Stem Ginger Cookies

Cookies are my favourite thing right now. Working shifts full time means that I often don’t have the time or the energy to make something technically challenging or long and laborious. Instead, I can knock up a cookie dough in 15 minutes and have them all baked and ready to eat within the hour. Find a good cookie dough recipe to have to hand whenever you’ve had a bad day – it’s the best remedy and this cookie recipe will never fail you. Rich, spicy and gorgeously chewy, they’re lovely to eat still warm from the oven but do actually taste better cold.

This recipe is adapted from The Great British Book of Baking and makes around 24 cookies.

Ingredients

350g self raising flour

1 tablespoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

100g caster sugar

100g light brown sugar

115g unsalted butter

85g  golden syrup

1 medium egg, beaten

35g (2 pieces) stem ginger, drained and finely chopped

Method

Preheat your oven to 170ºC (Gas Mark 3) and grease three baking sheets with butter.

In a bowl, sift flour, bicarbonate of soda, ground ginger and two types of sugar together.

Melt the butter and golden syrup in a small non-stick pan over a gentle heat. Allow to cool before proceeding so as to avoid cooking the egg before the mixture goes in to bake.

Pour the butter mixture, chopped stem ginger and beaten egg in with the dry ingredients and mix until combined to form a dough.

Roll the mixture into walnut sized balls and place onto your prepared trays. They will spread so aim to leave 4-5cm between each ball.

Bake until golden brown on top – this will take between 10 and 15 minutes. Leave to cool and firm up slightly on the trays, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Rocky Road Cookies

 

This, my first gluten-free recipe, are beautifully ooey and gooey and downright delicious. In fact, they’re so gooey that I actually couldn’t get them off the greaseproof paper that I had baked them on, as you may be able to tell from the photos; I had to cut around them and then scrape them off into a bowl to eat! Nevertheless, they tasted absolutely perfect, with the right combination of crunch and chew that rocky road should have.

The marshmallows on top are my favourite part – they soften and caramelise on top like they would if you toasted them over an open fire. Putting a few on top of each cookie before they go in to bake rather than mixing them in means that they don’t disappear into the batter.

Ingredients

• 365g icing sugar
• 30g cocoa powder
• 65g almonds
• ¼ tsp salt
• 4 egg whites
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 220g chocolate chips (milk or dark depending on your preference)
• 65g toasted flaked almonds
• 60g mini marshmallows or marshmallows cut to size

Recipe

Preheat the oven to 180ºC and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, sift together the icing sugar, cocoa powder and salt.  Lightly beat the egg whites, add the vanilla and whisk until combined.  Stir in the chocolate chips and almonds.

Spoon out small mounds of the mixture on to the parchment paper, then top each cookie with 4-5 marshmallows.  Putting them in the freezer for a few minutes at this stage will help them to not spread too much in the oven – this mixture is very runny so don’t expect perfectly round cookies!

Bake for 12-13 minutes until the marshmallows are golden brown.  Let the cookies sit on the paper for a few minutes to set, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Salted Browned Butter Cookies

This week, I’ve been a bit tight for time so I wanted a recipe that was quick yet different. I hadn’t actually tried anything with browned butter before so I was quite excited to try it – it’s very easy to do and so effective! It gives the cookies a really distinctive deep flavour and these are definitely going on my list of favourite easy bakes. The most time-consuming aspect of this recipe is leaving the butter and then the dough to cool. I was a bit apprehensive about putting salt on these when I first saw these – I was scared of ruining them, but I think they give them that extra little lift and make them taste that much better.

This recipe is from the blog Bake or Break and gave me about 20 cookies.

Ingredients

• 210g unsalted butter
• 290g plain flour
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 160g light brown sugar
• 115g caster sugar
• 1 large egg
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• coarse salt

Method

Preheat oven to 170°C and line two baking sheets with greaseproof paper.

Heat the butter in a  saucepan over a medium heat, making sure to stir frequently so as to prevent the butter from burning.  The butter will melt and begin to foam; heat until you see brown specks forming underneath the foamy layer and you can smell a nutty aroma from the pan. Err on the side of caution the first time you try this – the butter can burn very quickly and you’ll end up with blackened butter cookies and a nightmare of a saucepan to scrape clean. Remove from the heat and leave to the side to cool.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together while you wait for the butter to cool.

Beat the two kinds of sugar into the butter until combined.  Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix well.  Add the flour mixture in three parts, mixing until all the ingredients are just incorporated.

Leave the dough to rest in the fridge or a cool place for 30 minutes.

Roll small pieces of dough into balls approximately 3-4cm wide and press gently on the tops to flatten slightly.  Sprinkle coarse salt on the top of each ball.  Again, err on the side of caution when you try this the first time – I used about six to eight grains on each cookie and this was perfect for me.

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the edges begin to brown and the middles are set.  Leave to cool for a few minutes before transferring onto wire racks to cool completely.

 

Oat and Raisin Cookies

 

 

Everything you want in a cookie – chewiness, softness and sharp bursts of sweetness – I guarantee this recipe will give to you. The consistency of the dough is always perfect when I make these delectable biscuits; it’s never too runny so as to bake unevenly nor is it stiff and difficult to work with. The oats give the cookies a lower GI so you won’t get a massive sugar rush, meaning that they are somewhat healthier than other non-oat-based treats. The amount of raisins is entirely up to you – the dough itself is not overly sweet so I make sure to add plenty to give it a lift. You can never overcompensate in the sugar department in my humble opinion.

Possible breakfast alternative? You bet.

I borrowed this recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook.

Makes about 12 cookies

Ingredients

• 270g unsalted butter, softened
• 160g caster sugar
• 160g soft dark brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• ¼ tsp vanilla extract
• 380g plain flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon (optional)
• 110g rolled oats
• 220g raisins

Recipe

Preheat the oven to 170°C and line two baking sheets with greaseproof paper.

Using a handheld electric whisk, cream the butter and two types of sugar together until lighter in colour and fluffy.

Add the eggs to the creamed mixture one at a time, mixing well and scraping down the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is incorporated. Beat in the vanilla on a lower speed setting.

Sift the flour, salt, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon together in a separate bowl. Stir in the oats. Add to the creamed mixture and beat until well mixed.

Stir in the raisins with a wooden spoon until evenly dispersed.

Arrange equal amounts of cookie dough on the prepared baking sheets. Make sure that you leave space between them as they will spread as they bake. Bake for about 12 minutes or until they start to go golden brown and slightly firm.

Leave to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before placing on a wire rack to cool completely.

But why would you do that when you could just eat them warm from the oven?

Cranberry and White Chocolate Cookies

As promised, here is another recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery book Cake Days. After many attempts at making cookies that invariably ended in a hot mess on a baking tray, I tried this recipe and had great success with it. The batter isn’t runny like many others I’ve tried and holds its shape while baking, leading to lovely and round cookies. To make them slightly softer and chewier, I used dark brown sugar in place of light brown. You can adjust the amount of cranberries and white chocolate chips that you use according to your personal taste – I didn’t want mine to be too sweet so used smaller quantities than recommended by the original recipe.

I got 8 large cookies from this recipe.

• 135g unsalted butter
• 80g caster sugar
• 80g soft dark brown sugar
• 1 egg
• ½ tsp vanilla essence
• 190g plain flour
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp ground cinnamon (I left this out)
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 60g dried cranberries
• 60g white chocolate

Recipe
Preheat the oven to 170°C and line two baking sheets with greaseproof paper.

Using a whisk, cream the butter and two types of sugar together until smooth and well-combined before breaking in the egg and adding the vanilla essence. Mix well.

Sift the flour, salt, cinnamon and bicarbonate of soda together, then add half of this to the butter and sugar mixture and mix by hand. Add the second half and continue mixing until a dough forms. Finally stir in the cranberries and white chocolate.

Break off pieces of the dough and roll into balls about 3-4cm. Place on the baking sheets, making sure to leave enough space between balls for them to spread out whilst in the oven. I’d recommend putting no more than six cookies on each baking sheet.

Bake for 15-20 minutes. As soon they turn light golden on top, remove from the oven and leave for a few minutes, then place on a cooling rack – they should solidify as they cool, which gives them a chewy texture.

Enjoy!