Cookie #2 Afghans (NZ)

Cookie #2
Afghans (new Zealand)

These were my cookies of choice from NZ because they’ve always been a favourite of mine and seem unique to NZ. They’re a dry crunchy cookie with great texture because of the cornflakes which is balanced out by the icing on top. All in all, a delightful experience.

As for the origin of the naming of the cookie, I have no idea and there doesn’t seem to be much information available. There are some claims that "the name has nothing to do with Afghanistan but it more related to the dark colour of the biscuits" which I find a bit bothersome so let's ignore origins of the name and concentrate on the fact this this is one delicious cookie.

I ended up making 2 versions of these cookies because I have some gluten and dairy intolerant friends and wanted to see how I could adapt this recipe to suit. The first recipe is my traditional go-to recipe and was was recommended to me years ago by a friend and is from Ladies A Plate. The second recipe is from chelsea.co.nz and I subbed dairy free margarine for the butter and gluten free flour for normal flour. For both recipes I used gluten free cornflakes.

The gluten and dairy free version still tasted good but was much lighter and less crunchy and dense- not as dry as I know afghans to be. Whether this was due to the different recipes of the gluten free flour I don’t know.

Recipe #1

INGREDIENTS
Biscuits
    170 g butter
    100 g brown sugar
    180 g flour
    3 tbsp cocoa
    ½ tsp baking powder
    60 g cornflakes
Icing
    3 tbsp water
    45 g caster sugar
    45 g butter
    190 g icing sugar
    3 tbsp cocoa
    24–30 walnut halves (I make less cookies so need less than this)

METHOD
Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C and line two baking trays with baking paper, or grease them lightly with butter. Break up the cornflakes with your hands and soften the butter.

1. Cream the butter and sugar until the mixture is pale and fluffy. Add the sifted dry ingredients, then knead in the cornflakes

2. Put in teaspoonfuls on the trays, leaving a little space around each biscuit. Flatten them slightly with a fork and bake for 12–14 minutes.

3. Cool on a rack.

For the icing:
1. Gently heat the water, caster sugar and butter until the butter melts and simmer for one minute to form a syrup.

2. Beating all the time, pour about ¾ of the syrup onto the sifted icing sugar and cocoa. Add the remaining syrup if necessary to make a smooth, fudgy icing. Add a little hot water if it’s still too thick.

3. Put a teaspoonful of warm icing on each biscuit, plant a walnut half on the top of each, sinking it into the icing, and leave to set firmly.

4. Store in an airtight tin. They’ll stay fresh for 3–4 days. Makes 24–30 smallish biscuits. (Note from me- I must make my biscuits huge because I usually only get 12 cookies out of this recipe. :-) )

Best eaten: these can easily be eaten by themselves because the icing balances out the dryness of them cookie but they're also very nice with a good cup of tea.


Recipe 2- gluten and dairy free

INGREDIENTS
    200g Butter (softened)

    ½ cup caster sugar
    1 tsp vanilla essence

    1 ¼ cups of gluten free flour
    ¼ cup cocoa

    1 ½ cups gluten free cornflakes

METHOD
Preheat your oven to 180°C. Grease or line a baking tray with baking paper.

In a large bowl beat butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy.
Sift in flour and cocoa, stir thoroughly with the butter mixture until combined before stirring in the cornflakes.

Place heaped teaspoonfuls onto a baking tray, squeeze mixture together gently if necessary then press lightly with a fork.

Bake for 15-20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack before icing. (I used the same recipe as the first recipe but subbed margarine for butter.)

Cookie #1 Melting Moments (Australia)

My first experience with melting moments was in Australia which was part of my reason for choosing this biscuit and the tropical taste of the passionfruit was a natural extension of that. I have had the recipe below for years and no longer know where to credit it to. I like it because I get to put actual passionfruit in the cookie itself so that the flavour is not just in the creamy filling. In my mind, melting moments can stand as a biscuit in their own right or as the sandwiched version that is more iconic.

These were shared with my friend Helen and most were left with her although some will come in to work with me tomorrow. I have to remind myself that my aim to bake my way around the world, not eat my way around it… :-)

PASSION FRUIT MELTING MOMENTS

2 large passion fruit
200g unsalted butter, softened
100g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
250g plain flour
75g cornflour or custard powder

FILLING
3T mascarpone
2T passionfruit pulp (strained, juice only)
icing sugar to taste

Cut two of the passion fruit in half and scrape out all the pulp. Next, either plonk the pulp into a bowl, seeds and all, or press it through a sieve with the back of a spoon, thereby extracting the juice (about 50ml) and discarding the seeds (I did these ones without seeds although my person preference is to leave them in).

Beat together the passion fruit, butter, icing sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy, add the flours and work everything to a soft, smooth dough.

Preheat the oven to very low - 150˚C (130˚C fan-assisted)/300˚F. Line a tray with non-stick baking paper. Take spoonfuls of the dough and mould them into small balls (I use a teaspoon and have it rather heaped) then place on the tray spaced 2-3cm apart. Gently press the balls with the back of a fork (which is tapped in icing sugar to make sure it doesn’t stick) and bake for 30-40 minutes, until crisp and lightly coloured.

Most fillings are traditionally a butter cream of some variety but I had mascarpone at home and love it so used that instead.

Best eaten: with a cup of tea- especially if you're having them without the creamy filling.