Delicious Crunchy Chocolate Biscuits

This weekend called for a spot of baking so I decided to make a classic Kiwi favourite - the Afghan. For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of being acquainted it's a delicious chocolate biscuit with an added bit of crunch - in the form of either cornflakes or Weet-bix, topped off with chocolate icing and a walnut popped on top. I kind of love how simple and unpretentious a lot of NZ baking recipes are, these biscuits remind me of something that would have been served up in cute granny-filled tea rooms and would pair perfectly with a nice mug of tea. Here's the recipe I used:

Ingredients:

200g butter, softened

1/2 C caster sugar (I used raw as it's all we have in the kitchen and it's still nice although probably a bit less sweet which suits me fine)

1tsp vanilla essence

1 1/4 C plain flour

1/4 C cocoa

1 1/2 C cornflakes or crushed Weet-Bix

Icing:

1 1/2 C icing sugar

1 tbsp butter

1-2 tbsp boiling water

3 tbsp cocoa

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Grease or line a baking tray. In a large bowl beat butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy.

Sift in flour and cocoa, stir thoroughly into butter mixture until well combined before stirring in the cornflakes or Weet-Bix.

Place heaped teaspoons of mixture onto baking tray, squeeze gently to form into a ball and squash down with a fork to flatten.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, cool on a wire rack before icing.

Icing:

Mix cocoa, icing sugar and butter with 1tbsp boiling water at a time until combined, adding more hot water if necessary. Ice biscuits and top with half a walnut.

Enjoy!