Chocolate Chip Cookies

I've made my fair share of vegan cupcakes. They're something I really enjoy making. It's all about the chemistry of ingredients and how they work together to form a light, fluffy and delicious treat. I've not really ventured into vegan cookie baking though. I don't really why, I think I must need to purchase Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar! I'm sure that would push me to make some cookies.

Anyway, I was searching for a simple cookie recipe to start me off. I found all sorts of recipes requiring a range of ingredients that I don't have in my cupboard. I found this recipe on YouTube actually. It struck me as an easy recipe with no unusual ingredients (apart from Blackstrap Molasses but I just left that out). Who can resist a chocolate chip cookie?

The recipe was simple and came together really easily. The cookie came out chewy in the middle and crispy at the edges which was lovely. I was quite generous with the chocolate chips and ended up sticking the stray ones from the bottom of the bowl into the formed cookies.

I think I'd use brown sugar next time to add a bit more of a depth of flavour (maybe that's where the blackstrap comes in?) and have altered the recipe to reflect that. As usual, I've turned the measurements metric.

Ingredients
110g Plain Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1⁄2 tsp Baking Soda
50g Soft Brown Sugar
Pinch of Salt
75ml Maple Syrup
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla
75ml Vegetable Oil
50g Dairy Free Chocolate Chips

Method
Preheat the oven to 175C and prepare a baking sheet.
Sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda into a bowl.
Add the sugar and salt and mix to combine.
In a seperate bowl or measuring jug, mix together the maple syrup, vanilla and oil.
Add the wet ingredients into the dry and mix well.
Add the chocolate pieces and stir until distributed evenly through the dough.
Shape the dough into walnut sized balls and place on a baking sheet. Space the cookies about an inch or so apart as they do spread. Flatten the balls slightly.
Bake in the oven for around 11 minutes. Be careful not to overbake as the cookies may dry out.
Allow to cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

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Peanut Butter Oat Bars

I love simple recipes. Things that you can knock up in a hurry when you get bitten by the baking bug but haven't got the time for a full blown spree. I felt like that last night. It was getting late and I really wanted to make something as I've been away from the kitchen for several days.

I found this recipe on the Alpro Soya website, most of their recipes aren't vegan but this one was and looked really simple. The recipe specifies cookies but I thought they would work well in bar form, a bit like a flapjack. The peanut butter lends a creamy texture to the finished bars and, as I used crunchy, it also adds a bit of a bite.

The finished bars were very sweet so I'd definitely reduce the sugar content in order to preserve some teeth! The texture was a bit like a cross between Scottish Tablet (that kind of chalky, crumbly fudge) and a flapjack. The oats lend a chewy bite while the caramel that is made with the other ingredients turns to a slightly grainy glue to hold it all together. I think you could easily add in all sorts of things to this recipe to change it slightly. Some raisins, dark chocolate chips, cranberries or even chopped nuts would be lovely.

As usual, this recipe is converted metric and this is how I made it but with reduced sugar.

Ingredients
125g Dairy Free Margarine
60ml Soya (or other dairy free) Milk
225g Sugar
120g Peanut Butter (I used crunchy)
1 tbsp Vanilla
300g Oats

Method
Line a 9x9" pan with parchment or foil.
In a saucepan, mix the margarine, milk and sugar and heat gently.
Bring to the boil, stirring and let cook for 1 minute
Add the peanut butter, vanilla and oats and mix well.
Spread the mixture into the pan (alternatively drop by spoonfuls onto parchment lined baking sheets) and leave to set overnight.
Cut into small servings (these are a little too big) and enjoy.

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Coconut Macaroons

Al loves all things coconut. It's just a flavour that he adores. I do too actually, I like the subtle sweetness of coconut and the creamy flavour and dense texture. I remember macaroons from when I was a kind. The crunchy outside and soft chewy centre. When we used to get them they were attached to rice paper - that weird edible but not really appetising paper stuff - and had a little drizzle of chocolate.

It's so simple to recreate a simple version of these (though of course you can cook them on rice paper if you wish and a drizzle of dark chocolate really isn't going to hurt them any. A simple combination of 4 ingredients means that these are easy to whip up for guests. They keep well and are great for lunchboxes.

These were the other gluten free and dairy free cookie I sent to Tam for the Cookie exchange and ... she liked them! Thanks goodness!

Ingredients
2 Egg Whites
150g Dessicated Coconut
150g Caster Sugar
1tsp Cornflour

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper (if not non stick)
In a clean, grease free bowl, whisk the egg white until stiff.
Fold in the sugar, coconut and cornflour.
Shape the mixture into around 12 balls and place onto the baking sheets
Bake for around 10 minutes, or until golden and transfer to a wire rack to cool.

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Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

There is a bit of a back story that comes with these cookies and how they ended up being added to my recipe file and why I've made two batches in less than a week. I randomly stumbled across a blog a few weekends ago. This blog was Steph Chows. If I'm grabbed by the writing style and photography of a blog (and the recipes of course) then I tend to read pages and pages of things over a few days until I find something else to hold my attention.

Steph grabbed me and I spent several days reading a few months worth of entries. I noticed this entry and was intrigued by it. I've seen craft based exchanges for fabric, handmade greeting cards and even underwear but I'd not seen a food based one before. I thought about how interesting it would be to see how other people work with ingredients and flavours. Some of the jams sounded amazing and I couldn't get it out of my head.

With a bit more reading, I found this entry about a cookie exchange. I read through to see the rules and get a general feel for the whole thing when I notice that a UK blogger is looking for a partner. Well, I could hardly pass up this opportunity could I? I was a bit late to the party (the post was made in December and the deadline for sign ups was waaay past) but I emailed Steph to see if I could join in and exchange...
A few days later I received confirmation that I had been teamed up with the UK blogger - Everyone, meet Tam! - and we were allowed a little extra time to get our cookies out. After exchanging contact and allergy information (Tam can't have dairy or gluten) I set about finding a recipe to fit the bill.

And here it is! These cookies are amazing and ones that I am sure to make again and a again. They are simple to make, require few ingredients and nothing too exotic (I wasn't ready to jump into the field of Xanthan Gum and strangely named flours - but if there's a cake exchange in the future? Why knows!). These would be delicious with a little chocolate thrown in and I might try making them with crunchy peanut butter for a different texture.

This recipe is from the Gluten Free Girl and I've reprinted it here.

Ingredients
1 cup Smooth Peanut Butter
1 cup Sugar (plus extra for rolling)
1tsp Gluten Free Baking Powder
1 Egg

Method
Cream the peanut butter and sugar in a bowl. Add the baking powder and the egg and mix until smooth.
Roll the dough (it will be quite soft) into balls about the size of a walnut and roll the balls into the extra sugar.
Place the balls, well spaced, onto a baking tray and flatten slightly.
Bake in a preheated 180C oven for 10-12 minutes.
Allow to cool on the tray for at least 5 minutes before attempting to remove to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Enjoy!

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Chocolate Espresso Snowcaps

Chocolate and coffee are flavours made for each other. Whether mixed together hot into a mocha or enjoyed as simply as a square of chocolate with a cup of hot coffee, the way the flavours complement each other makes for a combination that is hard to beat!

When I was browsing (as I do every year) through Martha's Christmas cookie list, I came across this recipe for Chocolate Espresso Snowcaps. The crackled top caught my eye and the stark contrast between snowy icing sugar and dark chocolate cookie makes for an attractive cookie. I'd never rolled unbaked cookies in icing sugar before so this was a new technique to me. The resulting treat is dark and chocolatey with the complex espresso flavour lingering behind. I made these as part of my Christmas baking but they are suitable as a year round treat.

I've reprinted the recipe with metric conversions.

Ingredients
60g plain flour
35g cocoa powder
4 tsp espresso powder
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
4 tbsp unsalted butter
135g soft light brown sugar
1 large egg
115g dark chocolate (melted and cooled slightly)
1 tbsp milk
Icing sugar, for coating

Method
In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, espresso, baking powder, and salt.
With an electric mixer, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
Beat in egg until well combined then mix in cooled chocolate.
With mixer on low, gradually add flour mixture; beat in milk until just combined. Flatten dough into a disk; wrap in plastic. Freeze until firm, about 45 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment.
Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Pour icing sugar (about 60g) into a medium bowl and, working in batches, roll balls in sugar two times, letting them sit in sugar between coatings.
Place on prepared baking sheets, 2 inches apart.
Bake until cookies have spread and coating is cracked, 12 to 14 minutes; cookies will still be soft to the touch. Cool cookies on a wire rack.

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Damson Linzer Biscuits

I really wanted to start this post with some fascinating information about Linzer biscuits... Unfortunately, I don't have any. I've done a bit of Googling and have found very little in the way of history or origin. I apologise.

I do not however feel sorry for making these beauties. They are delicious! The eye catching "window" on the top biscuit (somewhat reminiscent of a very popular mass produced treat) lends itself well to the holiday season as any small, festive cutter can be used to create it. The jam (or in this case jelly) shines through like a jewel and the crumbly, slightly spiced biscuit pairs with this beautifully.

The dough for this recipe can be made several days ahead and kept in the fridge or freezer. It is easy to make and work with if chilled before attempting to roll. Next time I might dust the top biscuits with icing sugar before sandwiching with the bottom but this is purely an aesthetic thing. I chose to use our homemade damson jelly to sandwich between the layers. Raspberry jam is more traditional but I wanted something smooth and dark. The damson flavour worked well as it was not too sweet.
I used this recipe from Joy of Baking and must say that it worked really well. I made some alterations and will add them in. This is largely the original recipe but I'll reproduce it with the metric measures for ease.

Ingredients
110g ground almonds
280g plain flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
227g butter at room temperature
135g granulated white sugar (divided)
1 tsp vanilla
2 large egg yolks
Zest of 1 lemon
Icing sugar (for dusting)
120g damson jelly (heated with the water until smooth and runny)
1-2 tbsp water

Method
Mix the ground almonds with 50g of the sugar and set aside.
In another bowl, sift together the flour, cinnamon and salt and set aside.
In the bowl of a mixer (you can use a hand mixer) bream the butter and the remaining sugar together until fluffy.
Add the vanilla, egg yolks and lemon zest and beat until combined. Add the ground nut mixture and beat again.
Add the flur mixture and beat until just combined. Divide the dough into two and wrap with cling film. Chill in the fridge until firm.
Preheat the oven to 180C and line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
Take one of the pieces of dough from the fridge and roll on a floured surface until just under 1cm thick (the original recipe says 1cm but I think that's too thick personally).
Using a round, fluted cutter, cut an even number of disks from the dough rerolling as necessary. Using a smaller cutter (I used a star) cut holes in the centre of half the disks.
Transfer the rounds to the baking sheet spaced about an inch apart and bake for 12-14 minutes or until very lightly golden brown.
Allow the cookies to cool on a wire rack completely before sandwiching a plain and a holed biscuit with the warm jelly.
Dust with icing sugar (I would consider doing this with the holed side before sandwiching together).

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Marshmallow Toasties

I was at my brother's house last weekend and spied (from across the room) a book called "The Cookie and Biscuit Bible." I just had to go and have a look through it. Within moments I'd asked if I could borrow it and sure enough it is now in my possession.

I had a look through and decided that practically everything looked delicious. With colour photographs of each recipe and easy, clear instructions too I found this to be an excellent quality recipe book. Not only are there recipes for biscuits and cookies there are also muffin, brownie, bar and cracker recipes too. It really covers all the bases!

I was looking through the pages and came across an interesting recipe where a fairly plain biscuit base is baked and then topped with strawberry jam and marshmallows. The marshmallows are then toasted under the grill until the melt and brown. Yum. I love toasted marshmallows. I was the one at camp that used to set theirs on fire to make sure they were really toasted and melty on the inside before extinguishing and eating. I had to make this recipe for its sheer novelty value.

It was quite simple. The mixture includes ground almonds which make the base have a delicious texture and a hint of nuttiness. I subbed the lemon zest for lime as it's all we had in but it gave a delightful citrus note that cut through the sweetness of the marshmallows. I should have used the required 9x9 pan but we don't have one. Using a 9x9 would mean that the base would be more biscuity and less cakey. I think this would be much nicer even though the cakey one was quite good. You need the texture contrast between crispy biscuit and soft chewy marshmallow.


Ingredients
130g butter
75g caster sugar
Zest of a lemon or lime
2tsp vanilla
75g ground almonds
1 egg
115g self raising flour
150g strawberry jam
200g marshmallows

Method
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the citrus zest, vanilla, almonds and egg and mix well.
Place the mixture in a lined 9x9 pan and bake in a preheated 180C oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the tin and then spread with strawberry jam.
Cut the marshmallows in half horizontally and place on top of the jam.
Brown the marshmallow top under a moderate grill for 2-3 minutes. Gently press the marshmallows down to form an even layer and then grill for another minute.
Allow to cool before slicing.

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Cowboy Cookies

Bakerella. Oh Bakerella you tease me with such delicious looking, beautifully crafted treats. I really wish I had the time to make cute little sheep shaped cake pops but I just don't. I wish I could take the time out to create tiny little hamburgers from brownies and cupcakes but at the moment I'm pretty pushed. I do however have the time to chuck everything into a bowl and mix it up to make some simple and delicious cowboy cookies.

I'd never heard of them before. They're simple enough with a good mix of chocolate, oats and brown sugar. This particular recipe included M&Ms, chocolate chips and pecans (which I chose to leave out) and were the perfect mixture of chewy and crunchy and were delicious straight out of the oven. I'm amazed that when I open the biscuit tin there are still a few left! They were a real hit. The only problem I had was that my M&Ms didn't maintain their shape at all.

I was actually trying these out as a test run for making the layered mix for christmas gifts. They are definitely worth making and so simple to make. I'll pretty these up in jars just like in the original post and send them out in the holidays.

Ingredients
150g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
90g cooking oats
100g(ish) M&Ms
150g semi-sweet chocolate chips
50g brown sugar, packed
100g white sugar
A handful chopped pecans (optional)
1 egg
115g softened butter
1tsp vanilla

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add the wet ingredients and stir until totally combined.
Roll the dough into even balls and place, well spaced, onto baking sheets.
Bake in a preheated 180C oven for 10-12 minutes.
Leave to cool for 2 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

I told you they were easy.

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Lemon Sugar Cookies.

I actually didn't get any pictures of these as they were kind of last minute. I was looking for a recipe for easter biscuits and this Lemon roll out Sugar Cookie recipe from Basically Baked struck me as kind-of perfect. I thought the lemon flavour would be perfect for Spring and they were sturdy enough to cut into shapes (I chose chicks).

They were actually very good. They were crisp and crumbly and the lemon was just prominent enough to enhance the flavour of the basic dough. I would definitely make these again (and take pictures next time!).

I teamed these with tradition easter nests made from Rice Krispies and dark chocolate and decortated with Cadbury Mini Eggs. I also bought a few Lindt chocolate bunnies and Cadbury Cream Eggs to create small easter gifts for my family. They all went down really well.

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Christmas Cookie Recipes

I was busy in the kitchen before Christmas so that I could pack and post boxes of treats for friends and family. I had a couple of disasters (that I blame on being on the verge of illness and NOT just being a bit rubbish) but generally things turned out really well.

I don't have any pictures of anything as I was busy making sure everything got posted out in time but I do have a few recipes for you. Everything got very good reviews from recipients.

I got the recipe for these Cranberry cookies here and they are amazing. I successfully froze the dough and defrosted it before cooking. They were absolutely delicious (a girl has to test her new recipes, right?), tasted very chocolatey and the little hint of spice really rounded them out well. I recommend these as an easy but delicious holiday treat.

I was trying to make Gingerbread men and found a recipe on Joy of Baking this recipe for gingerbread cookies but it just didn't work out for me. The dough was very soft and sticky despite adding extra flour...lots of extra flour. In the end I resorted to rolling these into balls, flattening slightly and baking for around 15 minutes in a moderate oven. They ended up being slightly cakey but still very good. The yummy treacle and ginger flavours make it taste very christmassy.

This recipe for Chocolate Chip Bars was from Cookie Madness but I made a few alterations. I used milk, white and dark chocolate chips, added some dessicated coconut and cooked it in a smaller pan so that they were more cake-like. They were really good and even my other half ate them and he's not a big cake eater. They're pretty easy to customise and add any of your favourite ingredients into the mix. They got good reviews from all who tasted them!

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