Afghan cookie recipe from Ladies a plate cooking with kids (2024)
I first tried these on our recent trip to New Zealand. I'm usually a good sharer and will offer my dining companion a taste or half of what I'm eating. Not so in this case. I was greedy and unrepentant. I had never tried a biscuit or cookie like this before. It was a thick cookie with an intriguing texture, dry but not desert-dry, with a slightly crispy crunchy touch to it-the closest that I could describe it was similar to cookie crossed with a cupcake-the cupcake part due to the icing. Plus awalnut half on the top.
When I returned, I kept thinking about how much I'd like to make these again so I asked Tammyfrom Wee Treats By Tammy who is a NZ food blogger if she knew a good recipe for them. She knew straight away what I wanted and sent me the recipe from the fantastic "Ladies, a plate"cookbook by Alexa Johnston. The cookbook's title is a reference to the community events where women were asked to bake goodies and the invitations would begin with a "Ladies, a plate". The recipe was from a Mrs Marian Benton's recipe book which was lent to the author by Benton's daughter. The gorgeous and easy to work with glossy chocolate icing was developedby Lois Daish.
Looking through the recipe I thought that it was simple and straightforward. Simple enough to get M's sons S and In to give it a try. Like many mums she wants her kids to have cooking skills and encouraging them to start making their own items is a good start so we arranged to do this at Adrienne and Nick's house where we managed to drag the boys away from their Wii obsession into making some cookies. The reward? As many cookies you can stuff into your waiting mouth. And with that, the deal wasinstantly struck and the Wii temporarily forgotten for S.
As for the etymology of the name, there are plenty of theories and none with a consensus as to being the correct one. Some say that they resemble the craggy mountains of Afghanistan, some say that they were made by Afghan settlers in Australia although they're definitely more of a NZ thing than they are here. One theory also purports that the cookies resemble the Afghani people with the cookie their skin, the icing the hair and the walnut their turban.
Afghan Cookies
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2 cups/60g cornflakes broken up into smaller bits (but not small enough to be powder)
For the icing
3 tablespoons water
3 tablespoons/45g caster sugar
3 tablespoons/45g butter
1 1/2 cups/190g icing sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa
walnut halves
Step 1 - Preheat oven to 180c. Line 2 baking sheets with baking parchment.
Step 2 - Cream the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Sift dry ingredients on top of this mix and mix together. The batter will be in little lumps. Then knead in cornflakes and gathering a ball of the mix, shape rounds and place on baking tray-we made them about 5.5-6cms in diameter. Flatten them gently with a fork. They do not really spread so just put them a little bit apart from each other but not touching.
Step 3 - Bake for 12-14 minutes (if cooking time is too short, they will be too delicate to set). Cool.
Icing
Step 1 - Gently heat the water, caster sugar ad butter until butter is melted and simmer for 1 minute to form a syrup. Sift the icing sugar and cocoa.
Step 2 - While constantly whisking with a balloon whisk, pour the syrup onto the sifted icing sugar and cocoa. Add some hot water to thin out icing (we added about 5 tablespoons but just judge from the icing consistency). You want it thick enough to hold its shape and not run but not thick enough so that any spoon marks hold.
Step 3 - Using a teaspoon place some icing on the centre of the cookie and then add a walnut half in the centre of each. Leave to set if you can wait or just let the kids at it. It's hard to hold them back at this stage.
The biscuit was eventually renamed "Milk Chocolate Roughs" by Griffin's, which advertised the renaming with a new slogan: "Same bikkie. New name." However, the name "Afghan" is still the one used by other companies.
They said rolling the dough in spices or a fun garnish can elevate your cookies. The chefs also recommended adding salty mix-ins like pretzels, chips, or nuts to your dough. Topping your baked cookies with citrus zest or drizzling them with chocolate can make them seem extra fancy.
Across the world, cookies are now known by several names. The word originally came from the Dutch word keojke, which means "little cakes." The Scottish now know them as sweet buns, and the English call them biscuits.
“Afghan” first appeared in English usage in the late 1700's as a name for the Pashtuns of eastern and southern Afghanistan. That country is known for its distinctive textiles, colorful carpets and lustrous karakul wool, so it's sort of logical that “afghan” was picked up to refer to knitted or crocheted blankets.
Chilling cookie dough is a golden rule to be sure, but there are exceptions. If you're going for a thin cookie that spreads out or you have a delicate dough like macron or madeleine, those are the instances where you'll want to bake your cookies at room temperature instead.
Baking Powder. The type of leavening you use in your cookies doesn't just help them rise while baking, it affects their texture and structure too. Baking soda in cookies yields a denser cookie with craggy tops, while baking powder causes cookies to rise higher during baking for a cakier texture.
Sprinkling about 2 to 3 tablespoons of powdered milk per cup of cookie mix may seem kind of unconventional, but it is the best hack! The milk powder adds a rich, creamy taste to the dough and transforms cookies into velvety little delights that your whole family will love!
History. In 1908, the cookie's creation was inspired by "purity and goodness", with a name derived from the hydrogen and oxygen elements within the water molecule. Sunshine Biscuits was purchased by Keebler in 1996, and in 1999, Keebler replaced Hydrox with a similar but reformulated product called "Droxies".
That's why some of our cookies look the same but have two different names. Whether the package says Peanut Butter Patties® or Tagalongs®, or Samoas® or Caramel deLites®, the cookies are similarly delicious.
They changed the name of Samoas to Caramel Delites," another person posted with a meme that said, "Boo!" "Since when did they change the name to Caramel deLites?" "I've always known them as Samoas," someone else said. "So weird," said another Girl Scout cookie fan.
In Europe, Lotus Speculoos is the most recognized brand. This manufacturer supplied the biscuits individually packaged to the catering industry. In the United States and the United Kingdom, the same company is branded as Lotus Biscoff, short for biscuit with coffee.
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