Chocolate chunk cookie recipe

I love cookies (or bikkies as they're called here in Australia). I really, really do. And I'm always trying new recipes in my search for the perfect cookie recipe. Well folks, I'm getting closer and I thought I'd share my not-quite-perfect-but-we're-getting-closer cookie recipe today. I also thought I'd post many photos of the process, rather than just a shot of the finished product. Also, I'm going to try to speak both North American and Aussie here so it makes sense to everyone. Here goes...

What you'll need

- 21/4 cups all purpose flour

- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

- 1 teaspoon baking soda (bi-carb soda)

- pinch salt

- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened (which is about 225 grams)

- 1 cup packed brown sugar

- 1/2 cup white sugar

- 1 teaspoon vanilla

- 2 eggs

- 200 grams coarsely chopped chocolate of your choice, milk or dark (7 ounces)

**TIP - it's best if you can bring all of your ingredients (i.e. butter and eggs) to room temperature before you start baking. It'll make your cookies even better, but don't sweat it if you forget or don't have the time.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius (350 degrees fahrenheit). Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Cream the butter and the sugars together.

Add the eggs in and the vanilla and beat together until combined.

In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and a pinch of salt.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.

Throw in your roughly chopped chocolate. I used 100 grams (3.5 ounces) of dark chocolate and 100 grams (3.5 ounces) of milk chocolate and it was yummy!

Spoon your cookies onto the cookies sheets. Use an ice cream scoop if you have it, otherwise just a spoon will do.

Set your timer (preferably a pink pig) for 10 minutes. Here's where it gets tricky. Everyone's oven is different, and everyone likes their cookies slightly different. I like my cookies to be chewy, pretty much half baked. I also have a weird oven that doesn't distribute heat very well. So I put my cookies in for 5 minutes, then take the tray out and rotate it. I then leave them for another 5 minutes. You may want to leave your cookies for 12-15 minutes, depending on how you like them. Experiment, and tell me how you go!

Finally, once you pull your cookies out of the oven, leave them to cool on a wire rack.

Then pile them on a plate and start eating!

Double chocolate chip cookies

I just had to share the cookie goodness with you because these are amazing! Chocolate chocolate chip cookies, oh my. As soon as I found the recipe on Cupcakes and Cashmere, I knew I would have to make them asap. They're a bit too sweet for husband, but perfect for a chocoholic such as myself. And the best thing about them is that they're still chewy. I love me a chewy cookie, but usually fail to achieve the right texture. Not this time!

Berry buttermilk muffins

I found this recipe for berry buttermilk muffins on Jodi's beautiful blog, Ché and Fidel. A couple of days ago when I had some organic blueberries sitting in my fridge, I gave them a go. I love baking with buttermilk, makes everything so yummy. I also used whole wheat flour to try to make them a bit healthier. In any case, they're quite scrumptious and they've made for a great quick breakfast this week with a cup of tea.

owl mug and teapot from Anthropologie, of course

A birthday weekend

First of all, thank you so much for your kind words of encouragement on my last post, they mean the world to me! I'm a busy girl this week, trying to get everything ready for the craft fair, but this weekend I let it all go and celebrated my husband's birthday instead. His birthday was yesterday and he was quite clear that he just wanted to relax. He also woke up at 5 a.m. to go on a 2 hour bike ride, so I'm not quite sure how one could consider that relaxing, but my husband is kind of nuts. Once he got home though, we were both too hot to move and we did indeed relax for the rest of the day.

We happened to be dog sitting our favourite beagle, so we spent lots of time playing with him in the garden and taking him for walks. Since we can't have our own dog, we're always thrilled to take care of other people's dogs!

photo by husband

Husband requested the honey cake from Tessa Kiros' brilliant cookbook, Apples for Jam. He's not a big fan of sweets, so this cake suits him perfectly as it's not too intense. And it has rosemary in it, isn't that cool?

photo by husband

photo by husband

I got husband a couple of shirts as a present, and here he is wearing one to his birthday dinner.

At the end of the day we went over to husband's mum and step-dad's place and had a wonderful dinner of prawns, oysters and salad. It was a small group, but it was just what he wanted. In fact, husband's only other request aside from relaxing, was to eat prawns and oysters for dinner. He was a happy guy.

Banana muffins

I hate wasting food, so this weekend when I noticed that all of my bananas were quickly going bad thanks to the heat (when will I learn that this isn't Canada and I can't leave fruit outside in 40 degree weather?) I knew it was time to make some muffins. I've tried a lot of different recipes for banana muffins, some healthier than others. The recipe that I'm sharing here is one of the semi-healthy ones. It's adapted from Katie Lee Joel's The Comfort Table, a cookbook that I turn to pretty often. So, want to know what to do with your overripe bananas?

Banana muffins

2 cups whole wheat flour (or white flour)

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup rapadura (or white sugar)

1/2 cup coconut oil (or canola oil)

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup buttermilk

3 medium bananas, mashed

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius (350 degrees fahrenheit). Grease a muffin tin; this recipe made 12 regular size muffins and 4 mini muffins. Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

In another bowl, beat together the sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla until well combined. Alternately add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk in three additions. Gently stir in the bananas.

Pour the batter into the muffin tin and bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy your muffins with a cup of tea!

My favourite gingerbread cookies

For Christmas this year (well I guess it's technically last year) I decided to make gingerbread cookies (aka biscuits) to gift to family. Edible gifts really are the best, aren't they? Although I typically associate gingerbread with Christmas and therefore winter, I was spending this Christmas in sunny Sydney. Nevertheless, the cookies won out and I made a big batch. They were a bit harder to make in the heat, but still doable. I figured it was too hot to ice them, so once they came out of the oven I simply wrapped them up in coloured cellophane and tied pretty ribbons around them. I also kept a few for myself, of course, and enjoyed them while drinking tea and reading Sew Liberated. Perhaps tomorrow I'll share a project I ended up making from that book... But for now, I'll share the recipe for these, my favourite, gingerbread bikkies.

Gingerbread

125 g unsalted butter

1/3 cup soft brown sugar

1/4 cup golden syrup

1 egg, lightly beaten

2 cups plain flour

1/4 cup self-raising flour

1 tablespoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius (350 degrees fahrenheit). Line two baking trays with baking paper.

Cream butter, sugar and golden syrup with electric beaters. Add egg gradually. Sift the dry ingredients in and mix with a knife (or your hands) until just combined. Knead for 1-2 minutes. Roll out the dough between two sheets of baking paper to 5 mm (1/4 inch) thick. Refrigerate for 15 minutes (this will make it easier to cut the shapes out).

Cut the dough into shapes. I used my favourite Ikea cookie cutters. Love those forest critters! Bake for about 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. I like to slightly under bake mine so they remain soft. Let cool completely.

Wrap up nicely and give away, but don't forget to save some for yourself!