afghan biscuits

Afghan biscuits are the original Tim Tam Slams. They're chocolatey, crunchy, chewy, light, soft, sugary, buttery, melt-in-your-mouth {and your coffee!} biscuit delights. And the best part of all, you can fit a whole one in your mouth in one go. Or at least, um, I can {slightly embarrassed smile}. I was dipping afghan biscuits into piping-hot cups of tea and trying to get them from cup to mouth without dribbling them down my chin looooong before the Tim Tam Slam was invented, I'm sure of it.

Afghan biscuits were the sirens of Nan's pantry. They'd start calling me from the minute Mum said "let's drop in to Nan and Pop's", all through the 20 minute drive to their house {I LOVED that house}, right up until I finally got through the pantry door and started lifting lids off cake tins and biscuit barrells. My disappointment if there were no afghans to be found was profound. Finding them, on the other hand ... ecstasy! I remember a time at Uni when I was studying for exams and I ate nine Tim Tams in a row, barely pausing for breath between them {it was an extreme study emergency, I promise}. I learnt to do that first, in Nan's pantry, with afghan biscuits. One biscuit per mouthful, mouthful after mouthful ... after mouthful. Explains a lot actually, now I think about it :)

The biscuits on my blog header are afghans. I didn't cook them {I've never ever cooked them} but I googled and found a bunch of pictures. Who knew they could have so many different looks? When I was a kid my Nan was the only person I knew who cooked them and I thought they were her special magic, and could only be found in her special magical pantry. While it seems they're not such a secret, I know that getting them just right requires a special knack. I know this because many of the pics I found masquerading as afghans are definite imposters. If the shape is not like a slightly squashed drop biscuit, kind of lumpy and random, with hints of cornflakes on show; if they don't have glistening chocolate icing drizzled on top; if they're not capped off with walnut pieces or another yum topping; if you can't eat one in a single crunchy, chewy mouthful, then they're not afghans. If it's any help, afghans look like the picture on my blog banner. Exactly, precisely, like that {but sometimes a little different, like, with coconut sprinkled on top}.

It's been {at least} 10 years since my last afghan.

So ... you really must try them. And I hope you can get them just right, like Nan did. And I hope you and your loved ones love them just as much as I do. And I really hope you send me the story and some pics of your afghan biscuits cooking adventure.

I had some real trouble finding the recipe in the mixed up pages of Nan's book, so in the end I decided to call her up and ask about it. Here's what she said {remember, she's 89, mostly blind, and hasn't been able to cook for about 10 years!}:

"It's on one of the pages in the big book, but it doesn't say afghans, it's just under Chocolate Biscuits. It's not in Pop's handwriting, it's in blue biro in my handwriting. It's on a left hand page and it's written down the bottom."

 Hooray! Another scan through the book and there it was.

1/4 lb marg
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup SR flour
1 tablespoon cocoa
2 cups cornflakes

Cream marg and sugar. Add egg then dry ingredients, lastly cornflakes. Mod oven. Ice when cold.

That's it? How on earth can you cook biscuits from that? So I had to ask Nan for some more instuctions. Here's what I got, I hope it helps {and if anyone can tell me what "Mod oven" means ...}: 

"Pffft. I've never used margarine in my life. Always, always use butter!"

"Spoon a generous teaspoon, not a tablespoon, onto the baking tray. Don't flatten them, they'll flatten themselves."

"Ice the biscuits to your preference."

{Whatever does that mean? Apparently the ingredients for chocolate icing are icing sugar, butter, boiling water, cocoa - I'm afraid have no idea how much of each, or how to make it} 

"Put whatever you like on top, nuts, coconut, pieces of cherry."

So, lovely blog friends, happy, happy cooking :)

Lis x