Afghan Biscuits

An Afghan biscuit is a traditional New Zealand biscuit which contains cornflakes and chocolate, topped with chocolate icing and half a walnut.  The origin of the recipe and name is unknown but apparently it's a Kiwi classic. It tastes like a cross between a brownie and a cookie and I particularly like the crunch of the cornflakes. They're really easy to make and quite addictive to eat so I'm sure I'll be making more of these! 

I'm entering this to AlphaBakes, a monthly blogging challenge where we select a random letter from the alphabet and bake/cook with it. I am hosting this month and Caroline from Caroline Makes will be hosting next month. The letter for April is 'A' for Afghan biscuits. 

 They ran out of small boxes of cornflakes so I had to get the super size one! 

 mixing the flour, cocoa powder and cornflakes

 ready to go in the oven 

 waiting to be iced

 add a small teaspoonful of icing on top

 and finish with half a walnut 

Makes approximately 35 biscuits

For the biscuits

200g butter

100g caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

185g plain flour

4 tablespoons cocoa powder 

60g cornflakes

For the icing

125g icing sugar

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

15g butter

2-3 teaspoons hot water

walnut halves to decorate

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Grease and line 2 baking trays
• Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
• Add the vanilla extract. 
• In a separate bowl, sift the flour and cocoa powder and mix together.
• Stir in the cornflakes and mix. 
• Add the dry ingredients to the creamed butter mixture and mix well.
• Use a small ice cream scoop to place even sized scoops of dough on the baking tray spaced apart.
• Bake for 10-12 minutes. 
• Allow to cool completely before icing.
• Make the icing by mixing all the ingredients together in a bowl. 
• Place a small teaspoon of icing on top of each biscuit and finish with half a walnut.