Sunday 9 January 2011

Sweet Sunday - Chocolate and Stem Ginger Cookies

Starting this week, I'm going to be posting one  SWEET recipe each SUNDAY. Well, REPHRASE. *** IF*** I get around to blogging on a SUNDAY (between tiny humans and church and kids ministry and band practice and running the kitchen and two services) I will blog only about delicious, glorious, calorific things.
I've never been a cookie person, but now that I have a little boy who LOVES baking, I tend to make tasty, kid friendly treats, often. It's a great task for him, we BOND over our mutual love affair with butter, and he learns and invaluable skill.

You know how your Mum always said the way to man's heart is through his stomach... Well here's something she DIDNT think to mention - The way to a woman's heart is through her taste buds... a boy who can BAKE and COOK and who isn't afraid to tackle the shrapnel in the kitchen afterwards - THATS the one YOU MARRY! So Im in the business of breeding Godly men who bake like Angels and lead like Christ.

This is the PERFECT recipe to make with your kids. Everything goes into ONE BOWL, you beat it, you blob it, you bake it. DONE

Apologies in advance for the SHOCKING photos. The LCD on my camera is shattered and I cant see a thing while Im shooting. Hopefully this will be fixed, soon! 


CHOCOLATE & STEM GINGER COOKIES 

175g/6oz plain flour
1tsp baking powder (now that I'm typing this I realised I forgot to add BP!)
125g/1 stick of butter, softened
85g/3oz light muscovado sugar (or any soft brown sugar)
55g/2oz castor sugar (or fine white sugar)
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 egg

100g dark chocolate chips
100g stem ginger cubed (what ever size you like, I did 1x1cm)

Preheat your oven to 180C/375F with your rack in the middle of the oven (unless baking more than one tray at a time)

1) Put all the ingredients EXCEPT the chocolate and ginger into a large mixing bowl (preferably one that slips right into the mixer) and beat until it pulls together to form a sticky dough.







































2) Beat in the chocolate chips and ginger at a low speed until just combined.

3) Pinch together a tablespoon of dough to form a ball and place on a greased baking tray or tray lined with greaseproof paper. Greaseproof prevents them burning and catching. Space well apart.


4) Bake at 180C/375F for 10 minutes until they are just starting to brown around the edges. If you have a fan oven turn them half way through to ensure they brown evenly.



5) Leave the cookies to harden slightly on the tray for a minute or two, before transferring them to a cooling rack, using a palette knife or spatula.







































I only bake one tray (half a batch) at a time. Levi and I are the only two in the house that interested in eating baked yummies - so I like to freeze half, pre-rolled, in an ice cube tray for up to 2 months. That way we don't over indulge and we always have a batch of cookies on standby for those unexpected guests!








































TIP: For frozen cookies I just pop them on the tray frozen and put them into the over WHEN I TURN IT ON.. as the oven warms up, the cookies defrost. You have to use your nose to smell when they are done, and watch them carefully. Otherwise leave them on the tray at room temperature for an hour, and bake as above.

You can put ANYTHING into this base - we enjoy the following combinations:

Chopped dried apricots and pistachio nuts
Dried cranberries and white chocolate chips
Sultanas and cinnamon

Until next week (or maybe the week after!)

Dan
xoxo

2 comments:

  1. Amen to that. My husband cooks and I love him for it!

    Love the way you freeze those cookies!

    ReplyDelete
  2. That looks scrumptious! So glad you found my blog so I can now follow yours ;0) I have loved looking through some of your posts and am looking forward to reading many more. BIG South African hugs to you (so wonderful that you got to come back for a visit last month. Your pics of your holiday and the wedding are so beautiful.)

    ReplyDelete

I love hearing from you! Thanks for your comments. I'll do my best to answer questions as quickly as possibly, but with three tiny humans, it can get busy around here. Thanks for stopping by!

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