Back to the house. Jen had work to do, so I decided to make cookies to occupy Jed. I found a recipe that looked pretty good, but i decided to change it up a bit.
Hazelnut Chocolate Chunk Cookies
200g / 7 oz unsalted butter, at room temperature
85g / 3oz light muscovado sugar - a sticky brown sugar.
85g / 3oz golden caster sugar - caster or castor sugar is sold as "superfine" in the US.
225g / 8oz self-raising flour - if you've only got all-purpose, you can add 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp baking soda per pound of flour. Stir well with a fork or sift through a fine sieve.
100g / 4oz sweetened chocolate, roughly chopped. I used 50 grams each white and dark chocolate
50g / 2oz hazelnuts, also roughly chopped.
Heat oven to 190C/375 F
Beat butter, sugars, and egg until smooth.
In a separate bowl, mix flour, chocolate, and nuts. When chocolate and hazelnuts are well floured, add the dry to the wet. Mix briefly. Spoon mixture onto baking sheets.
I did about six dollops, slightly smaller than a ping-pong ball, per sheet. The cookies spread out pretty quick, so making sure they are well-spaced prevents cookie merge. I did 15 mins on the first batch, and between 10-12 minutes on the second and third, watching them pretty closely. The first batch came out fairly crisp. The shorter bake time meant crisp edges and still-gooey centers on the second two.
Caster Sugar - a finer grind of table sugar. Dissolves well.
Muscovado sugar - aka Barbados sugar. Apparently also used in making whiskey.
I love the Waitrose packaging.
...and the chocolate
There was rigorous testing by our vigilant
Quality Control division throughout the process.
My new favorite tea.
Comparing first and second batches.
Left: 15 mins
Right: 12 mins
Batch 3: 10 minutes.
These smelled fantastic, and suffered grievous losses throughout the process; between quality assurance and small, grabby hands, only about half of the cookies made it into the container. The original recipe said it makes about 20, but i think we could have gotten 30 out of that batch easily.
Next time I think I'll add slightly more flour - a tablespoon or two - and moisten the dough with a little water, in an effort to get a thicker, chewier cookie. I think that would balance out the crispiness of the edges. However, I did seal up the survivors in a container, so we'll see if they end up being a bit chewier by dinner time.
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