g brown sugar
180g flour
3 Tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
60g cornflakes, crushed into pieces
Icing
3 Tbsp water
50g caster sugar
50g butter
190g icing sugar
3 Tbsp cocoa powder
around 30 walnut halves (or pecan)
Instructions
Pre-heat the oven to 180C (160C for fan ovens). Then, line two baking trays with greaseproof paper or lightly grease them with butter.
First, in a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until the mixture is pale and fluffy. Next, sift the dry ingredients together and mix them with the butter. Finally, mix in the crushed cornflakes.
Put teaspoonfuls of dough onto the prepared trays leaving 2 cm of space between each one. Next, flatten them slightly with a fork. Bake for 12-14 minutes, then remove from the oven and cool on a rack.
Icing
First, in a small saucepan, heat the water, caster sugar and butter over low heat until melted. Then put the icing sugar and cocoa powder into a mixing bowl and slowly add in the melted mixture, mixing constantly. Add a few more drops of hot water if the icing is too dry. Finally, put a teaspoonful of warm icing onto each biscuit and place a walnut (or pecan half) on the top of each. Leave to set for 10-15 minutes. Then store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
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