Beren (beren_writes) wrote,
Beren
beren_writes

Cookies :)

Greek Honey Crunch Creams
This is from a book called The Cookie Book by Catherine Atkinson - very good book, I recommend it.
This makes 20
For the cookies:
250g/9oz\2.5 cups self raising flour
10ml/2tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
50g/2oz/0.25 cup caster sugar (super fine)
115g/4oz/0.5 cup unsalted butter, diced
finely grated rind of 1 large orange (the zest not the white bit)
115g/4oz/0.5 cup Greek Honey
25g/1oz/0.25 cup pine nuts or walnuts, chopped
For the filling:
50g/2oz/0.25 cups unsalted butter at room temp
115g/4oz/0.5 cup icing sugar (confectioners)
15ml/1 tsp Greek Honey
Equipment
Large mixing bowl
wooden spoon
small saucepan
somewhere between 1 and 4 baking sheets (I just used one large one and did two batches, but if you're going to do all the cookies at the same time you'll need more)
Fine grater
rubber spatula (for scraping things - invaluable for all cookies)
sharp knife for chopping nuts
wire cooling racks
cooks palette knife or other flat implement (fish slice\slotted burger flipper will work well)
smaller bowl
electric whisk (you can use a spoon, but it will take you ages)
sieve

  • Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6
  • Line the baking sheet(s) with baking parchment
  • Sift the flour and bicarb into a large bowl, add the butter and rub the butter into the flour until the mixture has a crumb effect. (Rub the butter in the flour between your fingers, lifting it high and letting it drop back into the bowl using a light touch - it will take a while to break all the butter into flour and cause it to crumb).
  • Mix in the orange rind
  • Put the honey in a small sauce pan and heat gently until runny, not hot.
  • Mix the honey with the dry mixture (start with a spoon and then go in with your hands)
  • Divide the dough into two halves (will be tops and bottoms)
  • Divide the first half of the dough into approx 20 little balls (they will be about the size of a large hazelnut in its shell). Put them on the baking sheet and gently flatten them. They will spread so make sure they are not too close together (I got all 20 on the same large baking sheet - the sheet was wide enough to fill my oven).
  • At this point I baked this batch - the recipe says 6-8 mins and my oven was about 7. They should be golden brown. Best to check at 6 mins and then go in 30 sec increments. Then leave them to cool for a while on the baking sheet and then carefully remove them to a wire cooling rack using a cooking palette knife.
  • Divide the second half of the dough into 20 more little balls
  • Spread the chopped nuts onto a flat surface and press the balls into them.
  • Turn them nut side up and put them on another baking sheet (or the same one again once it has been cooled someway) and try and make sure they are all a similar size to the first batch.
  • Bake for 6-8 mins and then allow to cool for a while on the baking sheet before lifting them onto a wire rack to cool completely
  • I left them about half an hour before I started the filling
  • For the filling put all the ingredients in a bowl and blend using an electric whisk (you can do it by hand, but it will take you a while) cream them all together until a very pale colour.
  • Take the cooled cookies and sandwich them together with some filling one plain half and one nut half.


Crunchy Jumbles (I think Crunchy Jumbies would be a better name ;))
Knew I'd got the name wrong - the Tollhouse (even got that wrong) cookies were a recipe I almost made :) These come from a book called Cookies by Hilaire Walden.
This makes 36
For the cookies:
115g/4oz/0.5 cup salted butter or marg at room temp
225g/8oz/1 cup sugar (I used caster/superfine, but the recipe doesn't specify)
1 egg
5ml/1 tsp vanilla extract
155g/6oz/1.24 cups plain flour
2.5ml/0.5 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
pinch of salt
115g/4oz/2 cups crisped rice cereal - I went with the 2 cups here, because weighing it, it came out as 4 cups)
1 cup chocolate chips (I chopped up two thirds of a milk chocolate bar and a dark chocolate bar and mixed them)
Equipment
Large bowl
electric whisk
sieve
metal spoon
baking sheets
wire rack
You can add 0.5 cup of walnuts as well if you like nutty cookies, but I don't so I didn't
  • Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4
  • Line one or two baking trays with baking parchment
  • Using an electric mixer cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy
  • Beat in the egg and vanilla
  • Sift over the flour, bicard and salt and fold in
  • Add the rice crispies and the chocolate chips and mix in
  • Put spoonfuls on the baking parchment about 2.5-5cm apart
  • Bake for 10-13 mins (my over was 11 :)) until lightly golden
  • Allow to cool for a little while on the baking tray and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely


Old-fashioned Ginger Cookies
Makes 60
For the cookies:
300g/11oz/2.5 cups plain flour
5ml/1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
7.5ml/1.5 tsp ground ginger
1.5ml/0.25 tsp ground cinnamon
1.5ml/0.25 tsp ground cloves
115/4oz/0.5 cup butter or marg
350g/12oz/1.5 cups caster sugar
1 egg, beaten
60ml/4tsp black treacle
5ml/1 tsp fresh lemon juice
Equipment
Baking sheets
baking parchment
sieve
electic whisk
small bowl
large bowl
wooden spoon
  • Preheat the oven to 160c/325F/Gas 3
  • Line the baking sheets with baking parchment
  • Sift the flour, bicard and spices into a small bowl and set aside
  • Cream together the butter with 2 thirds of the sugar in a large bowl using an electric whisk
  • Stir in the egg, treacle and lemon juice (if you heat the treacle tin gently before measuring it out it will pour better)
  • Add the flour mixture to the wet and mix with a wooden spoon
  • Shape the dough into small balls approx 2cm in size
  • Rolls the balls in the rest of the sugar and place on the baking sheet approx 5cm apart
  • Bake for about 12 mins, allow to cool on the baking sheet and then remove to a wire rack to cool properly. They will bend if not on a flat surface :)
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