Who doesn’t love a good biscuit? (cookie for my non-British readers). Homemade biscuits make a wonderfully decadent addition to your morning brew whether it be tea or coffee. They are great as a treat or a snack for children as part of a balanced diet. Yes, I did say that full well knowing that one of Seb’s first words was biscuit. I was initially concerned it was a poor reflection of my parenting ability, but I soon figured I wasn’t always allowing him one so best just relax. He was even tricked into thinking that apple slices were biscuits at one point! As long as they were the right shape!
Seb’s love of biscuits is most likely inherited from me. Before we were married Simon was rather fond of pointing out that; ‘biscuits do not constitute a meal’. I had been known in my student days to consider missing a meal in favour of three or more biscuits and chocolate hobnobs were frequently my biscuit of choice.
National Biscuit day passed me by this year without me having a chance to make any biscuits with the children so I decided to rectify that by making these rustic hobnobs with Atticus and Ophelia. I call them rustic as they are not perfect, made with little hands and big excitement in the kitchen and ingredients all over the counters and the kids.
Between them they managed all the steps pretty much themselves after being shown how to do it. The only thing I would say is that Atticus needed a little help to spread the chocolate on the back of them. You could leave the chocolate off the back of them or just use 100g of chocolate chips in the biscuits as that would be easier with smaller children (i.e. under 3). Atticus at 4 did like trying to spread the chocolate and really enjoyed making wavy lines with a small fork over the unset chocolate.
Ingredients
- 125g butter or margarine (if you use a salted butter or margarine reduce the salt to 1/4tsp)
- 80g light brown sugar
- 2tbsp golden syrup
- 100g oats
- 100g wholemeal self-raising flour
- 1/2tsp salt
- 1/2tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 100g chocolate (we used milk) for coating
Method
Makes around 14 large biscuits
- Preheat the oven to 160ºc and line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats or greaseproof paper.
- Cream together the butter and sugar until pale. The kids did this by hand, but you could equally use an electric hand whisk if you prefer.
- Add the golden syrup and stir until fully combined.
- Add the oats, flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda and mix until it is all incorporated.
- Take blobs of about 1tbsp and roll into a ball. Place on the baking sheet and then pat out to make flat. After trying several ways in both hands, putting it on the baking tray and just letting the kids squish them under their palms, we discovered that the best way to flatten them was to do so gently with your fingers. Atticus at 4 understood this quickly and followed suit. Ophelia at 23 months was more reluctant to do so… Atticus and I did rectify the situation.
- If you want more of a chewy cookie style biscuit, cook for 12 minutes (rotating biscuits for an even bake if required) or if you want a more crunchy one cook for 16 minutes (rotating if required). They both taste delicious so either is fine.
- Remove from the oven and let cool for a couple of minutes on the trays and then carefully remove with a palette knife and place on a cooling rack.
- Once the biscuits have cooled, melt the chocolate on a double boiler or in the microwave and spread it on the underside of the biscuit.
- Make lines gently with a fork (if you want I did for one batch and not for the second) and allow to set.
Recipe adapted from Butter Baking
These really did smell like hobnobs when they came out of the oven. The kids made one batch and then I made another for Simon to take into work. Simon, who normally doesn’t eat hobnobs actually liked these. This meant I had to share them not only with the kids, but also him! I shouldn’t grumble as it did mean that I wasn’t given the option to eat the whole batch!
Ok, so, I am someone who typically turns chocolate cakes into dense hard-to-chew brownie-like material…i.e. not very skilled when it comes to baking. However, together with my 9-year-old, we did conquer these, and judging by the rate at which the biscuits keep disappearing I’d say they’re yum-my! Thank you, Kat, for the idea!
I am so glad that you tried my recipe and that they are proving popular. They don’t last for long in our house.
We made these today and they were such a hit! We had some friends over for the boys, and between the 6 of us we polished the whole lot off! Yummy, and my preschooler really enjoyed making them. Thanks for such a great recipe.
I am glad your pre-schooler enjoyed making them as much as mine did! They are so moreish, I find they end up being eaten pretty much the same day they are made!