These biscuits are actually called Melting Moments but they are affectively known as Nani’s Bisuits in our family. My mum used to make these all the time when we used to get together, they were the kid’s (and our) favourite. So buttery and moreish, perfect with a cup of chai.
They are super easy to make, even Mufti Menk made them the other day! The recipe I used is not the same as his though. The one I used is one that has been passed down to me from family.
Nani’s Biscuits
Ingredients
250g butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup icing sugar
1tsp vanilla extract
1 cup cornflour
1 cup plain flour
Method
Pre heat the oven to 160c.
Cream the butter and icing sugar together. Add the vanilla extract.
Add the cornflour and plain flour and mix it by hand until you have a dough.
Place the dough mixture in a piping bag with a large nozzle attached.
Pipe each biscuit onto a baking tray (make them as long or as short as you want). Make sure there is some space in between the biscuits.
Bake them in the oven for around 10-12 minutes till they’re lightly golden.
Once you remove the biscuits from the oven, let them cool down on the tray for another 10 minutes.
Once the biscuits are cooled, you can dip them in some melted chocolate to make them even more indulging or leave them as they are as they’re equally tasty.
The recipe below makes 2 cups of karak chai using evaporated milk, but any milk will do. I don’t use evaporated milk all the time, but sometimes I like to treat myself. Normally I just use semi skimmed milk. This recipe can be made SW friendly, make sure you measure the amount of milk used as part of your healthy extra A choice and use sweetener instead of sugar (or syn the sugar used accordingly).
My top tips to a good cup of karak chai is to always use good quality loose black tea (I am lucky my sister always supplies me with a huge batch from India, so I haven’t ever had to buy the tea myself, yet!); and secondly, make sure you keep stirring the tea whilst cooking. I know lots of people don’t, but I always stir.
If you don’t have loose tea, use a couple of tea bags instead. We like to have Yorkshire Gold tea bags.
Adjust the amount of loose tea depending on how strong you want your chai. Do note that as the tea is brewing the colour will get darker so take that into account when adding your loose tea. Add less to begin with and if you think that once it has boiled a few times it is still not strong, then add more tea.
You could also make karak coffee this way with evaporated milk, replacing the tea with coffee granules obviously!
Karak Chai Ingredients
Ingredients
1.5 cup of water
2 tbsp black loose tea
1 small cinnamon stick
2 cloves
5 green cardamoms, lightly crushed
1 tin of evaporated milk
sugar to taste
Method
Bring the water to boil. Add the loose tea, spices and sugar. Let it boil a couple of times before adding the milk.
Once you’ve added the milk, keep stirring the tea on a medium heat, taking care it doesn’t boil over. Make sure you keep a close eye on the tea and lower the tea (or remove the pan from the heat) once it start to boil to the top of the pan.
Do that a few times (around 5 times is enough) and strain the tea into cups.
I absolutely love bananas, they’re one of my favourite fruit. I am pretty sure I eat them once a day! But once they start going a bit brown, they are no longer edible for me personally but they are perfect for baking. For best results in any banana cake/loaf recipe, make sure your bananas are as ripe as possible for a sweeter, richer cake. The darker they are the better your cake will taste.
With Ramadan just around the corner, most muslim homes will have plenty of dates around so this is a great way of using them up differently. If you can, use Medjool dates. They’re so good for baking (as well as eating them on its own!). And bananas and dates go perfectly well together, making this a great recipe for a lovely Suhoor treat. I love toasting a slice of the loaf when it is a day or two old and add butter to it before eating. It is soooo good! Give it a try! I am the only one that eats bananas in my household so this always lasts a good few days stored in the fridge once cooled.
I like using dark muscovado sugar for a richer bake, but light brown soft sugar will work just as good. Try not to use granulated sugar or even caster sugar for this. You need to get soft brown sugar for better results. Hope you enjoy this recipe, this is a good accompaniment to a whipped coffee.
If you don’t like dates, you can replace them with chopped walnuts or try this recipe here instead.
I used a small loaf tin and it makes around 10 good slices.
Ingredients
250g dark muscovado sugar
2 large eggs
250g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp ginger powder
140g unsalted butter, melted
2 bananas, mashed
100g chopped dates
Date & Banana Loaf, ready for oven
Method
Pre heat the oven to 170c. Grease and line a loaf tin and set aside.
Beat the sugar and eggs together till light in colour.
In a separate bowl, sieve together all the dry ingredients and set aside till needed.
Add the mashed bananas and chopped dates to the egg mix, mixing it all well together. Slowly add the dry ingredients, followed by the melted butter and ensure all the ingredients are well incorporated.
Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf tin and bake in the oven for 1 hour, or until firm to the touch and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Leave the loaf to cool slightly in the tin before removing it from the tin.
