Tag: Biscuits

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Bakes Recipes

Monkey Nut Biscuits

Credit for this latest bake goes to my wife, Lesley, who refined the recipe and patiently shelled a bag of roasted monkey nuts in the process.

Monkey nuts are peanuts still in their shell, which means the nuts have no salt or anything else added. Combine them with a good quality peanut butter (the one we used has one ingredient: peanuts), and you get biscuits with a fresh, nutty taste. They have a soft textured centre and a crisp outer. You’ll find these are best enjoyed warm and eaten within a day or so.

Servings

This will give 3 batches of dough, each batch making 12 biscuits. You can freeze the mixture or keep it in the fridge for a week. That way you can have a biscuits snack ready in about 20 mins after thinking about it. 

Timings

10 mins to prepare and another 10 mins to bake in a fan oven at 180C.

You Will Need:

  • 120g butter or margarine
  • 150g crunchy peanut butter
  • 50g shelled peanuts, roughly chopped
  • 85g soft brown sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 350g self-raising flour

Method

  1. Preheat your oven to 180°c . Prepare a flat baking tray with some greaseproof paper.
  2. In a large bowl, cream the butter, peanut butter and sugar together until completely combined. 
  3. Add the egg and mix in.
  4. Sift in the flour. Add the chopped peanuts and mix to make a dough, use your hands at the end to combine into a ball.
  5. Roll the dough into balls (about 1 tbsp of dough per ball) and place onto your baking sheets. Press each ball with  a fork to create a cross pattern which flattens the dough.
  6. Bake in your pre-heated oven for 8-10 minutes until golden.
  7. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, they slide off the baking paper beautifully.

Here’s a great track from The Specials that is right on theme: Monkey Man.

Categories
Bakes Recipes Snacks

Anzac Biscuits

Anzac Biscuits are a traditional Australian sweet treat that I enjoyed on my recent travels there.

The story goes that they became popular with Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) soldiers in the First World War, since when they have been adopted as one of the nation’s most popular foods.

Picking up a genuine recipe (from the Aussie supermarket chain, Coles) before I left, I made a batch of the oaty, coconutty, slightly chewy delights this week, as shown in my photo above. I am very pleased with how they turned out, so I’m sharing the recipe here.

Servings

This will make 24 biscuits.

Timings

15 mins to prepare, and 20 mins in the oven at 180C.

You Will Need

  • 150g plain flour
  • 80g desiccated coconut
  • 90g rolled oats
  • 110g caster sugar
  • 55g brown sugar
  • 125g butter
  • 2 tbsp golden syrup
  • 1 and 1/2 tbsp boiling water
  • 1/2 tsp bicarb of soda

Method

  1. Switch the oven on to 180C. Line a couple of baking trays with baking paper.
  2. Put the flour, coconut, oats and sugars in a bowl, and stir to mix.
  3. Place the butter and golden syrup in a saucepan over a low heat. Stir until the butter is melted, then leave to cool.
  4. Combine water and bicarb in a bowl, then add to the flour/oats, along with the butter mixture. Stir to combine.
  5. Pick off 1 tbsp-sized portions of the biscuit mixture and roll into a ball between the palms. Place on the baking trays, equally spaced so that they have room to spread out as they melt. Flatten the tops slightly with your hand.
  6. Place in the oven for 15 mins or until baked to your liking.
  7. Once baked, let cool on the baking tray for a few moments, before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

Customise it!

If you like your biscuits particularly chewy, try reducing the brown sugar and replacing it with caster sugar. To make them crunchier, step down the caster sugar and increase the brown sugar.

From classic Australian baking to classic Australian punk. Here are Brisbane’s The Saints from back in the day, with (I’m) Stranded.