Afghans mmmm..... I don't know many people who don't like these little morsels. Always a good little baking, and eating, project for a long weekend. This recipe is from the little known but very competent Recipes from Edna's Kitchen compiled by the Mid Canterbury Federation of Women's Institutes (for all you old school out there, that's the new name for the Women's division of Federated Farmers.) One of the best things about this recipe is most of the quantities are given in cups and spoons rather than needing to weigh everything: easy to whip up in a hurry before friends come around. Here is the other recipe I make in case you want a comparison.
Edna Low's Afganettes
makes about 19 medium sized bisuits
125g butter
half a cup of sugar
1 cup of flour
1 dessertspoon cocoa powder
1 tablespoon coconut
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 cup cornflakes
Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C.
Cream the butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Fold in the coconut and cornflakes, followed by the shifted flour, cocoa, and vanilla.
The is the opposite order of mixing to most recipes, but I think it softened the cornflakes in the final biscuit. It does take extra mixing to combine!
Using wet hands, roll spoonfuls into balls and place onto a lined baking tray. Flatten each one a little using the back of a wet spoon.
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, then I left mine on the tray to cool.
While they cool, mix up a chocolate icing from 1 teaspoon of butter, a generous tablespoon of cocoa powder, a couple of tablespoons of hot water and enough icing sugar to make a spreadable, but not runny icing. If you add too much icing sugar and the mixture is too dry, just add a few drops of water until you get the consistency you want.
Spread the icing onto each biscuit and top with the traditional walnut half.
Now put on the jug, switch on the coffee machine - if it's not on already! - and invite your buddies around for a natter. Have a great weekend!
Our holiday Plunket group catch ups are an eagerly anticipated part of our social calendar. We try not to talk about it too much in advance because Little Miss 4 can't help herself but formulate elaborate plans about how she will entertain her friends and what we will serve them. This time around, having lacked small company over the holidays, we had to keep reminding her that it was not her birthday, so we were not to get too carried away with the activity planning.
Having recently dined at Harlequin Public House, LM4 was obsessed with the '10 minutes with the cookie jar' dessert, so we re-created it for our buddies - minus the stop watch of course. Here is a little exposé of what we served our Plunket buddies: the recipes are hyperlinked to the original blog posts.
The Cookie Jar, with Afghans, Shortbread and Chocolate Chip Cookies. LM4 was so excited about loading up the cookie jar.
Quite a lot of biscuit baking happening that morning.
Sticky Lemon Slice Its always a crowd favourite!
Passion fruit Cupcakes with Raspberry butter cream. To make the raspberry butter cream I just added 2 tablespoons of raspberry jam to the butter cream at the end of the mixing process.
Here is the Chocolate Chip Biscuit Recipe:
100g butter
75g sugar
150g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 175deg. C
Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Fold in the sifted flour and baking powder. Lastly fold in the chocolate chips. Form into biscuit shapes by either rolling into small balls and flattening or, as I have done, using a soup spoon to press the mixture into a biscuit shape. Place the biscuits onto a lined tray and bake for about 10 minutes. The biscuits will be soft until they cool, so best to leave them on the tray.
I'm not sure where the last (almost) 5 years has gone, but our little Plunket group has grown and flourished; little brothers and cousins have swelled the numbers, and now school days loom for our darling babies. Some of us have gone back to work and others stayed at home, but we are all united by the sharing of our journey into motherhood.
Cream the butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Fold in the coconut and cornflakes, followed by the shifted flour, cocoa, and vanilla. 
