Tag: cookie recipe

Maple Pecan Cookies – and the saddest sight in the world

Sometimes I wish I lived in Canada. Mostly when I think about how much I love Maple Syrup. In fact, in my Canadian house I would have a big Maple tree in my backyard with a tap in it so that I could get Maple Syrup whenever I want. (Because we all know that in dreams, anything can happen.) Then I would have Maple Syrup with my pancakes for breakfast, Maple Syrup in muffins for lunch and maple glazed ham for dinner. Maple Syrup with Beaver Tails… mmmmmmm….

But, while I am not living in Canada, I have had to resort to bottled Maple Syrup and find interesting ways to incorporate it into my cooking. And while bottled Maple Syrup is so incredibly expensive, I am trying to find thrifty ways of including it! Enter: Maple Pecan Cookies.

I got the recipe from the wonderfully titled Eat Me! The Stupendous, Self-Raising World of Cupcakes and Bakes According to Cookies Girl when I was searching for some cookies that were not full of chocolate (like everything else I make!) The recipe was simple and straightforward, and they seemed like the perfect picnic food.

They were fuss free and turned out beautifully crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Aren’t they pretty all in a row?

And they tasted great with a glass of milk! Very More-ish!

So the recipe was easy, the product was tasty, everything went well… what is this ‘saddest sight in the world’ I hear you ask? Look on, my lovelies…

An empty bottle of Maple Syrup. All that sweet, mapley goodness… gone…

I might go away and cry now.

Then I will go to the store and buy another bottle so I can make these delicious cookies again!!!

So what ingredient, my lovelies, do you find upsetting when you run out of it? Or am I the only one with such extreme reactions… maybe don’t answer that!

Maple Pecan Cookies – From Eat Me! by Cookie Girl

Ingredients

100g unsalted butter

255g caster sugar (I used golden caster sugar and it was pretty damn good!)

85g dark brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

285g plain flour

1 tsp bi-carb soda

3 tbsp Maple Syrup

55g chopped pecans

Method

1.  Beat butter and sugars together until light and fluffy

2. Add the egg and vanilla

3. Sift over the flour and bi-carb and mix

4. Add the maple syrup and nuts, mix well

5. roll heaped tablespoons of mixture onto baking trays and cook at 150 degrees celsius for 8-10 mins or until lightly golden. Don’t bake for too long unless you like your cookies crispy

6. Enjoy on a beautiful picnic, or late at night with a glass of cold milk!

The Ultimate Chocolate Cookie

I like to think of it as a sort of… occupational hazard, all the left over bits of chocolate blocks and chocolate chips etc that are the by product of my culinary conquests. Except that technically my occupation is teaching… but… well… nevermind. So I finally figured it was time to make use of all these chocolate offcuts that have been cluttering my pantry. And luckily for me (and mum!) I knew just the recipe to try.

I recently bought Nigella Lawson’s “Nigella Express” after falling in love wither her dvds. Nestled inside this gem of a cookbook is her recipe for what she calls “Totally Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies”. I prefer the simpler description of “Ultimate Chocolate Cookie”. I have been known to completely disregard the measurements for chocolate in most recipes, and this is definitely a recipe where chocolate amounts are rules that are made to be broken. In fact, the only rule you need to keep in mind when making these cookies is this, repeat after me –

You can NEVER have too much chocolate

So with that mantra in mind, I mixed up the dough. I used a little bit of  Lindt, a few Chocolate Chips, a little bit of Nestle White Chocolate

and still something felt… unfinished.

so I added a few more snaps of dark chocolate. You know, for good measure!

And into the oven they go!

mmmm cookies and milk

In short, these are amazing. What more can I say?

The Ultimate Chocolate Cookie – Adapted from Nigella Lawson’s “Nigella Express”

Ingredients

125g dark chocolate

150g flour

30g cocoa

1 teaspoon bi-carb soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

125g butter

75g brown sugar

50g caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg (Nigella says this should be cold from the fridge)

minimum 350g chocolate chunks or chips (any mix of white, milk or dark)

Method

1. Melt the 125g chocolate

2. Cream the butter and sugars together and add the melted chocolate

3. Beat in vanilla and egg, then add the cocoa, flour, bi-carb and salt

4. Add the rest of the chocolate (feel free to go crazy here!)

5. I used a soup spoon to gouge hefty chunks of cookie dough but Nigella sings the praises of her ice cream scoop. Use whatever you like! I ended up making 18 (Nigella makes 12, but her cookies must be as big as my head to only get 12 from that mix!)

6. Cook for 18 (ish) minutes in an oven at 170 degrees celcius

7. Eat, eat eat!

And a Good Friday was had by all…

Good grief. Ive been itching to post for a few weeks now but the mix of work, being ill and moving to this new blog has got me all in a whirl! So, im going to split my doings into two posts. This, being Easter.

A few years ago I was given the cutest set of easter cookie cutters and its taken me up until now to actually get off my butt and use them. So use them I did! To make easter egg sugar cookies.

Easter Egg Sugar Cookies (from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook)

Ingredients

200g unsalted butter

280g caster sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg

400g plain flour

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Royal Icing

Method

1. Cream butter, sugar and vanilla extract until light and fluffy

2. Add the egg and mix well

3. Mix in flour and cream of tartar

4. Roll out the dough and cut into desired shape

5. Bake at 170 degrees celsius for around 10 mins. Be very careful though, my oven cooks them quite quickly so I take mine out after about 7 mins, as soon as they start to go golden around the edges. They burn VERY quickly.

6. Decorate!

Unfortunately for my tummy, my easter cooking didn’t end with biscuits. Delicious Magazine had a particularly tasty looking Easter Trifle. So off to the shops I went (hoppity hop) to get myself some super sweet ingredients. Now, I eat some seriously sweet things, but its been a VERY long time since I last made something this sweet.

One chocolate cake, tin of caramel, carton of custard, bottle of cream and pot of mascarpone later (not to mention several packets of easter eggs and chocolate shavings) and I had my ultimate easter confection. Of course, the addition of a tin of pears means that some of the unhealthyness of the dish is cancelled out… doesn’t it?

Easter Trifle

(I thought I would just note that I wasnt that impressed with the cake/brownie that this recipe had so rather than reproduce it here I would instead strongly advise you to make your favourite cake/brownie instead!)

Ingredients

410g tin of pears in natural juice

380g can of Caramel

250g Mascarpone

400g Custard

300mL Thickened Cream

1 Packet of Chocolate Eggs

Method

1. Cut up cake or brownie into small squares and place in a serving bowl

2. Place sliced pears over cake squares and add half the easter eggs

3. Combine caramel, mascarpone and custard and pour over cake and pears

4. Add the other half of the easter eggs

5. Top with whipped cream and grated chocolate

6. Chill for 2 hours minimum (This trifle is magnificent the next day, so if you can hold out for 24 hours, its worth it!)