Cosy Food - Buckingham Biscuits

The recipe I am sharing here is one that I have never been able to find elsewhere, nor anything like it. I lost my copy a little while back, so was very relieved that my mother still had hers. It was one she used to make regularly for us when I was in my teens - great for those after school snacks as it contains the filling goodness of rolled oats and because it uses one saucepan and is really quick and easy. Successful with teens because it combines these with chocolate. 

Chocolate makes anything delicious, doesn't it?

And I have no idea why they are called Buckingham Biscuits, particularly as it is actually a slice rather than discreet biscuits. 

The original recipe is as follows:

Buckingham Biscuits:

1 ½ cups sugar (I have been using 3/4 cup of sugar quite successfully)

½ cup cocoa

¼ cup milk

125g butter

Mix these together in a medium large saucepan over low heat, bringing to the boil. Boil for one minute. Immediately take off the heat (watch it doesn't stick on the bottom at this point).

Add

½ cup peanut butter (crunchy is best) - I like to mix this in before adding the rest

2 tsp vanilla essence

3 cups rolled oats

Mix well and press into a lamington tray (approx. 25x30cm) lined with baking paper and cook for around 25 mins at 180 °C. I usually cook it a little less, as my oven runs a little hot – be careful not to overcook as it will become very hard, although you can always pop individual slices in the microwave for a few seconds to soften them up.

Leave to cool in tray, but slice into smallish fingers before it cools and goes hard. 

Try not to eat it all at once!

Now, here is my latest tweak. I have been experimenting with decreasing the amount of sugar as well as a couple of other exchanges.

I have reduced the sugar to around ¾ cup without losing the chewy toffee-ness. I have also exchanged half the butter (by volume, so ¼ cup of each) for cold pressed extra virgin coconut oil – I suspect you could do a complete exchange. Thirdly, I have experimented a little with some puffed quinoa or just straight quinoa, replacing about ½ cup of the rolled oats, which adds a little more protein and another texture (I think you could easily exchange more). You could also use cacao powder. I have also added a couple of handfuls of shredded coconut sometimes. So the final recipe looks more like this:

Buckingham Biscuits Version 2:

¾ cup sugar

½ cup cocoa

¼ cup milk

¼ cup butter

¼ cup cold pressed coconut oil

Mix these together in a medium large saucepan over low heat, bringing to the boil. Boil for one minute. Immediately take off the heat (watch it doesn't stick on the bottom at this point).

Add

½ cup peanut butter (crunchy is best) - I like to mix this in before adding the rest

2 tsp vanilla essense

2 ½ cups rolled oats

½ cup puffed quinoa

Mix well and press into a lamington tray (approx. 25x30cm) lined with baking paper and cook for around 25 mins at 180 °C. Be careful not to overcook as it will become very hard.

Leave to cool in tray, before cutting into slices. I do think this tends to be a little more crumbly than the original, which is probably due to the decreased sugar, but it still tastes great.