A couple of months ago we went to a friend’s place for lunch and my son was introduced to the delights of chocolate coated hobnobs. It’s hard to believe it took twelve and a half years for my son to taste his first chocolate hobnob but once tasted you can never go back. He’s now he’s an addict for life, or as the jingle goes – One nibble and you’re nobbled. Hobnobs are a UK biscuit and a relatively recent addition to the Australian biscuit canon. One of my nephews has had a long time passion for them and in the days when they were hard to find in local supermarkets, he would search them out and buy half a dozen packets to stockpile in the face of scarcity. They are easier to find now and have lost a bit of their exotic cachet but they are still a great mass produced biscuit. I come from a family of tea drinking, biscuit dunkers and hobnobs are one of the best dunking biscuits around.
For those of you who have never had a hobnob biscuit, it’s kind of like a cross between an Anzac and a digestive biscuit. This particular recipe comes from Kate Doran’s Homemade Memories – Childhood treats with a twist, and uses wholemeal flour, oats and as well as being fairly restrained with the sugar. All of this makes for quite a wholesome bikkie. As a seventies kid I was scarred from dense, wholemeal hippy sweets and I spent years reacting against using wholemeal flour in baking but I now really love the extra flavor wholegrain flours bring to baked goods. I’m even beginning to find plain white flour a bit bland and now when I’m making pizza dough I’ll throw in a cup of rye flour just to give the dough extra depth of flavor.
I’m very partial to a plain hobnob biscuit, but my son doesn’t consider the plain, non-chocolate hobnob a real hobnob so I’ve found a good compromise is doubling this recipe and icing half with chocolate and leaving half plain.
Hobnobs
Adapted from Kate Doran Homemade Memories
- 125 grams unsalted butter
- 80 grams brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons Golden Syrup
- 100 grams quick cooking oats
- 100 grams wholemeal flour
- 1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda (baking soda)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 100 grams dark chocolate
- 2 tablespoons butter
- Preheat oven to 180F (160 fan forced)
- Cream butter and sugar until pale, add golden syrup and beat in.
- Add oats, wholemeal flour, bicarb soda and baking powder to butter and mix through until combined.
- Roll 2 teaspoons of dough into a ball, place on lined baking tray and press down until about 4 cm in diameter. Place in oven and bake for 10-12 minutes until golden. Allow to cool on trays for five minutes until they harden enough transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
- If icing with chocolate allow biscuits to completely cool. Melt chocolate and butter in bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Spoon a dollop of chocolate on the smooth underside of the biscuit, spread with a palette or butter knife. Set aside to cool and for chocolate to set. Chocolate coated hobnobs will keep for 3-4 days. Plain hobnobs will keep for at least a week in a tin.
FAQs
- Rolled Oats (30%),
- Milk Chocolate (25%) [Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Cocoa Mass, Dried Skimmed Milk, Dried Whey (Milk), Butter Oil (Milk), Vegetable Fats (Palm, Shea), Emulsifiers (Soya Lecithin, E476), Natural Flavouring],
- Wholemeal Wheat Flour (16%),
- Sugar,
- Vegetable Oil (Palm),
- Glucose-Fructose Syrup,
If you are looking for a substitute for hobnobs biscuits, ginger biscuits are a wonderful choice. Ginger cookies are healthy, spicy types of biscuits that are most frequently baked until they are very hard.
What is a hobnob in England? ›
Hobnobs (sometimes stylized as HobNobs) is the brand name of a commercial biscuit. They are made from rolled oats, are similar to a flapjack-digestive biscuit hybrid, and are among the most popular British and Irish biscuits.
Are Hobnobs the same as Anzac biscuits? ›
For those of you who have never had a hobnob biscuit, it's kind of like a cross between an Anzac and a digestive biscuit. This particular recipe comes from Kate Doran's Homemade Memories – Childhood treats with a twist, and uses wholemeal flour, oats and as well as being fairly restrained with the sugar.
What is the best biscuit for Hobnobs? ›
A comparative study has found that oat biscuits, such as the humble Hobnob, work best for dunking in tea thanks to their “structural integrity”. In second place were digestive biscuits, followed by shortbread biscuits in third, and rich tea biscuits bringing up the rear.
Does Aldi sell Hobnobs? ›
Mcvitie's Hobnobs The Oaty One Biscuit 255g | ALDI.
What is a British biscuit called in America? ›
In the US, what us Brits call a biscuit, Americans would call a cookie - whilst an American biscuit is something resembling a British scone… making a name like Biscuiteers seem rather confusing!
Are hobnobs biscuits healthy? ›
10) Hobnobs
In ticking off both the chocolate and the digestive categories it's easy to see why chocolate Hobnobs are a universal favourite. However, with 92 calories per bikkie and 4.5g of fat. they are on the naughty end of the scale and might be better as an occasional treat if you are trying to be good.
What is a US vs UK biscuit? ›
American cookies are baked desserts, often sweet, that range in texture and density. Hard or crisp cookies are called biscuits in the U.K. while the chewier dessert can be identified as a cookie.
Why is it called hob nob? ›
Hobnobs are a type of oat biscuit. McVitie's sells them, and they are mostly sold in the United Kingdom. The word hob nob means to mix socially with a higher class, and that is where the name Hobnobs came from. Just like Jaffa Cakes and Digestives, there are different varieties.
Anzac biscuits have long been associated with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) established in World War I. It is thought that these biscuits were sent by wives and women's groups to soldiers abroad because the ingredients do not spoil easily and the biscuits kept well during naval transportation.
What do Hobnobs taste like? ›
Hobnobs are slightly sweet oat cookies. That's basically it. Pretty simple & very nice. Hobnobs get their flavor from oats and a lovely ingredient called golden syrup, a British baking staple.
Are chocolate hobnobs good for you? ›
Calories : 92
In ticking off both the chocolate and the digestive categories it's easy to see why chocolate Hobnobs are a universal favourite. However, with 92 calories per bikkie and 4.5g of fat. they are on the naughty end of the scale and might be better as an occasional treat if you are trying to be good.
What's the difference between Hobnobs and digestives? ›
A digestive and a hobnob are quite similar, but the hobnob uses rolled oats and white self-raising flour, while the digestive calls for wholemeal flour and baking powder. Digestives were developed in the 1830's by two Scottish doctors in the aim to create a biscuit that could aid digestion, hence the name 'Digestive'.
Are Hobnobs bad for cholesterol? ›
At the core of McVitie's Hobnobs Biscuits lie crunchy oats. This is made with 38% oats and that makes this a great option for those watching out for their health. Oats have a ton of health benefits! McVitie's Hobnobs Biscuits reduce your overall cholesterol levels along with LDL.
Are chocolate hobnobs dairy free? ›
Hobnobs and supermarket own brands are vegan friendly. They happily sit in the 'accidentally vegan' camp as they're made with vegetable oil rather than a dairy-based butter. Unfortunately, the chocolate-covered Hobnobs aren't vegan-friendly though.
