There was some cookie experimentation on Sunday afternoon. Normally cakes and cookies are Mrs Jiffler’s area of expertise, and I stay out of the way until my services are required in ‘testing’. Mrs Jiffler makes great smarties cookies, much better than the weirdly chewy ones you get ‘fresh’ from the supermarket.
There is a recipe in the Guardian for ‘Customised Cookies’ by some chap I’m unfamiliar with. Normally I would skip over this sort of recipe, and head for the restaurant reviews (cue much swearing and shaking of head as yet another restaurant in South London with parsnip crisps and cauliflower foam on the menu gets an above average review), but this time the Guardian has opted for a very sympathetic photo of said customised cookies, and I imagine myself standing in a sweet smelling kitchen wearing my apron and shaking a tray of cookies, looking very pleased with myself.
The recipe is as follows (I’m sure the Guardian won’t mind…):
(measurements aren’t zen this time. I think you have to be a bit more precise with this sort of thing)
125g unsalted butter
100g unrefined granulated sugar
75g light muscovado sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
150g plain flour
half tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
100g extras – chocolate chunks, raisins, dried fruit, nuts etc etc.
Melt the butter and pour over the two sugars in a mixing bowl. Beat together, then break in the egg and the vanilla flavour. Beat again, then add in the flour, baking powder, salt and the extras, and mix.
Drop dessert spoonfuls of the mixture on a baking tray lined with baking paper, leaving lots of space for them to expand (lots of space – they go massive!), and bake at 190 for about 10 mins or so. Let them cook so they harden up – although I can guarantee that you’ll have at least half of one in your gob already…
My extras where 50g-ish of white chocolate chunks, 50g-ish of dried cranberries, and most of the zest of one lemon. The smell in the kitchen was great – soft and sweet and very appropriate for a Sunday (later giving way to roast chicken, then chicken stock). I even left the flat for a minute to take the bin out just so I could come back in and smell it fresh again.
Although a bit soft in the middle, the cookies came out well. The flavours were nicely in tune, although I felt they were a bit too sweet for my tastes (I have to add water to fresh orange juice in the morning otherwise it’s a bit too sweet…). I thought I’d take a few in to work the following day to get the opinion of a few colleagues.
Said colleagues set about the cookies like they were going out of fashion, and a general thumbs up was awarded, along with significant pressure for a repeat performance…
Well I suppose I’ve got some leftover cranberries to use up…
There is a recipe in the Guardian for ‘Customised Cookies’ by some chap I’m unfamiliar with. Normally I would skip over this sort of recipe, and head for the restaurant reviews (cue much swearing and shaking of head as yet another restaurant in South London with parsnip crisps and cauliflower foam on the menu gets an above average review), but this time the Guardian has opted for a very sympathetic photo of said customised cookies, and I imagine myself standing in a sweet smelling kitchen wearing my apron and shaking a tray of cookies, looking very pleased with myself.
The recipe is as follows (I’m sure the Guardian won’t mind…):
(measurements aren’t zen this time. I think you have to be a bit more precise with this sort of thing)
125g unsalted butter
100g unrefined granulated sugar
75g light muscovado sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
150g plain flour
half tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
100g extras – chocolate chunks, raisins, dried fruit, nuts etc etc.
Melt the butter and pour over the two sugars in a mixing bowl. Beat together, then break in the egg and the vanilla flavour. Beat again, then add in the flour, baking powder, salt and the extras, and mix.
Drop dessert spoonfuls of the mixture on a baking tray lined with baking paper, leaving lots of space for them to expand (lots of space – they go massive!), and bake at 190 for about 10 mins or so. Let them cook so they harden up – although I can guarantee that you’ll have at least half of one in your gob already…
My extras where 50g-ish of white chocolate chunks, 50g-ish of dried cranberries, and most of the zest of one lemon. The smell in the kitchen was great – soft and sweet and very appropriate for a Sunday (later giving way to roast chicken, then chicken stock). I even left the flat for a minute to take the bin out just so I could come back in and smell it fresh again.
Although a bit soft in the middle, the cookies came out well. The flavours were nicely in tune, although I felt they were a bit too sweet for my tastes (I have to add water to fresh orange juice in the morning otherwise it’s a bit too sweet…). I thought I’d take a few in to work the following day to get the opinion of a few colleagues.
Said colleagues set about the cookies like they were going out of fashion, and a general thumbs up was awarded, along with significant pressure for a repeat performance…
Well I suppose I’ve got some leftover cranberries to use up…
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