The Cookbook Challenge Week 24 Chocolate & Week 30 Baked - Green & Black's Cookies Exclusive - 2 - $ - V

Here I go again combining themes in the Cookbook Challenge, but I think you'll be glad that I did!

This recipe comes from a cookbook that's not even in the shops yet! Drum roll please...
Thanks to the lovely and generous peeps at Green & Black's Organic I got a sneak peek at some chocolate recipes, so I thought it fitting that I bake some cookies.

These little babies are super easy, fairly quick and delicious. (And very naughty but you can at least console yourself with the fact that there is something organic in there somewhere.)

The recipe says it makes 16 cookies, but boy are they big cookies! Next time I think I will bake the dough in two batches and make them half the size - then there's twice as many (tricksy no?).
Also once the dough comes out of the fridge work quickly, especially if it's a warm day, as it gets very sticky and hard to work with in a short space of time.


Ingredients

125g unsalted butter
100g caster sugar
50g muscovado sugar
1 medium free-range egg
few drops of vanilla extract
140g Plain Flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
75g rolled oats
150 - 200g Green & Black's Organic Chocolate (depending on your favourite flavour and level of addiction, try Green & Black’s Organic Butterscotch for a nice treat), chopped into chunks

Preheat oven to 180C degrees (160C for fan forced). Line a tray with baking paper.
Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl until it's nice and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and beat.
Add the flour, baking powder, salt and oats and then mix in the chocolate to form a dough. Put in the fridge for about 10 minutes for the dough to firm up.
Take plum-size balls of dough, roll them in your hands and then place on the tray with enough space in between for them to spread. Press the balls down with your hand to flatten slightly and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven, leave them for 5 minutes to firm up and then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Enjoy!

ANZAC Biscuits - 1 - $ - V

Antipodean readers will of course know all about these biscuits and the significance of the 25th April.
For those of you who don't, you can read about our national day of remembrance over here.

Below is a beautiful image by Nathan Kaso that truly sums up the spirit of ANZAC for me.

Originally uploaded by Nathan Kaso via Flickr

Hopefully even if you don't have an impending long weekend like us Aussies and Kiwis, you will find some time to bake these biscuits. I have trialled four recipes to make sure you get the best one! This particular recipe comes from the lovely Sara and as she puts it, in a truly Australian way 'they are bloody foolproof'. Thanks lady!

Most Aussies have an opinion on the humble ANZAC biccie - to turn or not to turn during baking? To make large or small ones? Whether they are best served soft or hard? So the following instructions are only a guide and you will probably change the method slightly every time you bake them, depending on what floats your boat.

Ingredients - make approximately 30

2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup caster sugar
3/4 cup flour
2 tbsp golden syrup
1 tsp bicarb soda
2 tbsp boiling water
125gm butter

Preheat oven to 160C degrees.
Mix oats, sugar and flour in a bowl.
Melt butter and golden syrup together in saucepan.
Put boiling water in a cup and add the bicarb to dissolve it. Pour it straight into melted butter/syrup. It will froth up as if you've turned into the Nutty Professor, but don't worry, just pour it all onto the oat mixture and combine well.

Drop teaspoonfuls of mix onto a tray lined with baking paper. Leave enough room for the ANZACS to spread.

Bake for 16-18 minutes, turning over halfway through to get an even golden colour. You can experiment with the timing to work out how chewy you want them to be (8 minutes each side will make very soft chewy ones).
Cool on a wire rack, pop the kettle on and get stuck in.

Enjoy! And Lest We Forget x

Op Shop Finds & Reader Recipe: 10 Minute Cookies - 2 - $ - V

Put your hand up if you love op shops! I certainly do and over at Sophie's there's a whole bunch of people that do too.

It is perfect timing that I found Sophie's blog today because I wanted to show you the amazing jars I picked up at the op shop for $4. For both! An absolute bargain wouldn't you say?

My plan is to make the smaller one a cookie jar, which is also perfect timing because this week I will be bringing you an ANZAC biscuit recipe and Lady Maria over at Sleekit has been kind enough to send the following 10 minute cookie recipe. Maria these biccies in the River Cottage Every Day book and says they are the perfect way to get rid of your leftover Easter eggs.


All this sharing and blogging and recycling makes you feel all warm and fuzzy doesn't it? Hooray!

Now go and preheat your oven and get baking - thanks Maria for the pic too!

Ingredients (makes 14-16 cookies)

125g unsalted butter
100g caster sugar
75g soft light brown sugar
1 medium size egg, lightly beaten
2 tsp vanilla extract
150gm plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
a pinch of sea salt
100gm chocolate milk or dark chopped into smallish chunks (left over Easter eggs, perfect!)

Preheat oven to 190C degrees.
Gently melt the butter in a small saucepan. Put both sugars into a mixing bowl, pour in the melted butter and beat well with a wooden spoon. Beat in the egg and vanilla.
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into the bowl and stir to combine, then add the chocolate. You should have a pretty sloppy sort of mixture.

Dot heaped dessertspoonfuls of the mixture onto 2 baking trays lined with baking paper, leaving a good 4cm in between each one as they really spread out. Place in the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes until the cookies are a pale golden brown.

Remove from the oven and leave on the baking trays for a couple of minutes to firm up. Then carefully lift the baking paper onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely. Inevitably they will be eaten as soon as they are cool enough not to burn fingers.

Enjoy!

Shortbread - 2 - $ - V

It's Christmas Eve! Did you just remember that you didn't get a present for your Auntie Judy? Never fear, there's a quick way to sort that - shortbread! Nothing says 'I went to trouble' like homemade baked goods.


These won't take long, you've probably got everything you need in the kitchen and there's at least 5 hours left before Santa is going to shimmy down the chimney.
Pour some Christmas cheer and get baking. Happy holidays everyone!


Ingredients

2 1/4 cups plain flour
1tbsp cornflour
250gm butter (don't worry, it's only once a year)
1/2tsp vanilla essence
1/3 cup caster sugar (see butter instructions, above)



Preheat oven to 150C degrees and line trays with baking paper.
Sift both the flours into a large mixing bowl.
Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla in a medium sized bowl and then add to the flour in the big bowl. Stir well with a metal spoon to combine. Don't worry if it isn't sticking together, keep stirring and then use your hands to knead it into a dough.
Roll out the dough between two sheets of baking paper. This is crucial as it's quite sticky. Cut out the shapes you desire (or just cut out rectangles if you don't have cookie cutters) and then place on the trays. I find the best way to get them on the trays in one piece is to use an egg flip.


You can spear the shortbreads with a fork to make patterns and sprinkle with some extra caster sugar to pretty them up if you like.
Bake for 15-20 minutes. They should NOT brown, but should be firm to the touch.
Cool on a wire rack and then serve or bag them up in cellophane and give away as pressies.

Enjoy!

Reader Recipe - RB's Choc Chip Cookies - 1 - $

Hooray! The first entry for the Reader Recipe Competition has been received! Thanks RB for this recipe and the very special photo you have supplied. So far, you are the winner of the Mexican shopping bag...


RB writes -

These are my all time favourite chocolate cookies that I have been making since high school, when a friend gave me her auntie's recipe. The choc chips work equally well if they are white, milk or dark chocolate; M&Ms; Smarties; or little easter eggs.

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups plain flour

1/2 cup cocoa

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup butter

2/3 cup castor sugar

2 egg whites

3 tsp vanilla essence

choc chips

Preheat oven to 190C degrees and line two large trays with baking paper.
In medium size bowl sift flour, cocoa, and baking powder.

In a second, larger, mixing bowl beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg whites and vanilla. Gradually add the flour mixture until well combined and smooth. Carefully fold in choc chips.

Drop the mixture in round dessert spoonfuls, 5cm apart, onto the baking trays. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until cookies are set and slightly springy to the touch.

Transfer cookies to a wire rack and allow to cool completely before storing in airtight containers.

Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Cookies - 2 - $

These cookies are my second favourite thing to do with peanut butter. The first is to put a big dollop inside a kong and watch my pug try and lick it all out for hours.

This recipe will make about 15 giant cookies (pictured) or 30 little ones, or I suppose 22.5 medium sized.



Ingredients

110gms smooth peanut butter
110gms margarine
85gms brown sugar
110gms white sugar
170gms plain flour
1tsp bi-carb soda
3/4tsp baking powder
1 egg

Preheat over to 190C degrees and grease a large baking tray.

With an electric beater cream the peanut butter, marg and both sugars. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well.
Roll into balls, you may want to do this on a floured surface if the mix is quite wet, and then place onto the baking tray. Use a fork to flatten the balls out into little discs and give them a fancy pattern.
Bake for 20-30 minutes (depending on your oven).
Pop the kettle on and...

Enjoy!