another way to make your flatmates love you.. afghans!

they were so good and now they are gone.. sigh.. But if you want to butter up your flatties (or friends or whanau) here’s the recipe: Cream 200g butter with a half cup of sugar. Stir in 1¼ cup flour and ¼ cup cocoa. Fold in 2 cups of cornflakes (I used crumbled weetbix and that worked well too). You might need to add a Tbsp or two of water to get the mixture to spooning consistency. Spoon onto a tray – it will be crumbly but it will stick better after cooking. Bake at 180°C for 15 minutes. Cool. Makes around thirty, depending how much mixture you sample.. Next, chocolate icing! Break up 200g fair trade chocolate and melt gently in a double boiler (or a metal bowl sitting above steaming water) with 25g butter and ½cup cream (I used milk and it worked fine too). Keep stirring until smooth. When it is cool, beat until thick and spoon onto cool biscuits. Add a walnut piece to each one.

fair trade puddin’…

If you need to suck up to your flatmates then  chocolate self-saucing pudding could very well be the best way to do it.. and its a good opportunity to try fair trade cocoa too (available from the Trade Aid shop, 133 George St, just near the Octagon for $5.99).

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Cream 100g butter and 3/4 cup sugar until fluffy. Add a splash of vanilla and an egg and beat well. Add 1 and 1/4 cups of flour, 2 tsp baking powder and a few tablespoons of cocoa, mix and scrape into an ovenproof dish. Mix a litre of boiling water with 1/2 a cup of soft brown sugar and 3 tbsp of cocoa (more if you like it super chocolatey) then pour over top of the pudding mixture. Bake for about 30 minutes or until it is springy but it’s still good when it’s a little underdone – just gooier and fudgier… yum!

fair trade chocolate

yummy dark chocolate from the Trade Aid shop

5/5     DARK -smooth, satisfying chocolate. Reasonably priced.

4.5/5 PEPPERMINT- tasty sweet rich chocolate smaller amount -a little expensive but yummy after-dinner delicacy

4.5/5 MOCHA- milk chocolate with mocha inside, tasty and moreishing.