Recipe: Peanut biscuits

Recipe: Peanut biscuits
Source: The St Michael Budget Cookery Book – Audrey Ellis (Sundial Books Limited, 1977)

I’ve not blogged for a few days as I’ve been away and, whilst I’ve eaten plenty of treats, I’ve not been in ‘reviewing mode’. However, I’m back to normal today, food-wise, so I thought I’d return to the blogosphere with my first recipe post.

Last night, I really fancied baking something whilst I still could (ie before the diet started again!). Searching the cupboards, I had access to a lot of basic ingredients but, importantly, no butter or chocolate, and so my recipe choice was quite limited.

Since I did have margarine, I decided to try a recipe for peanut biscuits from a really old book that my Mum lent to me. The book in question was The St Michael All Colour Budget Cookery Book by Audrey Ellis. It was published in 1977 and the state of the front cover indicates it’s been around for a long time!

It probably doesn’t come as a surprise to my regular readers that I’ve made peanut butter biscuits in the past. The peanut element of these biscuits, though, only came from real nuts (I didn’t have any peanut butter anyway!), so I can’t say I was expecting much from this recipe. What I really wanted was an opportunity to lick out a bowl (as sad as that is!), along with a simple and uncomplicated recipe, since I was pretty tired from all the travelling I’d done over the weekend.

I’m pleased to say that this recipe delivered. Each stage was really easy and, even though I found each batch of biscuits took 20 minutes to bake rather than 10, I still found the whole process to be quick.

I had been slightly concerned that I only had 200g of Stork so I had to make up the remaining 75g of margarine with Tesco Everyday Value Soft Spread which specifically said it was unsuitable for home baking. However, I found this made no difference, and one comment I received was that you wouldn’t know they contained no real butter.

I was really pleased with the finished product. The peanuts provided a lovely salty and toasted flavour and crunch whilst the raisins were sweet and chewy. What I really enjoyed was the way to the cinnamon and raisins combined to provide the taste of an oatmeal raisin cookie whilst maintaining the crispiness of an ordinary biscuit (albeit a slightly greasy one!).

The recipe stated that it made approximately 48 biscuits. Due to mine being devoured in stages, I’m not certain on the total I made, but I think it was 46 – not bad for an impromptu baking session! Whilst they wouldn’t win any awards, they were surprisingly delicious and addictive and my family members also enjoyed them – one of them even took some along to a meeting this morning where they were enjoyed by all. 

Now I just need someone to polish off the remaining few!

Ease of recipe: 9/10
Finished product: 7.5/10
Overall score: 8.25/10
Bake again? Yes