Something about the oven was calling me. Time to do some baking. I could feel the uncanny pull from a ghostly aparition of creamed butter and sugar. I tried to control it. I did. But it was just too strong. Just. Too. Strong. This time I gave into the urge. It was 3 o'clock in the afternoon and time for tea.
The problem with baking is that I just can't bung things in a bowl, stick in a slug of balsamic vinegar and serve it with a cheese sauce to cover any irregularities. I need a recipe. Then, annoyingly, I need to have the majority of the contents of the recipe to enact it. And then, lovingly annoyingly, the result needs to be something that both The Loved One and I will fall on with gusto and consume. That generally rules out: lemony things, orangy things, things that are too chocolatey (unless it's the right kind of chocolately), desicated coconutty things (that's me, that one), bland things (me again), glaced fruit things ... I could continue.
Let's take the lie of the land and then make an assault on the recipe mountain. I've got flour, butter, sugar, eggs - a good start. Currants and random dried fruit. Lemons & limes. Ah, some ancient chocolate chips which I think were once part of a rather posh couverture experiment by TLO.
Recipe then. To the old faithfuls first - Katie Stewart, nothing awesome; Delia Smith, nice things but with no bearing on the contents of the store cupboard; Nigella Lawson, fancied the lemon ginger slice; The Book of Afternoon Tea by Lesley Mackley, double chocolate chip cookies sound good. I have cocoa and bicarb. The stars are definately in alignment for this.
Slightly odd measurements
- 115g butter
- 55g granulated sugar
- 55g soft brown sugar
- 1 beaten egg
- drops vanilla essence
- 130g plain flour
- 15g cocoa
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 150g chocolate chips
To kick off with, I don't have gran or much soft brown sugar to beat into the butter so swap it for some brown caster sugar with the fag end of the soft brown from the tub.
Once beaten to a nice pale creamy brown paste, it's time to gently stir in the egg and vanilla. I tend to put a tablespoon of flour in at the same time. Something to do with stopping it curdling, possibly. Having mixed it together a little bit, sieve/sift (which one, I wonder) the dry stuff into the mix.
Mix together, then add in the chocolate chip cookies.
I couldn't be bothered to measure them so I just put a smallish handful of a mix of dark and white chips.
Finally, having put greaseproof paper onto two baking sheets (I use a bit of spray oil to hold the sheets down) I put big teaspoon-sized drops onto the sheets. About six to one sheet seemed to fit and it looked like these little suckers would spread.
Into a 180c oven for about 12 minutes - according to the recipe. I left them for 15 by accident and it was just that bit too long. They went a weensy bit blackish round some of the edges.
Left them to cool for a short while (I lie, I actually had to eat one when it had come out of the oven and it was excrutiatingly hot but I had to do it because of the voices ..). Later, when they'd cooled to a heat less than the surface of the sun we consumed some with a nice glass of cold milk..
The cookies are friable - lovely if slightly sinister word, that - and sweet and, oddly, not enormously chocolately. Good recipe this one. Must try to remember it for next time I get a baking urge.
I am completely loving that action kitchenaid shot. The blurring of the beater! Awesome.
Posted by: pommiefoodie | Wednesday, 03 February 2010 at 02:57 PM