I sometimes forget that Covid is still a thing, until I get the dreaded “I tested positive” text from a friend I hung out with recently. After 5 years, our society seems to forget that there was a time we weren’t allowed to leave our homes without a mask and hand sanitizer. A time when there was a line to the grocery store as if it were a nightclub (or most recently, the release of a new mini tote bag at Trader Joes – IYKYK). A time when Facetime, Zoom, and even MS Teams became our primary tools for social interaction, while social media revealed the true colors of those who you always suspected felt a certain way, but kept relatively silent until the pandemic. The years following the pandemic welcomed new friends, while quietly breaking away from the toxic ones who continued to complain about the state of our society instead of focusing on how to live their own lives peacefully and without judgement of others who have the audacity to express differing opinions. 

Last Monday, I forget about Covid as I wandered with thousands of other maskless people around the “happiest place on Earth”, Disneyland. Actually, one of my friends did wear a mask and I believe he was the only person in that entire theme park who did. Non-spoiler: he tested negative. My other friend and I didn’t even think to wear a mask. Besides, we didn’t wear a mask the last time we went to Disneyland back in December 2019 as Covid wasn’t a thing here in the USA (yet). Of course, my first thought after getting the dreaded text was to take a Covid test. However, the tests I still had around my house long expired so I had to buy some new tests and temporarily break my boycott of Target. While waiting for the result of the good test, I started to think about who I would need to notify if it came out positive, who had I seen since Disneyland. Then I started to think about how they would respond. Would they feel like I betrayed them?? I had a headache on Wednesday, but that didn’t stop me from meeting up with another friend to play tennis. I told her about my headache, then felt better the next day, but headache came back the day after. What if that was a symptom? My returning headache and now a tickle in my throat that prompted me to cough to the point the vet tech asked me if I needed some water. Yes, I also went to the vet because my cat is having some skin issues ($$). Did I expose them, even though I hadn’t received the dreaded text until after I returned home from the vet? How could I notify these people and have them believe me that I didn’t know until I knew? 

My test was negative.

Ok, phew! I don’t have Covid, but now I have a new paranoia: am I asymptomatic? Another friend was hosting a happy hour in a few hours. I could just not bother to let her know since I tested negative. However, I also couldn’t not let her know because there was a small possibility that I may actually have Covid and didn’t know it, even though again, I tested negative. I decided to let her know and have her decide if I should still attend her happy hour. After all, I was planning to bring the latest batch I made hours before the dreaded text: Chocolate Roughs.

Chocolate Roughs, more commonly known as Afghan biscuits, originated in New Zealand with the first recipe (minus the icing and walnut) appearing in The Timaru Herald around 1934. Although there are many theories surrounding the origin of the name “Afghan” for these biscuits such as the color and texture being likened to the landscape of Afghanistan, or the color “Afghan brown” in reference to the dark skin of Afghan people, in 2020 the main commercial manufacturer of Afghan biscuits announced they were changing the name to “Milk Chocolate Roughs”. You may also recall that in 2020, many food brands were removing any references to their products that were being deemed as racist or insensitive to other cultures, hence the new name for this biscuit. 

The biscuit is made with flour, butter, cocoa powder, vanilla extract, and cornflakes, and is topped with a chocolate icing and a walnut. The most popular recipe comes from the Edmonds Cookery Book (https://edmondscooking.co.nz/recipes/biscuits/afghans/), but I decided to go with a recipe I found on the Days of Jay site (https://daysofjay.com/2024/01/29/new-zealand-afghan-biscuits/) which added baking powder and sea salt to the dough. 

So how did mine turn out??

I probably should have gone with the Edmonds recipe which didn’t include baking powder or salt, but I don’t think the inclusion of those ingredients from the other recipe made a negative impact on the biscuit. It was still chocolatey and crunchy thanks to the cornflakes, and the chocolate icing gave it a nice sweetness. I didn’t add the walnut, mainly because I didn’t want to spend $6.99 on a bag of them, but it’s also optional. I would definitely make these again, but would like to try the Edmonds recipe and also be able to bring them to other people so I won’t eat them all myself because, another non-spoiler: I didn’t go to the happy hour. 

I should also mention that I made these biscuits on April 25, which is Anzac Day in Australia and New Zealand. Anzac Day honors the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) which was formed during World War I. Both countries hold their own commemoration ceremonies on this day, and as this is a public holiday, many stores are closed either the full day or half the day. Fun fact: the commercialization of Anzac Day is heavily regulated in Australia and New Zealand so companies cannot use the name “Anzac” in their products, except for the sale and manufacture of the Anzac Biscuit. 

For those following my blog and batches, you may recall that I had made Anzac Biscuits back in January, following the Australian Open tennis grand slam tournament – see batch #2. When determining my batch schedule, I try to plan around a holiday, event, or occasion that coincides with each cookie/biscuit. So what’s next on the schedule? Well, the next occasion coming up is my birthday (age obviously withheld) which happens to be the day after Mothers’ Day. My next batch is TBD at the moment, but my mom recently came back from Italy so perhaps an Italian biscotti will be “cibo appropriato”.