mmm Chocolate Afghans

You know you want to!!!

Mini Chocolate Afghans

170g butter

1/2 c brown sugar

1 1/2 c flour

3 TB cocoa

2 c cornflakes

icing

3 TB water

3 TB caster sugar

3 TB butter

1 1/2 c icing sugar

3 TB cocoa

packet of walnut halves

cream the butter and sugar until mixture is pale and creamy and fluffy.  add in the sifted dry ingredients , knead in the cornflakes

spoon teaspoon balls of mix onto tray leaving little room for spreading.  flatten slightly with fork and bake 12-14 mins in mod oven

cool on rack

for the icing - gently heat the water, caster sugar, and butter and simmer for 1 minute to form a syrup.  pour syrup into sifted icing sugar and cocoa.  add a little hot water if too thick.

put a teaspoon while still warm ontop of each biscuit.

place walnut halve on each.  Store in air tight container - stays fresh for 3-4 days. makes 24-30 small biscuits.

Enjoy!

Pistachio Lemon Bites

Thank you Rae Candy for the recipe for these tasty little numbers!

Pistachio Lemon Bites

300g (10.5 oz) butter, softened

3 tbsp caster sugar

150g (5.5 oz) pistachio nuts, roughly chopped

2.5 cups plain flour

1 tbsp lemon rind

icing sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 180C (355F). Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 4 minutes or until light and creamy. Add the pistachios and beat for 2 minutes. Fold through the flour and lemon rind and mix until well combined. Roll tablespoonfuls of the mixture into balls, place on a baking tray lined with baking paper, flatten slightly and bake for 15-20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack and dust with icing sugar. Makes 30.

Jo's Choc Bit Slice

A delicious slice (recipe given to me by the lovely Jo Thom). So bad but SO good!

Jo's Choc Bit Slice

100g melted butter

1 packet plain biscuits, crushed

1 packet Nestle choc bits

1 cup long thread coconut

1 cup slivered almonds

1 tin sweetened condensed milk

Melt butter, pour over biscuit crumbs and mix. Press into the bottom of swiss roll tin.

Then sprinkle over choc bits, coconut, almonds and drizzle over condensed milk. Bake at 180C for about 20-30mins or until golden brown.

Cool in tin, then slice and store in fridge.

Nan's Sultana Cake

All I can say is...yum!

Nan's Delicious Sultana Cake

500g saltanas

250g butter

1.5 cups sugar

3 eggs

1.5 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp each vanilla essence, lemon essence, almond essence

Wash saltanas, put in saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil then simmer for 5 mins. Strain and pour hot fruit over butter in large bowl. Cream sugar and eggs together then add to butter mixture when butter is melted. Sift in flour and baking powder and add essence. Bake in tin lined with baking paper for 1.5hrs at 180C.

baby chocolate banana bread loaves

I tied these after a random but very mouth wateringly successful magazine browse. SO so good! I made a fresh batch and took them down to the beach with a hot pot of coffee. Great way to start the day! They were the perfect start to Friday morning on the beach!

makes 8

3 ripe bananas

3/4 cups caster sugar

100g butter, melted

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla essence

2 tbsp milk

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cups dark chocolate bits

1 Heat oven to 190C (170C in a fan bake). Spray or line with baking paper 8 3/4cup capacity loaf tins with baking spray. In a bowl, place mashed bananas, sugar, melted butted, egg, vanilla and milk. Stir to combine.

2 Sift flour, baking powder and baking soda onto banana mixture and stir to combine. Stir in the chocolate bits.

3 Spoon mixture into prepared loaf tins and bake for 20 - 25 mins or until skewer inserted in middle comes out clean but moist.

4 Remove to wire rack to cool. Serve warm or cold (warm is out of this world).

Hot tips - Make sure mixture is cool before adding chocolate bits or else they will melt. I used dark choc block chopped and it was sublime! Also being a bit of a hurried baker...I used the food processor. just don't over mix once the flour goes in or it will go stodgy. Bless the food processor!

Nan's Peanut Brownies

Peanut Brownies: another of my Nan's old recipes. I say old because A) it's another childhood favourite, B) my grandmother used pounds and ounces and all those archaic measurements despite living in the 21st century, so I had to do a haphazard conversion (not sure whether it worked for me) and C) it includes shreddo. Does anyone bake with shreddo anymore? I'm such a baking novice I really have no clue.

Verdict: the RECIPE is amazing, we devoured these things as kids, however I think that winging the metric conversion was not the best idea. The texture was not what it should be, from memory. I'll stick the old measurements in here (easy for you Americans) and suggest that any Kiwi reading use an internet conversion site to get the recipe just right--it's worth it. I'll have to try again I think.

Extra baking tip: Spoon the mixture on to the tray in lumps and don't press them flat. I did. They all spread into one another and I had to break up chunks of biscuit like peanut brittle. They looked a little rustic compared to Nan's perfect cookie bundles. :)

Nan's Peanut Brownies

1 lb peanuts
1 dessert spoon cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
3 oz butter
1/2 oz shreddo
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg
1 small cup sugar
vanilla essence (a few drops)

Cream butter and sugar, add egg and vanilla essence, then dry ingredients. Bake at 350F for 20 mins.