Chokladbiskvier

These are the weirdest little biscuits - apparently a Swedish staple! They feel very festive to me, little bite-size almondy chocolate treats!

So they have three main parts - a meringue base, a buttercream filling and a chocolate glaze topping. Making all three parts is a little time consuming but none of the techniques are particularly difficult and they are the loveliest little moresels when they're done.

According to my Swedish insider, you find these all over Sweden in little cafes. Bite size, crunchy and smooth and deliciously sweet!

Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies

Am on a cookie binge these days. These are SO GOOD. I love the rich flavour of sesame in basically anything - so why not cookies!

And the addition of tahini makes a regular chocolate chip cookie into a buttery, savoury, beautifully rich cookie.

And these cookies are really easy to make. I love cookie recipes where you chill the dough overnight, because when you're ready to bake them the next day, it's about 30 minutes from rolling the cookies to eating the (warm) cookies. DREAMY!

Everything Cookies

Okay, I added a bit of everything for these bad boys. And they’re PERFECT.

Take a cookie. Add peanut butter. Sprinkle over some coconut. M&Ms? Sure, they can join the party. Chocolate chips go without saying.

YES. GET IN MY MOUTH.

Thick Peanut Butter Cookies

Giant cookie and its tiny babies

HOLY CRAP.
So, I had totally given up on being able to make the kind of cookies that are tall, thick, stacked, basically CHUNKY. My go-to cookies are amazing and chewy, but they're decidedly flat.

And I was experimenting with cookie size (basically, I wanted to make a giant one) and came across this recipe and OMFG it's amazing.

Chunky - check.
Crisp outside - check.
Smooth inside - check
Delicious - CHECK CHECK CHECK.

I had a little dance after I ate my first one. That's how delicious these are.

Feel free to experiment with the size. Just under half of this recipe made a HUGE 15cm diameter cookie, and with the other just-over-half I got 8 decent cookies.

STACKED full of deliciousness

Big Chewy Choc Chip Cookies

Lock-down is allowing me to live my baking fantasies on the days I'm not in work. I obsessively searched for the perfect cookie recipe a while ago, and I have that down. 

But I'm always looking for slight variations on the theme, and these large, soft, choc chip cookies are perfection. Using melted butter really contributes to the chewy texture. You need a little prep for this, as in you need to remember to prep the dough the day before you want to bake the cookies. It's worth it.

You won't be sorry you made these. They stay good for about a week but they won't last that long.

Makes about 18 large cookies

Oatmeal Choc Chip Cookies

Oooh, autumn is here and these cookies are a lovely cold-weather treat. These are so chunky and fluffy and like something  you'd get in a decent hipster coffee shop. 

I made two versions, one with 200g flour and one with almost double, 350g. The ones with less flour were a lot more sticky and they flattened right out. I prefer them with a bit more risen, cakey texture.

I was keeping these nut-free but this recipe would be AMAZING with the addition of a little coconut. Or, coconut and dried cranberries and leave off the chocolate. Or walnuts and maple syrup. Yum yum yum. Lots of options.

makes about 2 dozen cookies

White Chocolate Chunk Cookies - New and Improved!

I told you guys I'd give it another bash! Here's a little middle of the week pick me up.

I have modified one of my all time favourite recipes - the peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, as it has the perfect texture that I was looking for. I did a little tinkering with the recipe and I think I have struck gold! To me, this is about as close as I'm going to get to the correct flavour and texture. 

The only thing that needs improved is the white chocolate - ideally I'd have something thicker than 2 chocolate buttons but thinner than a chunk from a chocolate bar. I tried a few with 3 chocolate buttons and that is almost perfect! But then you're into a second bag of giant chocolate buttons. 

Experimentation is fun! And delicious.

Zimtsterne – German Cinammon Stars

IT’S BEGINNING TO FEEL A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS.

Just back from an amazing holiday to Hong Kong and China – they really have taken to Christmas there but it’s just not the same. They have spectacular trees and light displays, and I’ve never heard so many “modern” remixes of Christmas songs. Fabulous but not quite Christmas.

But if you want to look to a country that can really do Christmas, look no further than Germany. This is a traditional German Christmas cookie – they are a big fan of cooking huge batches of cookies in the weeks leading up to Christmas. A nation after my own heart. That means that these stay fresh for up to a month! Another bonus – no gluten or dairy! The cookies are bound with whipped egg white instead of (the more traditional) dairy.

I had a lot of fun making these cookies, they are perfect for a Christmas snack – or to give as presents!

Makes approx. 3 dozen cookies

The Best Peanut Butter Cookies EVER

Dear readers, (all 2 of you. Yes, hi, mum) I am going to give you a big treat today. I have been a little negligent lately (life!) but I am back to my regular scheduled programming and I want to reward the unending loyalty..

The best peanut butter cookie recipe EVER EVER.

There are a few things I love to do when I bake. I love using nuts. I love baking things that are already all portioned off and easy to eat with your hands. And I absolutely, positively love rolling things in cinnamon sugar. All these things make me happy. And you get ALL of that goodness in one handy, scummy recipe!

In all the sugary goodess

It has peanut butter, it has cinnamon, it has a sugary outer coating and the cookies are the best tasting thing I’ve had all year. I can’t really explain much more than that, just make them and you’ll see.

The perfect cookie, just look at it

Super Chocolatey Choc Chip Hazelnut Cookies

Happy weekend!

In case you didn’t know, I really love to cook. I also really love to bake. A lot of my down time revolves around some aspect of food.

And to that end, I often find myself browsing for new recipes online. In fact, most days I’m probably reading some new recipe that I’ve found.  Sometimes I am looking purposefully for a specific recipe or “how to” technique, but most times I’m just looking for some inspiration. However, in the case of these cookies, I was just messing around on Reddit, when a photo of the most picturesque cookies came on the feed. They were hypnotising. 

I had a batch of (my slightly modified) cookies ready to eat within an hour or so of seeing that post for the first time.

THAT’S HOW GOOD THESE ARE. True story.

Ginger and Coconut Oatmeal Cookies

I have been on a bit of an oaty cookie kick at the minute, and these are unusual in texture and flavour, but I really like them. The honey makes them a little bit floppy, but I really like the texture that it gives. The oats and coconut also give a nice firming quality.

You could add some orange or lemon to this, but I didn’t want to go overboard with flavours on the first attempt. As they are, they are delicately spiced, sweet and delicious.

Makes about 18 cookies, but next time I think I would make them a little smaller.

Cookie time! Pistachio and Dark Chocolate, and Cranberry with White Chocolate

I have a bit of an obsession with baking cookies.

From the irresistibly chocolately peanutty ones, to the classic choc chip, there is room for them all in my kitchen!

I do have a favourite “baseline” cookie recipe, to which all sorts of extras can be added, but I thought I would branch out and try something else, to see if it improved the finished product, or even if it changed it to a noticeable degree. My usual recipe calls for the butter to be melted first, cooled slightly, and then added to the sugar. This recipe called for the butter to be creamed with sugar, more like a cake recipe.

Chocolate and nuts - perfection

Fruit and chocolate - sweet and flavourful!

These turned out beautifully -  I will be using pistachio a lot more, this is part one of a three part pistachio extravaganza!

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups plain flour
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp bicarb of soda
• ½ cup butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp vanilla sugar
• 100g pistachios
• 75g chocolate chips
• (I also decided to do white chocolate and cranberry cookies with the same recipe, so I used an additional 75g dried cranberries, and 75g white chocolate)

Method

Preheat oven to 170 degrees

Stir together the flour, salt and leavening agents.

Beat together the butter and sugars for a few minutes until lighter in colour. Add in the vanilla and egg, and beat together again. Gradually add in the flour mixture.

At this  point I halved the mixture into two separate bowls, in one I added the dark chocolate and pistachio, and to the other I added white chocolate and cranberries.

Spoon some mounds of dough onto baking trays lined with greaseproof paper. I usually get six to a sheet.

Bake in the preheated oven for 12 minutes, allow to cool on the baking tray for a few minutes and then transfer to cool on a wire rack.

I may have eaten some when hot from the oven and it was goooood.

Packaged up for a picnic! Finally got new napkins.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

These are so good I almost don’t want to share the recipe. 

They always turn out great – they taste amazing, texture is fantastic and everyone loves them. Plus, the recipe makes like a million cookies. These are the perfect way to get over the mid-week slump. Also great for the weekend, Monday, Christmas..

There are a few ways to prepare these, normally I form them into rough balls just using the spoon to shape the dough on the greaseproof paper. Alternatively, you can take a small amount of the cookie dough and form it into discs using your hands. The latter is easier, and forms rounder cookies but it is a bit messier. Whichever you prefer, people will eat these anyway. Looks don’t matter when they taste like little chocolate-nutty drops of happiness.