Saturday, February 16, 2008

Baking cookies

Anna, my sister in law, inspired me to bake my own cookies, since hers were so delicious and she made it look so easy to do.

I used to bake chocolate cakes often many years ago; chocolate cake was my favorite and the only dessert I ate. I enjoyed baking because I did not have to cook anything else; in Malaysia it is not more expensive to eat a fantastic exotic meal outside at the stalls. Since I moved back to england, with all its familiar ingredients; I enjoy cooking every day, trying new dishes, cooking family recipes and old favorites from my childhood, so I never took time to bake... until today.
This is my fridge; it was so full of pictures and magnets from our travel, that I started using the side as well.
My kitchen was very soul-less so I moved around some items to decorate a little.
This is the recipe before... I went to the shops this morning, and bought everything from the baking section, baking powder, baking soda, self raising flour, plain flour, butter, chocolate chip, hazelnut, white sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract, and lemon juice (just in case).

Ta-da! The end result. The cookies were lovely just out of the oven, but they got hard after a couple of hours, I followed the recipe to the gram, so it may be the wrong recipe to my taste, I'll have to ask Anna to give me her recipes, in the meantime, these will be great with a cup of tea.

9 comments:

none said...

For softer cookies alter the ratio of brown to white sugar. More brown sugar = softer cookies and vice versa.

If you get a chance try this recipe. It is outstanding.I usually halve this recipe and make 30 large cookies.

Neiman Marcus Cookie Recipe

(Recipe may be halved):
2 cups butter
4 cups flour
2 tsp. soda
2 cups sugar
5 cups blended oatmeal**
24 oz. chocolate chips
2 cups brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 8 oz. Hershey Bar (grated)
4 eggs
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. vanilla
3 cups chopped nuts (your choice)

** Measure oatmeal and blend in a blender to a fine powder. Cream the butter and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla; mix together with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and soda. Add chocolate chips, Hershey Bar and nuts. Roll into balls and place two inches apart on a cookie sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees. Makes 112 cookies

Jeannie said...

I used to bake a lot - I got to the point where I didn't need to open the recipe book because they were all in my head. But that was a long time ago.

tweetey30 said...

I made cookies over X-mas this year. It was good except for my last batch got to dry. Even covered up they dried out on me.. Oh well. I can always try again sometime.

La Cremiere said...

Thanks for the recipe Hammer. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Jeannie, it's never too late to pick up the habit. It's not just about taste, it's also about spreading a lovely smell.

Tweetey, dry cookies soften dipped in a cup of tea or coffee. :)

tshsmom said...

We ran out of Christmas cookies a couple of weeks ago. I suppose I should bake something before my guys start whining.

by Danie said...

J'ai vu chez Hammer que tu avais ecrit un nouveau post sur les petits gateaux. Moi j'aime bien quand ils sont un peu durs, ce doit etre la recette qui est comme ca. C'est super de faire des gateaux pour le the, what a lucky husband you get.

That girl said...

soft cookies, hard cookies....who cares? THEY'RE COOKIES!! yum.

they look delicious.

Anonymous said...

Those look like they'd be really good with a tall glass of cold whole milk. Not any of that 2% crap, the real deal.

We still have cookie dough from sponsoring a co-worker's daughter's sports team. I forgot which sport she plays. As soon as I run out of that dough, I'll make something else.

I rarely bake though. Mrs. Z is the one who does most of the baking. I do most of the regular cooking.

S.M. Elliott said...

They look tasty!
I haven't done a crumb of real baking since I went vegan, so one of these days I must try out some vegan goodie recipes. Baking can be so much fun.