How To - Afghan Biscuits

My Mum used to make these when I was a kid.  They are really nommy and super easy to make.


Here's how you make them!

 

First, preheat your oven to 180 C (160 c for fan-forced)

Ingredients

220 grams of butter

1/3 cup of caster sugar

1 teaspoon Vanilla (essence or extract or whatever is in your cupboard)

1.5 tablespoons of cocoa

1 & 1/2 cups of plain flour

2 & 1/2 cups of Cornflakes (slightly crushed)

Cream the softened butter, caster sugar and vanilla until it is light and fluffy.

 

Then sift the flour and cocoa together.  I always sift things three times, because that's how mum does it.  I sifted it twice and then once more straight into the bowl.

Add the Cornflakes and mix it all together.  Gently though, or all that time you spend putting air in by creaming and sifting things will be a waste of time.

When it is pretty much combined, put globs of mixture (these are about 2 teaspoons each) on a tray.  Flatten them a bit with your fingers.

Cook them for about 15-20 minutes.  Depending on your oven I would even check them after 12 minutes, they burn pretty easily.

Top them with chocolate icing (mine is just icing sugar, cocoa, a bit of butter and some hot water) and get your nom on!

How To - Chicken Pesto Pizza

Here is a photo of the best pizza in the world:

Do you want to know how to make the best pizza in the world?  Never fear! I am here to help!



First off, pre-heat your oven to as hot as it will go.  (Or about 250 degrees.  Whichever is hotter.)

You will need the following...

* Pita bread.  I use wholemeal, but any sort is fine.  In fact, any sort of pizza base would work, but I find this is the nommiest.

* The breast meat of a roast chicken.  One breast per pizza.  (You can also just buy chicken breasts and poach them, but I think the flavour is better if it comes from a roast chook.)  Chop up the chicken into rough 1cm squares.  You can use thighs if you like, but I don't like meat that originated too close to the bone.  I'm odd like that.

* Feta cheese.  One of the chunks you can get in the deli at the supermarket.  I use low fat, but any sort will do.  Cut it into 1cm-ish squares as well.

* Baby spinach.  A big handful per pizza.

* Pesto.  I use a basil based one.  I usually use one from Costo that is about $10 for a kilogram tub, but we'd run out, so I just got this one.  It worked fine.

* Grated tasty cheese.  I use the pre grated stuff cos I'm lazy.

Spread a few tablespoons of pesto on your pita bread.

Put a small amount of cheese on.  Cheese before toppings on any pizza will change your life.

Pile a heap of baby spinach on.  Don't worry if it seems too high, the other things we put on will make it calm down.

Dot your feta all over the spinach.  Sometimes I hide it a bit under the spinach too.

Then park that chicken on the top.  ALL over.  More is more.  In my opinion, the problem with proper pizza shops is they don't put enough topping on. 

Then, more cheese.  About a handful.  Spread it all over.

Bung it in the oven and turn it down to about 200 degrees.  Check the pizza after 15 minutes.  It should be done, but if you like it a little bit browner leave it in for longer.  Keep an eye on it though, cos it will burn pretty easily.

I meant to take a photo once I sliced it up, but I was too busy eating it.  Sorry.

This pizza is amazing.  I promise you will love it.  It's also pretty good cold for the lunch the next day.

Why don't you make some today?

How To - Chocolate Ripple Cake House

So, do you want to know how I made the house?  Here's how!

First you get yourself some Chocolate Ripple Biscuits and a whole lot of cream.  Whip that cream to within an inch of its life. Just so you know, I whip the cream with vanilla essence and castor sugar, but I forgot to include them in the photo, oops!  Also, I ended up needing to whip another 600mls of cream and using another two packets of biscuits.  Moral of the story?  You can NEVER have too much cream in CRC.  More is most definitely more!

Spread some cream on each biscuit and stick them to the plate so they don't move about.

Then stack those babies up.  Spread cream between each one (I find it easiest to spread the biscuit with cream then jam it on the top), remember that MORE is more!  Some people are stingy with the cream, but THEIR Chocolate Ripple Cake is not the stuff of legends like mine.  Decide what sort of CRC you want!

Keep stacking them up.  As you go, spread cream on the outside of the piles, this makes sure that all surfaces of the biscuits are covered and will go soft at the end.  I also break biscuits in half and shove them down the spaces between the stacks.

 

Keep going until all the stacks are the same height. 

Then cover the top with cream.  At this point the cake is pretty much square, so your possibilities are endless.  I have used square ones to make 'presents' (just add a ribbon at the end) and as a simple birthday cake, it has a lovely flat surface that is great to write a message on.  You can also tint the cream whatever colour you like with food colouring. 

 

Now, it is roof time.  I had to enlist the spatial ability of Chyken.

 

Stack them up, cream between each layer like before.

 

This is the point at which I realised I would need another 600mls of cream. I whipped that up and then I covered the house.  Thickly.

 

Cover the whole lot in cream.  Lots of cream.  More than you think.  The biscuits absorb the cream, so if it's not thick, by the time you serve it there will be ugly brown patches all over your cake.

I chopped up extra biscuits for the door and windows and whacked 'em on the cream.  Then I put it in the fridge.  It is important that you chill it for at least 8 hours (or overnight, whichever is longer).  If you don't, I cannot be held responsible for how your cake will turn out.

 

You now have yourself the easiest and yummiest dessert known to man.  And woman. 

Slice it up and enjoy it!

Today I am grateful for leftover Chocolate Ripple Cake.