Cakes & Bakes: Double chocolate cookies

I had another request for this week’s Cakes & Bakes to be cookies (Justin is SO demanding!) I flipped through the pages of The Great Big Cookie Book by Hilaire Walden and found this recipe for double chocolate cookies. He’s not the biggest fan of chocolate cakes & biscuits but the words ‘beggars’ and ‘choosers’ spring to mind!

Double chocolate cookies

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Ingredients

115 g/4oz/½ cup unsalted butter
115 g/4oz/½ cup light muscovado sugar
1 egg
5 ml/1tsp vanilla essence
150 g/5oz/1¼ cup self-raising flour
75 g/3oz/¾ cup porridge oats
115 g/4oz plain chocolate roughly chopped
115 g/4oz white chocolate roughly chopped
https://hisforhomeblog.com/images/cakes_and_bakes/double_chocolate_cookies/double_chocolate_cookies_ingredients.jpg

Instructions

Preheat oven to 190ºC/375ºF/Gas mark 5
Lightly grease two baking sheets
In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until pale & fluffy
Add the egg and vanilla essence and beat well
Sift the flour over the mixture and fold in lightly with a metal spoon
Add the oats and chopped plain & white chocolate and stir until evenly mixed
Place small spoonfuls of the mixture in 18-20 rocky heaps on the prepared baking sheets, leaving space for spreading
https://hisforhomeblog.com/images/cakes_and_bakes/double_chocolate_cookies/double_chocolate_cookie_dough.jpg
Bake for 15-20 minutes until beginning to turn pale golden brown
Leave to cool for 2-3 minutes on the baking sheets then transfer to wire racks to cool completely

Cakes & Bakes: Dried fruit oat cookies

Cookies are like buses; nothing for ages, then three come along one after the other!

We’ve been enjoying having a constant supply of home-made cookies so I decided to make use of a packet of dried raisins & cranberries that were languishing at the back of the food cupboard – way too healthy! They had to be made into some dried fruit oat cookies – a much tastier option to be demolished with an afternoon cup of tea!

Here’s my own recipe:

Dried fruit oat cookies

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Ingredients

170 g/6oz butter softened
150 g/5oz Demerara sugar
50 g/1¾ Muscovado sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla essence
100 g/½ plain flour
¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda
225 g/8oz rolled oats
300 g/10½ mixed dried fruit (I used a 300g bag of Tesco Whole Foods raisin cranberry mix)

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 180ºC/350ºF/Gas mark 4 (a fraction lower if your oven is fan-assisted)
In a large mixing bowl (or food processor) cream the butter and sugars until well blended
Mix in the egg and vanilla essence
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour and bicarbonate of soda before combining with the previous mixture
Add the oats and dried fruit and mix thoroughly by hand
Form the mixture into balls (I made them the size of large marbles) using the palms of your hands
Put them on a large greased baking tray(s) and flatten each ball slightly with a fork
Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown
Cool on a wire rack before storing for up to a week in an airtight tin or jar

Cakes & Bakes: Peanut Butter Cookies

The weather’s been too hot for baking & eating full-on cake this week. All we fancy eating at the moment is salad and have been finishing an evening meal with a bowl of ice cream or a couple of biscuits instead.

Justin bought a jar of peanut butter last week not realising I’d already bought one the day before – so I decided to solve our mini-glut by baking a batch of peanut butter cookies.

The recipe was taken from The Great Big Cookie Book by Hilaire Walden.

Peanut Butter Cookies

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Cook Time 15

Course Snack

Ingredients

115 g/4oz/1 cup plain flour
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
pinch of salt
115 g/4oz/½ cup butter
125 g/4½oz/¾ cup firmly packed light brown sugar*
1 egg
5 ml/1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
225 g/8oz/1 cup crunchy peanut butter

Instructions

Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt and set aside
Cream together the butter and sugar until light & fluffy
In another bowl, mix the egg and vanilla extract then gradually beat into the butter mixture
Stir in the peanut butter and blend thoroughly
Stir in the dry ingredients
Chill for at least 30 minutes until firm
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4. Grease 2 baking sheets
Spoon out rounded teaspoonfuls of the cookie mixture and roll into balls
Place the balls on the prepared baking sheets and press flat with a fork into circles about 6cm/2½ ins in diameter, making a criss-cross pattern
Bake for 12-15 minutes until lightly browned
Transfer to a wire rack to cool

For extra crunch add 50g/2oz/½ cup chopped peanuts with the peanut butter

*The next time I make these I'd use half & half light brown sugar and Muscavado sugar to give the cookies more depth of flavour.

Keyword cookies, peanut butter, peanuts

Cakes & Bakes: Oatmeal coconut cookies

I regularly bake cakes and loaves of bread but very rarely cookies. Maybe it’s because you can get such a wide range in the supermarket; or perhaps it’s because they can be fiddly to make. Anyway, I really fancied something different so I made a batch of these oatmeal coconut cookies.

THEY WERE ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS! Pah to supermarket-bought from now on!

I found the recipe in old favourite cookbook, Baking – Simple Cookery Series.

glass jar full of oatmeal coconut cookies, plate with two cookies and spotty mug of tea

Oatmeal Coconut Cokies

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Servings 40

Ingredients

225 g/8oz butter or margarine
125 g/4oz soft light brown sugar
125 g/4oz caster sugar
1 large egg lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla essence
225 g/8oz plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
125 g/4oz rolled oats
75 g/3oz desiccated coconut

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4, 10 minutes before baking. Lightly grease a baking sheet
Cream together the butter and sugars until light & fluffy
Gradually stir in the egg and vanilla essence and beat until well blended
In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda
Add to the butter & sugar mixture and beat together until smooth. Fold in the rolled oats and coconut with a metal spoon or rubber spatula (I found the mix too stiff for a rubber spatula)
Roll heaped teaspoonfuls of the mixture into balls and place on the prepared baking sheet about 5cm/2ins apart and flatten each ball slightly with the heel of the hand
Transfer to the preheated oven and bake for 12-15 minutes, until just golden
Remove from the oven and transfer the biscuits to a wire rack to completely cool

Despite being a greedy pair, we can't polish off 40 cookies in the 3 or 4 days that they remain fresh. I cooked half the batch and put the other post-flattened, pre-baked cookies in the freezer. I put them on a wire rack to freeze (they'd stick like glue to a baking sheet if used) then transferred them to a zip-lock freezer bag. To make the next batch just allow the cookies to defrost for about half an hour before baking as normal.

H is for Home Harbinger

Tag: cookies

Cakes & Bakes: Double chocolate cookies

Double chocolate cookies

Ingredients

Instructions

Cakes & Bakes: Dried fruit oat cookies

Dried fruit oat cookies

Ingredients

Instructions

Cakes & Bakes: Oatmeal coconut cookies

Oatmeal Coconut Cokies

Ingredients

Instructions