Afghan biscuits, the traditional New Zealand Anzac Day biscuit and homemade Anzac biscuits

 LEST WE FORGET!

 ANZAC Day is remembered in Australia and New Zealand on Thursday the 25th April each year and is a declared public holiday in Australia, New Zealand, Tonga, the Cook Islands, Norfolk Island, and Tokelau. To commemorate this sad occasion, many of us in Australia and New Zealand will be either making a batch of the traditional Anzac biscuits, or a batch of these delicious Afghan biscuits, which have no connection to the Afghan people or their country of origin. 

 

On the 25th April 1915, during World War 1, Australian and New Zealand soldiers formed part of the allied expedition to capture the Gallipoli Peninsula in Ottoman Turkey. The 25th April was officially named Anzac Day in 1916 in honour of the Gallipoli Landing. 

Surprisingly Afghan biscuits originate from New Zealand, from over the ditch, and are their counterpart to our Aussie Anzac biscuit, according to the NZ locals. Afghans are a delicious chocolate biscuit, and shouldn't just be enjoyed on Anzac Day. Originally they were a chocolate, butter and corn flake confection, although weetbix makes a very suitable substitute for cornflakes in this recipe. 

I don't buy Corn Flakes just to eat as a cereal, as I can't see many nutritional benefits, however Mr. HRK is happy to eat a bowl of them whenever they are in the pantry. I love the crinkly texture of these biscuits when I eat them. I also made them with weetbix a month or so ago, and a young friend who was visiting said it was just like eating chocolate crackles. Do you  remember chocolate crackles? They are great children's party food. I love icing my Afghan biscuits, the more chocolate and icing the better.

These are the fastest biscuits to make. This batch took me 30 minutes from beginning to end, not including the icing. That's the beauty of baking biscuits.

Ingredients:

Preheat oven to 180 deg. C. (350 deg. F)

Makes 18 biscuits

200 g (7 oz.) butter, softened or melted

1/2 cup or (75 g, 3 oz) sugar

1 1/4 cups plain flour

1/4 cup cocoa

2 cups cornflakes ( 50g or 2 ozs) or crushed weetbix

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Cornflakes added to mixture

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 deg. C. (350 deg. F.)

Prepare a large oven tray by greasing or spraying lightly with cooking spray, and covering with baking paper. I used two baking trays, a large one and a smaller one.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 4-5 minutes.

Sift flour and cocoa. Stir into creamed mixture, and add vanilla essence.

Fold in cornflakes or crushed weetbix. It will form into a ball.

Take tablespoon sized amounts and roll into balls and spread evenly on the tray. Flatten balls lightly with a fork or your finger.

Bake at 180 deg. for about15 minutes or until set. They will be a little soft when they come out of the oven but will crisp up. Allow to stand for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Chocolate icing:

1 1/2 cups sifted icing sugar

1 heaped tablespoon sifted cocoa (sift with the icing sugar)

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 teaspoon melted butter

1-2 tablespoons water

18 walnut halves

To Prepare the Icing:

In a medium bowl combine the sifted icing sugar and cocoa, vanilla and melted butter and mix.

Slowly add the water a little at a time until a firm consistency is reached. If you add too much water, just add some more icing sugar until the desired consistency is reached.

ICING TIP: I loved working with the icing for these biscuits. It came together beautifully and I adore chocolate icing, such a guilty pleasure. Here's just a small tip with icing these biscuits. I made the icing quite firm, whilst I was baking the biscuits and left it in the bowl until the biscuits cooled. I then added just a few drops of warm water which was enough to make the icing more spreadable. Then using an old tip from my Mum, I placed a bread and butter knife in a cup of hot water, and used the warm blade of the knife to carefully spread the icing on the biscuits. A hot knife makes icing much more spreadable and it doesn't drizzle off the biscuit. You don't want that. The trick is not to have runny icing for biscuits. This amount of icing was perfect for 18 biscuits. 

When the biscuits are cold, ice them and decorate with a walnut half.

Store in an airtight container for 3-4 days.

Backstory:

I have a copy of the original recipe for Afghan biscuits taken from the Edmunds Cookery Book, New Zealand's no. 1 cookery book, first printed in 1955.

If you are running short of time and need to make an even faster batch of biscuits, the Edmund's Cookery Book recipe for Afghans uses a Chocolate cake mix. I'm sure any chocolate cake mix would work.

Easy Afghans recipe

1 packet Edmonds Chocolate cake mix
50 g (2ozs) Butter, melted
2 cups cornflakes
2 tablespoons water

Combine all ingredients to form a stiff dough. Drop teaspoons of mixture onto a greased oven tray. Bake at 180 deg. C (350 deg F.) for 15 minutes in a preheated oven. When cold, ice with chocolate icing if desired.

ANZAC biscuits

Many food writers and bloggers are posting their recipes for Anzac biscuits at this time of year, and if you would like to read more about Anzac day and refer to my recipe for Anzac biscuits, here is a link to my previous post for Anzac biscuits. They really are a delicious biscuit. 

It  has been suggested by researchers that Anzac biscuits not only remind us of a period in Australian history that was pivotal,  they also "signify women's input to the war effort on the home front." The fact that wives, girlfriends and women's groups, busily made Anzac biscuits which were sent to the soldiers during World War 1 is now related in some sources to be a myth. You can still read elsewhere though that they were sent overseas to the soldiers albeit with a very different and much hardier recipe being used. However, meanwhile at home many Australian women busily made rolled oats based biscuits which were sold to raise funds for the war effort at fetes, galas and other fund raising occasions which became known later as Anzac biscuits. 

So do you believe that Anzac biscuits were sent overseas to our soldiers, or was it only what is called the very hardy tile or soldiers biscuits that could break teeth that they received as rations? 

Many people have their own private memories of family members and friends who they have lost as a result of various wars, and by commemorating  those who are now gone on Anzac Day with the Dawn Service and the Anzac Day marches, we are hopefully reminding all generations of the futility of war. It has never been more important than now, don't you think?  When the Last Post plays on the bugle during the Anzac Day Dawn Service and throughout Anzac Day, I always think of my wonderful Dad, Herb Davison, who died too young when I was 9 years old, as a result of World War II injuries he received in  Papua New Guinea, and I still shed a quiet tear.

I'll be making some Anzac biscuits as well this year. 

 Lest We Forget.

Thanks for dropping by,

Pauline