Cocoa Sesame Biscuits

Most people have one grocery item that they stockpile for reasons they can't explain. My sister recently sent me a photo of nine bottles of mouthwash with the words "must stop". Come a nuclear winter, at least she and her husband will have minty fresh breath.

For me, the must-have grocery items are tins of butter beans and sesame seeds. I don't know what the attraction is, but when I go past the pulses in the supermarket it's irresistible. One day the tins of beans might come in handy ("hey, come over to my place! I've got LOADS of butter beans"). As for the sesame seeds, they make delicious cocoa biscuits  - not too sweet with a nutty flavour that seems a bit odd at first bite but quickly becomes as seductive as a tin of butter beans on a supermarket shelf (i.e. very).

The recipe is from this great book my mum gave me years ago. It's Australian but it gives the ingredients in cups, grams and ounces, so it is suitable for bakers of all persuasions. It's published by Murdoch Books but I don't think it's connected to THAT Murdoch. Certainly there are no tits on page 3, only a photo of an orange drizzle cake.

You need two tablespoons of golden syrup for the recipe. Ever noticed the drawing on a tin of Tate & Lyle's? It's a dead lion with bees coming out of its rotting corpse, saying "Out of the strong came forth sweetness", a reference to the Biblical Samson who went round killing people and lions and speaking in riddles like a nutter. 

Thanks to Answer Me This Podcast  for bringing this to my attention. If you'd like to give your ears a weekly treat, why not download their podcast and giggle on the bus so much that people start moving seats?

Anyway, here's the recipe for Cocoa Sesame Biscuits:

• 90g plain flour
• 25g cocoa powder
• 75g rolled oats
• 150g sesame seeds
• 190g caster sugar
• 100g unsalted butter (or dairy free margarine if you want to make them vegan)
• 2 tablespoons golden syrup
• 1 tablespoon boiling water
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 185g melted chocolate

• Pre-heat the oven to 160oC and line two baking trays with parchment. 
• Mix the flour, cocoa, oats, sesame seeds and sugar; in a pan melt the butter and golden syrup
• Pour the boiling water into a cup, add the bicarbonate of soda, mix well and add this to the melted butter. Enjoy watching it whoosh up into a foam
• Using a metal spoon, fold the mixture into the dry ingredients.
• Roll the mix into balls and flatten them slightly

• Bake for about 12 minutes. They will still be wet and wobbly when you take them out, but they'll harden as they cool. Let them cool for 5 minutes on the trays, then transfer to a wire rack.
• Once the biscuits are cool, add a blob of melted chocolate to each biscuit.
• Put the biscuits into a sad and empty tin that until very recently held some Christmas treats and take them into the office.
• Remember that they fired you months ago, eat all the biscuits yourself and laugh in their stupid faces, saying "out of the strong came forth sweetness".
• Do NOT kill any people or lions.