Condensed Milk Travelling Cookies

I have a gorgeous friend called Amanda who has a cat. Her cat however is not your ordinary cat. You see he has an adventurous life of his own. A few months ago he was was the victim of a recent attempted catnapping. It all started when Amanda's cat went missing for a few days. Amanda knows the life that her cat leads and that he usually comes home but a few days did seem a tad too long. Suddenly days turned into a week and she started to get worried and put out feelers for her cat.

One day out of the blue, she received a call from a vet. It turned out that a woman who was holidaying in Sydney had taken a liking to Amanda's cat and started feeding him. When the woman's mother arrived in Sydney, they both decided that Amanda's cat was so adorable that his new home was back at their home in Tweed Heads and booked a ticket for the cat to come home with them the following day. What foiled them in their catnapping attempt was that they took the cat to a vet to get some shots!

Thankfully, the vet was suspicious and decided to check on the moggy's microchip details. Amanda's details came up and she called her and their plot to kidnap him was blown apart! And the cat's name? Biscuit (who has his own twitter account @biscuit_thecat).

These biscuits or cookies are really for Biscuit the cat in a way. You see they're travelling cookies or condensed milk cookies that I originally saw on Cakelaw's blog . I have a serious love for sweetened condensed milk and I was a bit smitten by this old fashioned cookie. They are easy to make and need no eggs - therefore they're perfect for travelling! They texture of these is very much like cookies from yesteryear. As much as I love oatmeal cookies or those giant choc chip and macadamia cookies, sometimes a cookie's best role in a performance is to dunk in a cup of milky tea or with a cup of coffee.

I should really rename these "The Travelling Biscuit" cookie shouldn't I? ;)

So tell me Dear Reader, what is something that you always take with you when you travel? And what is your favourite mode of travelling? Car, train, bus or plane?

Travelling Cookies

• 225g butter or margarine

• 4 tablespoons condensed milk

• 1 1/2 cups self raising flour (or add 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder to the same quantity of plain flour if you don't have self raising flour)

• 1/2 cup custard powder

• 1/2 cup white sugar for rolling

Step 1 - Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Beat together the butter and condensed milk in a bowl.  Sift together the custard powder and flour in a separate bowl, then combine with the butter mixture until a soft dough forms.

Step 2 - Roll teaspoons of the dough into  balls, then roll in white sugar.  Place balls about one inch apart on a lined baking sheet, then flatten slightly with a fork.

Step 3 - Bake  the biscuits in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes or until cooked through.  Cool on the baking tray.