Elly had three stages of education in our town. They were all state run and of a high standard. Nursery, Primary and Grammar Schools. In order to reach the Nursery School on foot ,we walked, jogged or skipped down the hill and along the Main Street before starting the climb uphill again past the Grammar school, on to the Primary school and through the grounds, out the back gate and through a small development of pensioner’s bungalows.

Each morning a gentleman was standing at his front door greeting the mothers and children. By the time we reached his bungalow our group had grown, we were three mothers and three little girls. He was a widower and we soon learned his name was Hugh. Hugh was very self contained, cooked and baked all his own meals. One morning the door was open, we heard the radio but Hugh was not to be seen. As we were walking back he appeared with a plate. On it were freshly baked peanut biscuits, the reason for Hugh’s non appearance 10 minutes earlier. As we sampled his efforts I asked for the recipe and he promised to have it written out when we came back to collect the girls.

Hugh’s Peanut Biscuits
Preheat the oven to 190°C

6oz Plain Flour
3oz Butter
½ teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda
3oz Peanuts (dry roasted)
6oz Light Brown Sugar
1 egg beaten
2oz peanut halves to decorate

Sift flour with Bicarbonate of Soda. Grind 3oz Peanuts in blender. Beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg. Stir in flour and ground peanuts. Form mixture into teaspoon size balls. Place on baking sheet 2” apart. Flatten slightly with a wet fork and put half a peanut on each. Bake the biscuits for 8–10 minutes. Keep a careful eye on them as they burn easily.

There was a bright sunny morning when Hugh told us to be sure and call after leaving the girls off for the morning. We did and he had three glasses of his homemade dandelion wine for us to sample! Not wanting to offend him we tried it. It was lovely. Not much housework done that day, and before you ask, I don’t have the recipe!