Cornflake Biscuits

Tonight is pretty much my last night with my roommates for six weeks. After this, I am spending five days at the Sunshine Coast with my grandparents, before coming home for two more days and then going home. The second 'home' refers to my actual home in Far North Queensland where my family lives - it's 22 hours away and I haven't been back since January, as I go to university in Brisbane. And I get to go home for over a month, which is really exciting.

As it's my last night (when I get back from the Sunshine Coast my roommates will be studying for exams they have the day I go home) we decided to watch The Ides of March. So far, pretty good. I mean, all I've really seen is George Clooney and Ryan Gosling, so I'm not complaining.

Now, these biscuits. Sure, they are not healthy and I'm not even going to pretend they are. So I will not be posting the nutritional stats. But, healthy or not, they are amazing. Better than amazing - the soft dough of the cookie contrasts with the crunch of the cornflake while the dark chocolate bits melt in your mouth. These are biscuits my Mum taught me to make - so this is her recipe. However if she got it from somewhere else, all credit goes to them. These are actually one of the first things I figured out how to bake by myself, and I can't believe it's taken this long to post them.

Level of Difficulty: Easy – the cookie dough does not take long to make, neither does the actual cooking time.

Average Cost: $

Menu Options: You can add raisins, different dried fruits, different types of chocolate, different types of cereal. It’s all up to your tastes.

Makes 12 massive biscuits, or 24 smaller tablespoon sized ones.

What you need:

-          125g butter

-          2/3 cup caster sugar

-          1 tsp vanilla

-          1 1/4 cups self-raising flour

-          1 tbsp milk

-          1 1/2 cups cornflakes (or similar cereal)

-          2/3 cup bittersweet (dark) chocolate

What to do:

Preheat your oven to 180°C. Grease two trays – line with paper if you wish (I always do to ensure the cookies don’t stick to the tray).

Using an electric mixer, be it a stand or handheld, cream butter, sugar and vanilla in a bowl until pale and creamy. This will take, at most, five minutes.

Sift the flour into the mixture and mix until the mixture is just combined. It will be thick and crumbly.

Add the milk, and stir with a wooden spoon until the dough comes together. The dough will fall apart easily and it will still be a little crumbly – this is ok. You can add a little more milk if you wish but there is no need to. The dough does not have to be perfect like other cookie doughs.

Stir in cornflakes and chocolate chips.

Using a spoon, scoop mixture your preferred size up. Roll the mixture into a ball and place on tray. Flatten the balls slightly with the back of your spoon. These cookies spread A LOT, so be careful to place them a fair distance apart on the tray.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, swapping trays halfway. Make sure the biscuits are golden brown when removed from the oven. They can be eaten hot, but they also taste wonderful cool.