During lockdown, we had one or two or more, low points. One such moment was shortly after the death of Ian’s Mum who died in a care home in Hertfordshire. We carried on with life because that’s what you have to do in these situations. One of the most effective ways of ‘getting on with life’ we found, was baking. Clearly, we were not alone but if it works, I’m not going to knock it.

It was during this moment that one of my oldest and most loyal friends, Iona, sent a WhatsApp message which read:

Please make these for Ian so that he has happy memories of childhood and his mum. Big hugs xx

and she attached this picture:

Afghan* biscuits, had indeed been a staple baking treat for Ian during childhood. The moment I tasted them, I knew they had been for me too. I was transported back to the duck egg blue Aga of my childhood home licking the spoon which had stirred these seemingly underwhelming ingredients but when combined and baked, turned into the most comforting, delicious, safely-home-it’ll-be-okay, chocolatey biscuits you will ever have the pleasure of eating.

This recipe works perfectly but I made one change (after having made about 10 batches) slightly less butter to make them less crumbly - the flavour was perfect but I’m still picking out crumbs down the side of the sofa.

Also…I can’t do Fahrenheit and ounces, sorry, so here is my barely amended metric version with huge thanks to Iona:

Afghan Biscuits

Makes 20 biscuits

Ingredients

150g butter
100g sugar
150g flour
2 level tbs cocoa powder
50g Corn flakes
1 tsp vanilla essence

Method

Preheat oven to 180c

Cream the butter and sugar. In a separate bowl mix the flour, cocoa powder and corn flakes (I crush the cornflakes in my hands as I add to the bowl). Gradually add the mixture to the creamed butter. Then add the vanilla essence. Mix until combined.

Roll into 20 small balls and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper.

Bake for 15-20 mins

Cool on a wire rack

Enjoy with a cup of tea at ANY time of day. Sometimes nothing else will do.

*The name Afghan disappointingly has absolutely nothing to do with the country Afghanistan. They originate from New Zealand and the name refers to the paint colour ‘Afghanistan Brown’.