Spring Double Bill

It's a double-post of baking goodness! I've been setting up for people over later and I love using my friends as guinea pigs for my kitchen/lab experiments.

The two following recipes aren't just my normal alterations of substituting flours or adding nuts. The two below have turned into two different recipes from what inspired me.

The first was a reason to use up a box of chocolates that M's aunt gave us. The chocolates were nice but we just don't eat enough chocolate to keep it around. So I took a whole grain chocolate chip recipe and amended it to fit the Mint Crisps I wanted to use. Turned into lovely after-dinner type cookies. If you wish to use the recipe without mint chocolate, just take out the peppermint extract and use regular chocolate.

With the grated chocolate, try to find something complimentary to the chopped chocolate you're using. If you're using dark, grate some dark. If you're using milk or white, use milk.

One of my work guinea pigs, R, suggested using chocolate orange segments with orange extract or orange zest instead of the peppermint extract. Really want to try those now!

Whole Wheat Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

115g softened butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granualted sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp peppermint extract

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 1/4 cup oats

1 cup chopped chocolate (dark, light or flavoured is your fancy)

2oz grated chocolate

Process the oats in a blender or food processor until fine, like oat flour. If you aren't able to do this, substitute 1 cup of oats for any type of flour and use 1/4 cup oats whole.

Whisk flours, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and oats together. Set aside. Cream butter with both sugars for 3 minutes, until fluffy. Beat in egg and extracts. Stir in grated chocolate.

Gradually beat in dry mix to sugar mix. Toward the end, you'll need to switch to a wooden spoon. Fold in chopped chocolate.

Place 2in spoonfulls 2in apart on baking sheet. Bake at 375/gas 5 for 12 minutes or until the bottoms are slightly golden. Let cool 2 minutes on baking sheet. Transfer to wire rack to cool completly.

The second recipe was something I found on the Vegetarian Times website. They often have some interesting recipes using very different ingredients, which always piques my interest (if you can't tell by now!) And who doesn't love cheese? So I turned these into cornbread style scones because I had a craving for cornbread and some cornmeal in the cupboard. I sprinkled tabasco sauce on the tops before putting them in the oven. This is optional (I love spicy) but I couldn't taste it enough to warrent being in the recipe. M says he can so maybe I've just spicy-ed off my tastebuds from years of putting tabasco sauce in my morning eggs.

Cheddar Sweetcorn Scones

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup plain flour

1 cup cornmeal

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2oz chilled butter

2oz grated mature cheese

1/2 cup corn kernals

1/2 cup buttermilk (see note)

1 egg

Preheat oven to 400F/gas 6

Whisk baking soda, flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt. Stir in cheese. Transfer to a food processer and blend in butter until the mix looks like breadcrumbs. Alternatively you can rub the butter into flour by hand.

Stir in buttermilk and egg until a dough forms. fold in corn. Pour onto floured surface and pat into rectangle 1/2in thick. Cut out into rounds like scones.

Brush tops with milk or egg wash. Bake 12-15 minutes or until lightly golden.

Add juice of 1/2 lemon to the milk and let sit 5 minutes to get buttermilk. Or you can use plain yogurt.

Almond Butter Cookies

I'm not sure why I ever think trying to detox is a good idea but every once in a while I think, why not? let's give it a go and see how it feels. No matter what though, every time I end up feeling horrible and have to quit early.

This last time I thought it would be a good idea I ended up making my own almond butter, which is generally allowed during a light detox. After I quit and was allowed actual food again, I thought it would be a good idea to make cookies out of the remaining almond butter.

I took a regular peanut butter cookie recipe and just substituted the almond butter for peanut butter. Simple really. I left the almonds to roast in the oven a but too long originally so the cookies were quite smoky. Other than that, they were amazing. Chewy and nutty and buttery.

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

1 cup almond butter

1 cup maple syrup

1/3 cup olive oil

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350F/gas 5

Combine flour, baking soda and salt. Mix together almond butter, maple syrup, olive oil and vanilla.

Mix dry and wet together. Don't overmix, leave the batter a little dusty. Let sit 5 minutes. Stir together once more.

Drop by teaspoonfulls onto baking sheet. Press down slightly with the back of a floured fork (don't press too hard, it will be sticky). Bake 10 minutes or until golden. Make sure you don't overbake, they will be really dry if you do.

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Reese's Cookies

The biggest thing I love about Aldi, whether in the UK or the US, is the middle section. The random assortment of one-time-only goods that make you wonder if they fell off the back of a truck. Sometimes the merchandise is relevant, sometimes not.

In yesterday's case, I believe the management team were attempting an American promotional sale, loosely linked to 4th of July, which no one celebrates here anyway. 

The amount of pure cheap American tack wafting off the products was enough to make me feel a little ill. Maple syrup, hot dogs in a jar, marshmallows, fried onions and toffee popcorn. Oh, and strawberry creme toffee popcorn. That's not even a thing! Let alone something to epitomize what Americans eat. 

And all decorated in blue with red and white strips, emphasized with white stars. No brand names. I wouldn't even want to know where they were manufactured. 

In spite of my, what I'm sure seems like a pompous and snobby anti-American rant, they were selling Hershey's. Cookies and Creme bars, milk chocolate bars....and....Reese's! Both the peanut-butter cups and the pieces. 

I snagged a few bags of the Reese's Pieces when inspiration struck. Cookies! What better way to a

ttempt a show of appreciation for selling my 'favourite' American foods then by making the cookie, something distinctly not British, but I'm unsure of it's exact origin. Possibly America?

Anyway...

Straight forward recipe. Add nuts if you want. Add peanut-butter or chocolate chips if you want. 

115g butter room temperature.

50g caster sugar

110g dark brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

170g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp salt

170g Reese's Pieces

350F/180C/gas 4

Cream butter and both sugars together until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, then vanilla. 

Sift in flour, baking soda, and salt. Add Reese's Pieces and mix well. 

Bake by teaspoonfuls on baking sheets 10-15 minutes. Cool on wire rack. 

Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Today involved a failed trip to Hitchin. There's a cute little kitchen shop I love and I wanted to get a nice oven thermometer for better bread baking but, and please allow me this little rant, nothing was open! Listen England, it's not the 1600's and Sunday Trading Laws are a little behind the times. But even Sunday Trading Laws I can get behind, for the sake of the shop staff, but towns placing higher restrictions then what's required by law is a little ridiculous. Like Hitchin. So no oven thermometer which means I have to postpone trying a loaf of honey wheat bread.

The one thing that was open was Waitrose, which we don't get a chance to go to often. So I bought a nice (read: expensive) bar of chocolate to make Chocolate Chunk Cookies.

You can use any standard chocolate chip cookie recipe for these, just replace the chips with chunks of chocolate of varying sizes from the bar. These are great for chocolate lovers; when the cookies cool, the melted chunks will solidify. Husband was very happy with them, they're almost gone now!

And I get to indulge in a little nostalgic milk and cookies right before bedtime. Lovely sunday.