Kiwi Cooking

A Classic New Zealand Cookbook

I recently read a New Zealand travel guide that mentioned The Edmonds Cookery Book. It says, "Almost every Kiwi household has a battered copy of The Edmonds Cookery Book, first published in 1908... The book is the first place people turn for making the sort of cakes and desserts that fill the shelves of rural tearooms... Fancier modern cafes are now reinventing these retro Kiwi classics." Apparently, the cookbook has a recipe for Afghans. Afghans are the name for a yummy chocolate biscuit (cookie). I have bough them a few times and we have really liked them. They have something crunchy in them that I really liked but I wasn't sure what it was. Maybe toffee? Maybe hokey pokey (honeycomb, very common in sweets here). I remember seeing the cookbook at the grocery store and I knew I needed it.

The Secret Ingredient. 

 The recipe divulged the "secret ingredient," cornflakes! Seriously?! Cornflakes are the yummy crunchiness. Who would have guessed? Not me.

The Final Product. Dark and Delicious. 

I baked the biscuits tonight for our family treat and they were a big hit. Like always, I didn't follow the recipe completely. I didn't want to take the extra steps of making icing and frosting them. So I added small dark chocolate bits (chocolate chips) instead. All who tasted them were pleased and wanted more. I will bake them again and again. It's good to have a new cookie to add to my recipe repertoire.