Peanut butter crinkles

 

It being the first proper day of school for my younger son, I wanted to make a little treat for him, when he comes home. And my older boy is very fond of my bakes too. 

I fancied making something with the peanut butter. There was a jar of SKIPPY peanut butter choc chip swirl in the latest Degustabox. If you haven't seen it yet, it's the classic peanut butter with chocolate chip pieces. It's smooth and creamy, and if you like a peanut butter and chocolate combination, then you'll enjoy it very much.

I have bookmarked a recipe for peanut butter crinkles in The Big Book of Beautiful Biscuits (The Australian Women's Weekly) a while ago. I have adapted it, making minor swaps and adjustments. 

Peanut Butter Crinkles (makes 16)

Ingredients:

110g butter, softened

100g sugar (I used a 50/50 mix of caster and raw cane vanilla sugar, the original recipe asks for sugar and brown sugar)

80g peanut butter (SKIPPY peanut butter choc chip swirl)

a dash of vanilla essence

zest of 1 lemon + 1tsp lemon juice

240g plain flour

1tsp baking powder

Cream together softened butter with sugar and peanut butter, add lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla essence, flour and baking powder and mix well, using a fork. You might need to use hands for the cookie dough to get less crumbly and more elastic.

Pinch blobs of cookie dough, the size of big walnuts, roll them and then flatten into discs. Place the cookies on the greased cookie tray. Using a fork, make a crosswise pattern on each cookie.

Place the tray in the oven preheated to 180C and bake for about 15 minutes.

Take the tray out and carefully place cookies on the cooling rack. They are quite fragile at this stage, soft and crumbly. 

These are short biscuits, not dissimilar to shortbread.

The chocolate flavour was quite subtle, as the chocolate chips have dissolved during the cooking. I think adding extra chocolate chips for a more pronounced chocolate kick might be a good idea.

Easy chocolate cookies (from a chocolate cake mix)

I'm not very organised, when it comes to saving recipes spotted online. Sometimes I come across an interesting recipe and bookmark it, but more often I hope I would remember where I've seen it, but of course, I don't.
Last week someone re-tweeted a recipe for quick and easy chocolate cookies made with a chocolate cake mix. I had a quick look at the recipe which was called something like 3-ingredients' cookies. Technically the name was wrong, as the cake mix includes several ingredients in it, plus she added candy of all kinds to her cookies. I knew the idea of making easy cookies from a cake mix would appeal to both of my boys.
A few years ago I asked on Facebook where to get a certain US cake mix, which is not available widely in the UK. There were quite a few responses along the lines "You buy cake mixes?", as if the idea itself was incredulous. Yes, I do, not often, but I usually have a box or two in the pantry for a rainy day, when I'm too tired to weigh and measure. I do add a few extras to jazz it up.

Anyway, back to that cookies recipe. I scrolled down my Twitter feed, trying to find if I have re-tweeted it. Nope. I knew the cookie dough was a chocolate cake mix (or was it brownies?), with 2 medium eggs and half a cup of oil (125ml). I believe the original poster added M&Ms to her cookies.

We didn't have M&Ms, but we had a small bag of Maltesers, and some packs of Sunny Fruit Mix-Ups, which were delivered with the latest Degustabox food box.

I would love to acknowledge the original poster, so if you do know who I'm talking about, please give me a shout.

You will need
1 box of chocolate cake mix (I used Betty Crocker Devil's Food cake mix, but Cadbury's would be nice too)
2 medium eggs
120ml mild olive oil
+
about 25 Maltesers, halved
2 bags of Sunny Fruit Mix Ups (raisins and dried strawberries)
a handful of mini meringues

You can use any mild olive oil, but I like Filippo Berio mild and light because it's neutral in taste, unlike the extra virgin olive oil. Of course, it's a matter of an individual taste, so feel free to experiment with another flavour.

In a mixing bowl tip in the contents of the cake box, beat in two eggs and olive oil. If using different add-ons, divide the dough into two bowls, then mix in any dried fruit and berries you like, or candy.
As mentioned above, I added halved Maltesers to one part, and Mix -ups and mini meringues to the other part. Roll the cookie dough into balls, then flatten into cookies and spread on the baking sheet.
Bake for about 11 minutes at 180C. Let the cookies cool lightly before transferring onto the cooling rack, as they are very soft and fragile at this point. Do not worry, they will get the right texture.
If you keep them in the oven for longer, they will be crispy, but if you like soft crumbly cookies, don't over-cook them.

They spread quite a bit in the oven, so don't cram them on the baking sheet.
You will get about 21 cookies.

These cookies are very easy to make, so invite your kids to join in. They will have fun adding their favourite sweets.

I used Sunny Fruit Mix-Ups in one half of the cookie dough. Sweet raisins and dried strawberries work great with the chocolate base. But again, this is just a suggestion - add dried banana chips, or dried cherries, cranberries, any nuts.

The cookies will keep well in a closed container for several days.

Photo diary: week 36, project 366

September is a month of plenty. All of a sudden my greenhouse tomatoes started to ripen en masse, and we have more tomatoes than we can eat in one go. And apples are also getting redder and redder, soon I'll have to begin putting them in big trays to keep in the summer house.

Last week my boys went back to school. While for Sasha it was a shorter break for about six weeks, for Eddie it was a much longer absence from school, from the beginning of the lockdown. He's rather apprehensive, and is worried about a lack of social distancing.

Walking into town last Sunday, we spotted this agile squirrel, running over the wire hedge.

Monday was a Bank Holiday, but we didn't do anything holiday-ish. My husband left for Italy, and the boys and I stayed at home, reading and watching TV.

Eddie and I have been reading the 6th book in How to Train Your Dragon series - A Hero's Guide to Deadly Dragons. We're very fond of Cressida Cowell, but this is not her best book. We found it rather same-ish and lacking in comparison with the previous books in the series. In fact, the funniest thing about this book was the hilarious review I've spotted on Good Reads.

We're not puritans when it comes to children's books, and don't bat a lid at one too many mentions of butts and boobies, but this gentle lady was clearly shaken. This gem of a review left me in stitches. Just because Cressida Cowell uses "inappropriate" words, the reviewer presumes she is British.

She would have conniptions if she tried to read David Walliams.

And just to clarify, I'm a big fan of Big-Boobied Bertha, she is my kind of hero.

Tuesday and Wednesday were Inset days at school. To cheer up my guys, I made a batch of white chocolate Oreo fudge. It is so tasty, but very sweet too. We have first come across it, when we stayed in Cornwall, and some local with a business acumen set up a mini-stall, selling home-made jams and fudge with an honesty box. This year they had fudge made with Biscoff cookies. Eddie said it was OK, but not as good as the Oreo one.

On Wednesday I've been staging some photo shoots for the forthcoming book reviews, which will appear later in the month, and I won't be sharing them in advance yet.
Instead here is a snap of nocturnal Venice, taken by my husband on his holiday. Just "because he's always been going to the film festival" is not a good enough reason to go there this year, in my opinion. But our opinions were not taken into consideration.

I have a huge stash of books for reviewing, but in between them I am also reading some of the fiction I bought recently. The stash below shows some of my latest acquisitions.
I follow Sue Moorcroft and Amanda Jennings on Twitter, and wanted to read their latest novels. Karin Slaughter's thriller was highly advertised on Classic FM in August, and it sounds like something I would enjoy.

Natalia Ginzburg is an Italian writer, and I recently read a book review of The Little Virtues which compelled me to start reading it. This is a collection of essays written in the 1940-50s.
The essays are fascinating. One of them is about England. Ginzburg is rather harsh about the country where she found refuge. Some of her observations are spot on, but many show her as a thankless person. Still, she is a brilliant writer, with a unique style.

Friday was Eddie's PE day at school, and they were expected to arrive in their PE clothes.

After I dropped him off at school, I did a tour of a few charity shops, and got an old Puffin edition of Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer. Someone mentioned this book on Mumsnet over a year ago, and I have added it to my wish list. Imagine my delight when I saw it in a big pile of Puffin paperbacks.
It's a story of Charlotte who goes to a boarding school, and wakes up to find herself in the same school, but people call her by a new name, and in fact she is now a different girl living forty years earlier.
I love books with a time travel element, so I know I will enjoy it.
Have you read it?

I was getting a bit overwhelmed yesterday, and when I'm feeling stressed, I need to bake something to lower my anxiety. I spotted a recipe on Twitter for easy cookies made with a cake mix box, 2 eggs and oil as the main cookie dough base, to which you add any extras, like M&Ms etc.

We didn't have M&Ms, and I halved the cookie dough, and made one batch with Maltesers, and another with raisins, dried strawberries and mini meringues.

And that's my favourite mug in the picture. I have a big collection of mugs and cups with saucers, but this Emma Bridgewater mug is the one I use most often. For some reason, tea always tastes better in it.

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Yogurt oat cookies with saffron icing

The thing about home-baked cookies, it's hard to stop at one. Especially if you have a cup of tea and are enjoying a good book. I've just finished The Hopkins Conundrum by Simon Edge the other day (which I absolutely loved), and having looked at the big stash of paperbacks on my working table, decided to start The Surplus Girls by Polly Heron. A new book and freshly baked cookies is a lovely combination.
I often bake different variations on the plain oat cookies recipe. Having rummaged around the kitchen, I assembled a small pot of Greek style yogurt, a couple of sachets of oats, a small phial of saffron strands as well as the usual flour, oil, egg etc.

There were several mini-sachets from Skinny Food Co in the latest Degustabox delivery. One 10ml sachet of white chocolate syrup (flavour syrup with sweetener and zero calories) was neither here nor there, but as a flavouring for cookies it works well. As an ingredient in this recipe it is optional, you can add a little bit of grated/chopped white chocolate, or skip altogether.

Yogurt oat cookies with saffron icing (makes 15 cookies)
Ingredients:
100g demerara sugar
50g Greek style yogurt
50ml vegetable oil
1 medium egg
60g oats (2 sachets of porridge oats)
200g plain flour
1tsp baking powder
1/2tsp ground cinnamon
a pinch of saffron
icing sugar, enough to make the icing

Cream together the sugar with yogurt and vegetable oil, beat in the egg, add the oats, sift in the flour, baking powder and cinnamon. Mix until well-combined.
Dust hands in flour, so that the dough doesn't stick. Pinch a big walnut-sized piece of cookie dough and roll into a ball, then flatten and place on a tray lined with parchment paper, foil, or on a silicone baking sheet. Place the tray in the oven preheated to 180C.
Bake for about 15 minutes until slightly golden.
If you keep cookies until browned, they will be crispy. We like cookies with a softer centre.

Take the tray out, and put the cookies on the cooling rack.

In the meantime make some saffron icing.
Take a pinch of saffron strands and add freshly boiled water. Leave to steep for a minimum of five minutes. The longer you leave the saffron in the water, the more intense the colour you will get.

In a small mixing bowl or cup, add saffron water to the icing sugar (make sure that the strands don't get in). Mix until you have a smooth icing. Spread it over the cookies and leave to set.

Eat with tea or coffee, or with a glass of cold milk.

Saffron gives not only the colour, but a special flavour to the cookies. You can use a food colouring of your choice, if you don't have saffron. Ground turmeric mixed into the icing could also add a golden colour, but it has an acquired taste, and my guys are not big fans.

Biscoff-flavoured granola cookies

Before you point out that there are perfectly tasty Lotus Biscoff biscuits available everywhere, let me explain. My younger son is a big fan of Biscoff: he loves the biscuits as well as Biscoff-flavoured ice cream and crunchy spread. Recently my husband bought a jar of smooth Biscoff spread, and my fussy child said he didn't like it.
I prefer savoury toast, or just a thin layer of jam on toasted bread for breakfast, and poor old smooth Biscoff jar is staying unloved in the kitchen.
I put my thinking bonnet on to decide what to do with it. Biscuits can take any spread/nut butter. Typically I would add oats to biscuits, but having a good rummage in the kitchen realised that all oats are finished. Instead I have had two small pouches of Lizi's granola, which were products in the latest Degustabox. Good, that should do.

I used a 50g pouch of Lizi's Low Sugar Granola which includes jumbo rolled oats, rapeseed oil, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, cashew nut pieces, almond pieces, hazelnut pieces, walnut pieces, dessicated coconut, fructose and black treacle.
Nutritional information: 250kcal per small pack and 1.9g of sugar. It's a good source of fibre, GMO-free and suitable for vegetarians.

It can be swapped for any quality granola or muesli, or even a pouch of porridge oats.

Biscoff-flavoured granola cookies
Ingredients:
70g demerara sugar
60g Biscoff smooth spread (3 heaped tsp)
50g granola
1 medium egg
160g self-raising flour
50g butter

In a big mixing bowl beat together sugar with Biscoff spread, mix in granola and egg. Add the softened butter, flour, and mix together until you have an evenly mixed cookie dough.
Pinch cookie dough the size of a walnut, roll between palms, flatten into a small disc and place cookies on the tray, lined with parchment paper, or on a baking sheet.
Put the tray in the oven preheated to 180C.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, until lightly browned.
Remove the tray out of the oven and carefully transfer cookies on the cooling rack. The cookies will be very soft at this stage, but will get firmer in texture once cooled.
If you like your cookies very crispy, keep them in the oven for longer.

I still have some smooth Biscoff spread left, and am thinking of using it to make a marbled cake, with chocolate/cocoa. What would you suggest doing with the spread?

Cookie Fries - inspired by Disney (The Big Bakes shares secret recipes)

Do you miss your favourite treats from High Street food outlets, like Gregg's classic sausage rolls, or Café Nero vegan raspberry croissants?
Just the other day Eddie and I were discussing with a light note of nostalgia how wonderful the Krispy Kreme donuts are (chocolate with sprinkles are our favourites), and how much we miss them.

As Britain remains locked down, many people miss popping to their favourite High Street food outlets to pick up a delicious treat.
To keep the nation going during this time of culinary deprivation, The Big Bakes has pledged a new secret recipe each week to help Brits replicate some of the UK's most iconic High Street snacks at home.

This week one of tasks on Seesaw (homeschooling app) was to pick a recipe, cook a dish, take photos of the result and then discuss what's the best part about being a chef.
As soon as we read the task, I knew we had to try the recipe for Cookie Fries, as recreated by The Big Bakes.
Cookie Fries are basically choc chip shortbread shapes, served with dips.

Image credits: The Big Bakes

With so many popular dishes to choose from, The Big Bakes asked baking fans for help whittling down the options. In response, The Big Bakes has created five online recipe tutorials of the most popular dishes, which are revealed each Wednesday.
These include:
- Greggs Sausage Roll
- Cookie Fries - Inspired by Disney
- Nando's Portuguese Tarts
- Millie's Cookies

Each video masterclass will offer an easy, step-by-step guide for people to follow at home, no matter what their level of experience. Lasting two to three minutes, the home baking videos will feature day-to-day ingredients and basic kitchen equipment, so everyone (including the kids) will be able to get involved.

In order to take part in these digital baking sessions, all people need to do is visit @Thebig_bakes on Instagram or Facebook, for a list of the necessary ingredients needed for the up-coming class.

The Big Bakes was founded in 2017 by Adam Chaudhri and Eloise Frank, who discovered a gap in the market for fun, accessible and affordable baking events, after taking part in a bake-off competition during a work away day.
With locations across the UK as well as online, the Bakes combine socialising, baking, and good old-fashioned fun.

Last week The Big Bakes digital co-baking sessions kicked-off with the Cookie Fries, inspired by the tasty amusement park snacks found in Disney, these chip-shaped treats have risen to legendary status almost overnight.

Now, The Big Bakes has released its secret Cookie Fries recipe, so easy to follow that even kids will be able to have a go.
Perfect for sharing, these chocolate chip cookies replicate classic fries and are perfectly shaped for dunking into your favourite sauce.

We decided to cut our cookies into diamond shapes rather than chips.

Cookies Fries (recipe courtesy of The Big Bakes)

For the Cookie Fries:
50g sugar
100g butter
150g flour
50g chocolate chips

For the dips:
20g mini marshmallows
1tbsp milk
2tbsp Nutella
2tbsp jam

Equipment:
Mixing bowl
Spatula
Rolling pin
Knife (adult supervision needed)
Baking tray with parchment
Microwavable pots for your dips

Method:
Preheat your oven to 180C and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
In your mixing bowl, start by creaming together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
Stir in the flour and mix until incorporated.
Fold in the chocolate chips and then turn your dough onto a work surface and knead until it comes together in a ball.
Roll the dough into a rectangle about 2cm thick and cut into your desired chip shapes or smaller rectangles.
Place onto your baking tray a few centimetres apart from one another and bake for 10-15 minutes until the edges go golden brown.

Leave to cool before eating.

We didn't have chocolate chips, and chopped half a bar of chocolate into small pieces.

When you're ready to eat your Cookie Fries, make your dips just before:

Combine the marshmallows with 1tbsp of milk and then microwave in 5-second intervals and stir until fully combined, stop when the mixture has liquidised.

Microwave the jam for 15 seconds and then the Nutella for 15 seconds, stir and then serve with your cookie fries.


We don't have a microwave, and used some of the Marshmallow fluff instead.
We also prefer Jim Jams to Nutella which has a staggering amount of sugar. We skipped the jam altogether, as it was just too much sweet stuff together.

These cookies are super easy, anyone can have a go at this simple recipe.
My guys loved them so much that we baked them twice in two days (we didn't do the dips the second time).

Eddie has submitted his report to the Seesaw app, and his teacher commented that she'd love to try the recipe too.
What have you been baking recently (that is, if you have some flour)?

Oat cookies with Marmite peanut butter

I'm not the biggest fan of Marmite, but I don't hate it either. I rarely fancy a smidgeon of it on a toast, but rather than this, I am not overly keen on sub-products which use Marmite as an ingredient. I've tried cheese with Marmite and crisps, and didn't like either.
You might have seen Marmite peanut butter in the supermarkets. There was a jar of it in the March Degustabox. My guys refused even to try it. I was brave, and had it spread on toast. It was way too salty to my taste.

In the current mood of "waste not, want not" I was wondering what to do with it.
Cookies are always a good option.
I tend to use a basic combination of ingredients to which I add different bits, but the main mix is the same - oats, flour, sugar, margarine, egg. I prefer to use margarine rather than butter, when baking cookies as they tend to keep their shape better (while for cakes I tend to use a real butter or oil).

Oat cookies with Marmite peanut butter (makes 18 cookies)
Ingredients:
80g caster sugar
100g margarine
100g oats
140g self-raising flour
1 medium egg
2 tbsp Marmite peanut butter
30g chocolate, chopped into small pieces

You can use any kind of chocolate in these cookies, from cooking Menier chocolate (milk, dark or white), to supermarket own brand. Maybe you've bought too many Easter eggs, so chop up the remains to add to the dough. Or use chocolate chips (I rarely buy them, as they are usually overpriced).
In this particular batch I used the leftovers of the Galaxy caramelised hazelnut vegan chocolate bar, which we didn't like much on its own.

Cream the margarine with sugar in a mixing bowl. Add the oats, flour, beat in the egg and Marmite peanut butter (optional). Using a fork, mix together, then use hands to form a ball of dough. Dust with more flour, if it's too sticky.
Pinch walnut-sized pieces of dough, roll in your hands into a ball, then flatten it into a cookie.
Place the cookies on the tray lined with foil or special baking sheet.
Put the tray in the oven , preheated to 180C. Bake for about 13 minutes until starting to get golden at the edges.
Do not keep in the oven for too long, unless you like very crispy cookies.
Please keep in mind, that the cookies will be very soft when you take the tray out.
Carefully transfer them to the cooling rack, and in a couple of minutes they are ready to eat.

My sons love warm cookies.
These soft cookies taste best on the same day, but will keep in a cookie tin for a couple of days.

Marmite peanut butter gives just a hint of saltiness, so it's not overpowering.

Have you tried Marmite peanut butter? Did you like it?

Maple oat cookies

After spending a month with us, it was time for my Mum to go back home. She left early on Tuesday morning, and was still travelling yesterday, as though she was in Moscow on Tuesday, it takes another 22 hours by train to get to my hometown.
Every time she leaves, we say Good byes with a heavy heart. With her health issues and me being a "prisoner of Zenda" - not being able to travel far due to the elder son's mental health problems, we never know if we'll see each other again.
To cheer up myself and treat my boys, I was baking maple oat cookies.

After a recent debacle with Flora, I'm on the lookout for a new margarine for baking cookies with. While I prefer a real butter when I bake cakes, I used to add either Flora or Stork as an ingredient in cookies, as they help to keep the shape.
After Flora has antagonised the Mumsnet members, I am now trying to find an alternative. I'm not a very active Mumsnetter, more of a reader than a contributor, and resent the fact that all members were insulted en masse. So, it's a good bye from me, good bye, Flora.

If you know of a decent alternative which is good for baking cookies, please let me know.
In this recipe I used a Baking block by Sainsbury's. It's the first time I used it, and can't say that I'm impressed. The cookies did spread quite a bit and lost their pattern. This means, I'm still on the lookout for the perfect margarine.

Maple oat cookies (makes 18 cookies)
Ingredients:
100g demerara sugar
120g margarine
1 medium egg
60ml maple syrup
50g oats
180+ g self-raising flour
1tsp baking powder
a pinch of sea salt

Cream the sugar with margarine, beat in one egg, add the maple syrup, oats, flour and baking powder as well as a pinch of sea salt. The cookie dough will be quite soft and sticky.
Dust hands with flour and pinch walnut-sized balls of dough, roll between your hands, then flatten and put on the tray, lined with a baking parchment paper or baking silicone sheet.
Bake for about 13-14 minutes. The cookies will be slightly golden and very soft.
Let them cool a bit before lifting off the tray, they are fragile at this stage and will break easily.
If you prefer crispy cookies, let them bake for a couple of minutes longer.

These are lovely chewy cookies, perfect with a cup of tea or coffee. My boys loved them.
The maple syrup adds a distinct aroma and flavour to the bakes.