Afghan biscuit

An Afghan biscuit is a traditional New Zealand[1][2][3] biscuit made from flour, butter, cornflakes, sugar and cocoa powder, topped with chocolate icing and a half walnut. The recipe[4] has a high proportion of butter, and relatively low sugar, and no leavening (rising agent), giving it a soft, dense and rich texture, with crunchiness from the cornflakes, rather than from a high sugar content. The high butter content gives a soft melt-in-the-mouth texture, and the sweetness of the icing offsets the low sugar and the cocoa bitterness.

Afghan biscuit
TypeBiscuit
Place of originNew Zealand
Main ingredientsflour, butter, sugar, cornflakes, Cocoa powder, chocolate icing, walnut

Name

The origin of the recipe is New Zealand but the name likely originates from 'Afghanistan brown' as a colour description, and the recipe has appeared in many editions of the influential New Zealand Edmonds Cookery Book.

Griffin's Foods, a biscuit, snack-food and confectionery manufacturer in New Zealand, sells Afghan biscuits.[5] In June 2020, they announced they would rename the biscuits due to racist connotations, in particular with the Afghan wars.[6]

Ingredients

Ingredients typically include flour, sugar, butter, cornflakes (or crushed Weet-Bix, or large rolled oats etc.), cocoa powder and walnuts.

See also

References
  1. Timothy G. Roufs, ed. (2014). Sweet Treats around the World: An Encyclopedia of Food and Culture. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  2. "Afghan Biscuits, Isle of Capri Tomatoes and Broken Heart Gin". Asia Sentinel. 7 March 2014. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  3. Tran, Mark (7 July 2016). "From bovver to budgie smugglers: the latest entries to the OED". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  4. p.18, Edmonds Cookery Book, De Luxe Edition, Edmonds Food Industries Ltd. 1955
  5. "Our Biscuits". www.griffinsbiscuits.com. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  6. "New Zealand treats renamed over racist overtones". RNZ. 2020-06-24. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
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