Choc chip cookies continued...

Previous posts have documented a quest for the choc chip cookie to be perfected. Perhaps my problem with this quest starts with the fact that in Aus, I should be searching for a choc chip bickie not cookie!

These are pretty good though. Initially whipped up by the fella when we went away for a weekend. Currently they are my go-to staples when it comes to choc chip biscuits. Are they that good though that experimenting with recipes will cease? I think not. The mix can be temperamental at times. With flat, fuzzy edged biscuits. Or hard as little frisbees if given a few minutes too long. But when they work, oh they are good!

I hope you have success with these.

Choc Chip Biscuits Take 2
Makes around 3 dozen small biscuits

125 g butter, softened
1 c brown sugar, gently but firmly packed
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbs milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
200 g choc chip bits
100 g nuts, diced (walnuts, hazelnuts, etc)

Pre-heat oven to 180* C fan-forced. Divide oven shelves into thirds. Line three baking trays with paper.

Beat butter with brown sugar. Using a mixer is ideal - give it around three minutes to be light and fluffy. Add vanilla, milk and egg, beat briefly to combine. Gently stir in the flour and baking powder. Turn off the mixer and add the choc chip bits and nuts. Stir to combine.

At this point, your biscuit mixture may benefit from a rest in the fridge to firm things up. Even 15 minutes could be good. But if it is not too soft, get on with the baking. Using a spoon, heap small rounds of mixture onto your prepared trays. They can be any size really, but I find balls around 3 cm in diameter or so work well - more than a mouthful but not a complete meal.

Cook in the oven for around 8 minutes. Check at this point and give the biscuits more time if needed. Remove and cool on the trays for 5 or so minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy with a cup of tea. Store in an air-tight container for up to a week. Alternatively, once the balls of dough have been formed and placed onto the trays, freeze. Once frozen, place in bags of around a dozen. Then when you need a snack, there are biscuits that only need to be cooked (or dough eaten from frozen).

Adapted from Michele Cranston's Marie Claire: Kitchen, the Ultimate Recipe Collection.

Crackers for crackers...

Some times you just need a snack, a little bit of something to see you though. Right? But what if your fridge has only a scrap of cheese? Or if your bread is stale? Or if there is no fruit? Or if someone bought the wrong crackers from the shops on their last shopping adventure? What do you do?

Given that we love a pre-dinner snack, with a drink too, I've come up with these babies. Home made crackers. Am I crackers? Cause they are cheap to buy from the supermarket and come in so many varieties. Recently I found some fig and seed crackers, that's how diverse the range is. So why make them? Cause they come together in a pinch, and are out of the oven after 10 minutes. Cause they are great to whip up when someone unexpected arrives. Cause they are great warm with cheese. But also great a few days old with dip. And indeed they do keep in a biscuit tin for at least a week, if you can stop eating them that is.

That's why I'm crackers for these crackers. And the fella is too.

Home Made Crackers.

Makes a tray full - maybe 24 or so

1 c plain flour, sifted

1/2 tsp baking powder

30 g butter, softened

up to a tbs flavours of your choice - dried herbs, salt and pepper, sesame seeds, etc!

chilled water

small amount of milk

Pre-heat oven to 180* C. Line a baking tray with paper.

In a bowl, combine the flour and baking powder. Add the butter, mixing it in until the butter is combined with the flour. I recommend using your finger tips. When combine, you will have no lumps, rather more textured flour than you started off with. Add the flavourings.

Slowly add a little cold water, until the mixure comes together into a soft dough. Don't add too much water, as you don't want a sticky mess. Once combine, kneed briefly to form a smooth dough. Roll mixture out onto a floured surface, until a few millimetres thick. Cut into shapes as you please - uniform squares, rough bits, anything really. Place crackers onto prepared tray. Using a pastry brush, lightly brush the crackers with milk. This will help them to brown. If you want, sprinkle some salt on the top.

Bake in oven for around 8 minutes, giving a few minutes more as needed. Cool on a wire rack before devouring with your chosen additions - cheese, dip, pate, olives, etc, etc.

Inspired by a few recipes, including one from Joy the Baker and also the Preserve It cookbook

The fella whipping up some savoury crackery goodness.

The choc chip bickie adventure begins...

One of my quests in life is to make the perfect chocolate chip biscuit. And I'm not there yet. But boy is it fun trying. I've tried my mum's version, with cocoa, raisins, nuts and chocolate - too fudgy, too intense. I've tried the Kitchy Kitchen's with pulverised oats - too flat, too much mixture. I've tried some of Joy the Baker's peanut butter choc chip cookies - again flat and I'm not sure about the peanut butter. The recipe I return to again and again is from a church cook book. The recipes in there are all family friendly as they are made by mums who are busy running after hoards of children. They need to work, and they need to work fast.

So these bickies almost cut the mustard. I would like them a little thicker. But not too thick, and not too chewy or too dry either. Tough, I know. This week I have been inspired to whip up these ones again after buying what was purported to be a home made choc chip cookie to have with a coffee. The cookie crumbled, literally. Simply fell apart when I ate it and messed up my shirt. Now surely I can make a better biscuit than that!

Want to come on a choc chip biscuit making quest with me? Hurrah!

Chocolate Chip Biscuits

Makes 36 or so

1/2 c brown sugar

1/2 c white sugar

125 g butter or margarine

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 egg

1 3/4 self-raising flour

2 c chocolate chips

Pre-heat oven to 180* C. Line two baking trays with paper.

In your mixer, cream together sugars and butter. Mix together until light and fluffy, around five minutes. Add the vanilla essence and mix briefly. Add the egg and mix to combine. Sift in the flour, mix briefly to just combine. Stop the mixer, add the chocolate chips and combine with a wooden spoon.

Place the mixture into the fridge for 30 minutes to harden slightly. Place drops of dough onto the prepared baking tray, around 2 cm in diameter, evenly spaced. Bake in oven for 8 - 12 minutes, it really depends on your oven. Some of mine have taken only 8 minutes, others I've needed to rotate the trays and cook for up to 12 minutes.

Remove from oven, cool on tray for 5 minutes. Remove to a wire rack and cool. Repeat cooking process as needed. Store in an air-tight container for as long as they last.