By Keighley’s Mike Armstrong, an award-winning master baker with a big passion for baking...

THIS week's recipe takes us all the way to New Zealand, where every kid knows that the smell of toasted cornflakes and rich chocolate wafting from the kitchen means Afghan biscuits.

It's fair to say New Zealanders of all ages have enjoyed this classic treat at snack times, during the holidays and as after-school fuel.

As a young nation, New Zealand derives much of its culinary inspiration from British tradition, but the Afghan biscuit is a cookie all on its own and the origins are purely conjectural – a nod to geography? No one knows for sure.

These biscuits may have been invented for wartime care packages in the 1940s.

Some believe the name is down to the biscuit's texture being likened to the landscape of Afghanistan, with the crushed cornflakes representing sand and the pile of icing and walnut symbolising craggy, rocky mountains and ridges.

Others tie the biscuit's inspiration to British involvement in the Anglo-Afghan wars of 1839 where it was reputedly said to represent ''eating the enemy". Offensive? Certainly. Out of the question? Not entirely, as ''political correctness'' had yet to be coined in the 19th century.

Certainly this harmless, buttery, cocoa-studded cornflake biscuit with a chocolate icing topping and walnut crown has become one of the most debated in terms of its name in modern history.

There is no conclusive evidence. Some people associate them to Anzac biscuits, with similarities between the two in shape, colour and ingredients – even the name sounds similar! Like the Anzac biscuit, a popular theory about the biscuit's origin is that it was used as rations for New Zealand's soldiers serving in the second Afghan war, baked by the wives of the men serving.

It is natural for recipes and names to change over time; they are like any cultural object – they evolve.

There are lots of wild theories surrounding this innocent little biscuit, but no one seems to know for sure. We sometimes end up with weird names that come from prejudices of the past.

RECIPE

AFGHAN BISCUITS

Makes 12

Ingredients:

200g/7oz butter

75g/3oz caster sugar

225g/8oz self-raising flour, sifted

1 tablespoon cocoa powder, sifted

1 tablespoon desiccated coconut

50g/2oz cornflakes

Chocolate icing:

50g/2oz plain chocolate

110g/4oz icing sugar, sifted

2 tablespoons milk

Vanilla essence

Method:

1. Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, then fold in the flour and cocoa powder.

2. Stir in the coconut and cornflakes and mix thoroughly.

3. Put teaspoons of the mixture, spaced well apart, on greased or parchment-lined baking trays.

4. Bake for around 15-18 minutes in a preheated oven at 180C/160C fan/Gas Mark 5 or till golden brown.

5. When cool, melt the chocolate and stir in the milk, icing sugar and vanilla to taste.

6. Dip each biscuit into the melted chocolate and add a walnut half on top.