Guess what? There's no booze in my hobnobs... although I was almost persuaded to add cherry brandy to them! So as you can probably tell, it was I who was drunken - not actually the hobnobs!
What are hobnobs? I hear you ask. (Well at least the non Brits! Or have Hobnobs made they're way across the seas yet??)
Hobnobs are basically a brand of oat biscuit* especially designed for dunking into tea without collapsing. I found this recipe on a forum ages ago, and they have pretty much been the only sweet thing I've made until recently! It isn't an exact replication - but it's pretty good - and some even say better - than the originals. But don't tell McVities that ;)
And why drunken? You persist. Well, [blush] a swift after-work drink turned into a long chat in the pub... and several more drinks... and then a couple more for good measure. So when I left at 10pm, insisting that I was, indeed, going to bake hobnobs to take to work the next day I was widely disbelieved. But bake them I did - and escaped pretty much unscathed**! They only lasted about 10 minutes at work this morning, so can't have been that bad ;) One of my workmates even asked for the recipe!
* read this great post by Joanna regarding the difference between biscuits, cookies and scones!
** I did make one silly mistake - adding two lots of bicarbonate of soda - one to the dry, then the proper one in the butter. They puffed up more than normal - but settled just fine. I've written the recipe as it should be though - I'm not sure I would have trusted these in my tea!
Makes 24 hobnobs!- 2 cups self-raising flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 cups porridge oats
- 250g butter
- 1 tbsp golden syrup
- 1 tbsp hot water
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Mix flour, oats and sugar together in a large mixing bowl.
Melt the butter, syrup and water in a pan - once melted stir in the bicarbonate of soda.
Add the butter mixture to the dry ingredients, and combine well.
Make smallish balls - about the size of a large unshelled walnut! Place it on a greased tray and flatten slightly.
Bake at 180oc for about 12 mins - they should be golden, not brown.
Allow them to cool on the tray.
If you put them on foil, you can transfer the foil to a wire rack... then they cool down more quickly... and then you can chow down even quicker! Bonus!
One of the pictures I took the next day - not too hungover - yay!
