We had another house guest this weekend – my sister who is second eldest in our family of four girls. I asked her if she had any special baking requests. She said that she had been craving afghan cookies and my heart sank. I have never been very good at baking afghans. They always turn out either too crumbly, too pale or like little rock cakes. But, I thought that this was a good opportunity to try another recipe from “Ladies A Plate” and hopefully improve on my, up until now, hopeless afghan making performances!
The Edmonds recipe for afghans uses an egg and white sugar. There was no egg in this recipe and it used brown sugar instead of white, which instantly appealed to me as I thought it would mean that the biscuits might be less crisp (there is nothing worse than biting into a really crisp afghan biscuit which crumbles everywhere!). I must confess to eating a fair amount of the mixture, as it was so delicious, which was a good sign, and I was delighted when my cookies turned out to be not the only the best afghans I have made, but actually really good!!!!
Last night I made the fastest dinner I think I have ever made. I dropped my sister off at the airport and didn’t get home until 7pm. I had put out pork chops for dinner, and after a day of helping my husband lift carpet I didn’t really feel much like cooking. But I did, and made dinner in about 15 minutes flat – I pan fried the pork chops in a little basil infused olive oil, then deglazed the pan with some apple cider vinegar, and added some wholegrain mustard and a little cream to make a sauce. We had them with cous cous to which I added chopped basil, roasted red peppers, pumpkin seeds and lemon juice, and a spinach salad. Speedy but good.
Afghans (from Ladies A Plate)
170g butter
100g brown sugar
180g flour
3 tbsp cocoa powder
½ tsp baking powder
60g corn flakes
· Cream butter and sugar, stir in dry ingredients and lastly, the cornflakes.
· Spoon teaspoonfuls onto trays and flatten slightly
· Bake at 180c for 12-15 minutes
When cold ice with chocolate icing and top with a walnut half
5 comments:
Hi Tammy,my favourite couscous recipe is to add grilled or roasted zucchini,red pepper,kumara and red onion,plenty of chopped flat leaf parsley,mint and basil.Dress it with a little oil and balsamic dressing and season well.Your afghans looked pretty good too.
These cookies look delicious! I've never heard of Afghans before- are they a local specialty? Your dinner sounds lovely too!
Hi Emily Rose
I think afghans must be a New Zealand and Australian specialty biscuit! they are really yummy - you should try them!
Tammy
These look sooooooooo good - your sister is very lucky! The walnut for decoration is a nice touch.
yummy :)these look so so good.
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