Caramilk Cookies

My blog feels very cookie heavy right now, but honestly that’s a pretty fair indication of what I have been baking in the last few months. Apart from revisiting old favourites from my recipe eBooks and testing recipes for my new eBook (and a little bit of recipe development for clients too), versions of this particular recipe have been what I am making when I just want something nice to eat - that doesn’t take much time to make. 

Like the Chai Cookies in the post before this one, these cookies are based on the recipe for Gingernut Cookies from my Grandma. It is a simple cookie recipe, that lends itself to multitudes of adaptations. You can change up some of the ingredients (just keep the quantities the same). A different oil or melted butter can be used instead of canola oil, treacle instead of golden syrup, white sugar instead of caster for a crunchier cookie (just don’t use brown sugar, when I made them like this the oiliness of the oil in the cookie was very noticeable and not as satisfying to eat). And of course a mixture of plain flour and baking powder can be used to make your own self raising flour (see here for a good explanation on how to make it).

Caramilk (a caramelised white chocolate) is my chocolate of choice for these, but you can use whatever you prefer (up to 200g).  And if you would like the recipe to be dairy free, make them using an oil (not butter) and pair with a dairy free or super dark chocolate. Or use something else completely instead of chocolate like some chopped dried fruit or nuts. 

I know a lot of people are using the time we have this year to embark on more involved baking projects, but I am finding that recipes like this one, that are endlessly adaptable and very quick and effortless to make, provide just the kind of instant gratification I am looking for - a little bit of time in the kitchen, and something very tasty to eat not long after. 

Caramilk Cookies

Ingredients:

120ml canola oil

225g caster sugar 

2 tbsp golden syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg, beaten

290g self raising flour

180g block Cadbury Caramilk, roughly chopped

Method:

Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius and line three large baking trays with baking paper.

In a large bowl whisk together the oil, sugar, golden syrup, vanilla and egg.

Then add the flour and the chopped Caramilk and mix to combine with a wooden spoon.

Roll heaped teaspoonfuls of the dough into balls and place on the trays. The cookies will spread as they bake so leave enough room in between. 

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Rotate the trays in the oven about halfway through to ensure the cookies cook evenly.  

Allow to cool on their trays, then store in an airtight container (they will last 5-7 days). 

Makes about 30 cookies.

Chai Cookies

I was inspired to make these cookies when Gewürzhaus* kindly sent me some of their products last week. I got their Feel Good Hot Chocolate, but since I can’t eat chocolate they generously sent me a couple of their chai products too. Both the Chai Masala and Sugar are caffeine free, if you are making a chai from the powder you add your own tea to the pot. 

I decided to adapt my Grandma’s Gingernut Cookies and make them Chai Cookies using these delicious products. This recipe is quickly turning into a very adaptable favourite, and I can highly recommend making these crunchy chai spiced cookies. I used date syrup/molasses as it goes well with the chai spices, but treacle or golden syrup will work well if you don’t have any. These cookies do taste like chai, but also remind me of gingerbread too. Which is somewhat comforting, especially with a cup of tea (or chai or hot chocolate!). 

Gewürzhaus Masala Chai Sugar, Raj’s Magestic Chai Masala and Feel Good Hot Chocolate

Chai Cookies

Ingredients:

115g unsalted butter 

225g caster sugar

2 tbsp date syrup/molasses

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg, beaten

290g self raising flour

2 tsp Gewürzhaus Raj’s Magestic Chai Masala (ground)

Gewürzhaus Masada Chai Sugar (coarse), for dipping

Method:

Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius and line three large baking trays with baking paper.

In a small saucepan melt the butter over low-medium heat. Once the butter has melted remove from the heat and mix in the sugar, date syrup, vanilla and the egg. 

In a large bowl whisk together the flour and spice mix. 

Add the butter mixture to the flour and mix with a wooden spoon until combined.

Tip some of the chai sugar into a shallow bowl.

Roll heaped teaspoonfuls of the dough into balls and dip one side into the chai sugar and place on to the prepared trays chai sugar side up. The cookies will spread as they bake so leave enough room in between. 

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Rotate the trays in the oven about halfway through to ensure the cookies cook evenly.  

Allow to cool on their trays, then store in an airtight container. 

Makes about 30 cookies.

*Products Kindly Gifted by Gewürzhaus. 

Gingernut Cookies

Similar to the Oatmeal Cookies I posted the other day, these Gingernuts are a recipe from my Grandma, and they use self-raising flour which is a massive win at the moment! 

I don’t recall Grandma ever making these, but as soon as I gave one of these biscuits to my Mum, she said ‘Oh yes I remember these, this is Grandma’s recipe isn’t it?’. I found the recipe in a folder of loose handwritten and typed up recipes I collected from my grandparent’s place after Grandma died. There was a drawer in the kitchen that housed all her old cookbooks, notebooks and loose recipes and I carefully went through and filed them in a folder for safekeeping. 

Some of the recipes in the folder are things I will probably never make (like the recipe for Curried Seafood Salad!), but having them and seeing her handwriting is always comforting. Then there are gems like this recipe that I think I will be making many times over, not only at the moment whilst we are in self isolation and need to be reasonable about our plain flour use, but after this madness is over too. 

This recipe is really simple, and there is no need for a stand or hand held mixer. I also found that the dough was really easy to roll into balls, and the cookies baked into very consistent looking circles which was very satisfying. 

My Grandma’s original recipe (as shown below) was mostly in cup measurements, but I have converted it into grams as I find it is easiest to bake that way. I also found I did not get the 48 biscuits as per the original recipe, I got more like 30 biscuits in total. I may have made them a little bigger than Grandma did, but I guess I will never know! 

My Grandma’s Gingernut Biscuit Recipe

Gingernut Cookies

Ingredients:

115g unsalted butter

225g caster sugar

2 tbsp golden syrup

1 egg, beaten

290g self raising flour

3 tsp ground ginger

pinch salt

Method:

Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius and line three large baking trays with baking paper.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter over low to medium heat. Once melted remove from the heat and add the sugar, golden syrup and the egg and mix well.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, ground ginger and salt. Add the butter mixture to the flour and mix until combined. If the mixture is warm from the melted butter, allow it to cool a little, otherwise continue on.

Roll teaspoonfuls of the dough into balls and place on the trays. The biscuits will spread as they bake so leave enough room in between each. 

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. I like the rotate the trays in the oven about halfway through to ensure the biscuits cook evenly. 

Allow to cool on their trays, then store in an airtight container. 

Makes about 30 biscuits/cookies.

Oatmeal Cookies and Thoughts on Social Isolation

I shared this recipe over on Instagram a week or so ago, and quite a few people came back and told me they made them, which was wonderful. So I thought I should post the recipe here on the blog too. 

This recipe is one I remember my Grandma making often, and since it is such a simple recipe I can see why. I don’t know how she came to find the recipe, but in my family these are known as Grandma’s Oatmeal Biscuits. 

I found a handwritten copy of my Grandma’s of this recipe, and she has added cinnamon to it. No doubt when I copied out some of her recipes for myself around the age of 11 or 12, I decided I didn’t like cinnamon (despite having eaten many of these biscuits) as I left it out of my copy of the recipe, and sans cinnamon is how I have made them ever since. 

My Grandma’s Oatmeal Cookie Recipe

Beyond being very simple to make, another bonus to this recipe is that it uses self-raising flour! In right now, during the COVID-19 pandemic where all sorts of supermarket essentials are sold out, this is a massive win. Plain flour (and bread flour) all seem to be bought up by those who either had more foresight than the rest of us, or are genuinely stockpiling it. I often wonder about those who have stockpiled food, especially things found in the baking isle. Will they ever really use these items? 

Having the idea to bake your own bread and the like is one thing, but if you aren’t a confident bread baker, having it actually turn out well is another thing entirely. Not to mention to amount of time and effort that goes into baking such things. I would hazard a guess that after one attempt those who aren’t keen bakers (and who don’t actually really have said ‘time’ on their hands), wouldn’t attempt it again. There is also the fact that bakeries are still open (as I write this anyway), and bread can still be bought from supermarkets etc, so baking your own bread isn’t really essential. 

Hopefully being forced to stay home will encourage some to get into cooking and baking and it will be something they find they enjoy. I just hope the stockpiles of things that some have bought don’t end up going to waste.

How are you doing with everything that is going on right now? 

I am finding the constant push for us all to be productive and make the most of this ‘opportunity’ is just adding to the stress of the whole thing. This isn’t an opportunity, it’s a crisis. While some may find unintended uses for all the time we are spending at home, I don’t think we need to get to the end of this time (whenever that may be), and be able to show what we’ve achieved in it. I think the only real achievement will just be getting through it. 

Some days I feel ok, like I can tackle whatever I need to do. Others I feel at a loss as to what I should be doing. I am definitely someone who likes spending time at home, but even I am feeling a bit closed in not having the same opportunities to leave the house as I did. 

I am finding, as I usually do, that baking is what gets me through the bad days and helps me enjoy the good ones more. Obviously taking into account, not being frivolous with ingredients, I am baking every couple of days or so and these Oatmeal Cookies will be made a few times over I think by the time this whole thing has come to an end. 

I am also finding FaceTiming with friends immensely helpful, and just generally trying to be kind and understanding to myself about how I am feeling. I know there will be days were things seem really hard, but I also know that those days will pass. And that there will probably be a slice of cake or a cookie to enjoy regardless. 

Other Things I Have Found Helpful

Reading and Audiobooks

New Cookbooks & Cookbooks in General

Having Access to A Variety of Hand Creams and Moisturisers + Hand Sanitiser

Oatmeal Biscuits/Cookies

Ingredients: 

125g softened unsalted butter, or margarine

180g brown sugar

1 egg

120g self raising flour

130g rolled oats (not instant oats)

Method:

Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius, and line three large baking trays with baking paper.

In a large bowl cream the butter/margarine and brown sugar with a wooden spoon until combined. 

Add the egg and mix well. 

Fold in the self raising flour and the oats. 

Using a teaspoon, drop rough balls of the mixture on the the trays, keeping in mind the biscuits will spread when as they bake. 

Bake for 16-18 minutes or until golden brown. 

Allow to cook on the trays, and store in an airtight container once cooled. 

Makes approx. 36 biscuits. 

Rose Sugar Cookie Hearts

To be honest with you, I am not really ‘into’ Valentines Day. Unfortunately it seems like an over commercialised day, but my distain for Valentines Day doesn’t extend to heart shaped cookies, rose flavoured anything or pink icing. These things can be enjoyed any day of the year, and shared with those you love regardless of what day it is. 

I had the original idea for these about a year ago when I was testing recipes for my Baking with Rose eBook. I had an idea for a heart shaped shortbread with rose icing. As it turns out, the shortbread looked great, but I found they took on the moisture of the icing and went a bit soft. I ended up creating my Rose Cardamom and Pistachio Shortbread (sans any icing), which I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed. 

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Baking with Rose eBook Test Recipe

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Rose Cardamom & Pistachio Shortbread

Now a year later, I came back to the heart shaped cookie idea and knew that a sugar cookie was the only way to go. I added crystallised rose nibs (I buy mine here) and a few drops of natural rose extract, however you could definitely leave both of those out if you wanted. 

I used Gewürzhaus rose powder to colour and flavour the icing, however if you can’t get rose powder, just leave it out and add a little pink food colouring. You will still have the rose flavour from the rosewater, and they will still taste great (you may even need a little less rosewater than the recipe says if you aren’t using the rose powder). 

My Baking with Rose eBook is available here if you are interested in more rose recipes.

Gewurzhaus Rose Powder

Rose Sugar Cookie Hearts

Ingredients: 

200g unsalted butter, softened

200g caster sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste

5 drops natural rose extract, optional

15g crystallised rose nibs (or very finely chopped crystallised rose petals)

1 egg, lightly beaten 

400g plain flour 

Ingredients for the Icing: 

230g icing sugar

2 tsp rose powder (I used this one from Gewürzhaus)

2.5-3 tbsp rosewater

Method: 

Line three large baking trays with baking paper.

Place the butter, sugar, vanilla and rose extract if using in the bowl of a stand mixer and cream using the paddle attachment, until just combined. Add the crystallised rose nibs and mix until combined.

Slowly add the beaten egg to the mixture and mix until well combined. 

Add the flour and mix on low until just combined and the mixture forms a dough. 

Bring the dough into ball, remove from the bowl and cover in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 30-60 minutes. 

Lightly flour your work surface and tip the dough out onto it. Dust the top with a little more flour as well to prevent the dough sticking to your rolling pin. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out until it is about 5 mm thick. 

Use a medium sized heart shaped cookie cutter (approx. 7-7.5cm in width at the widest part) to cut out the cookies, placing on the prepared trays. Bring the dough together and re-roll when necessary to ensure you use all the dough. Place the cookie filled trays into the fridge for another 30 minutes. 

Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius. 

Bake the cookies for about 15 minutes, or until they are lightly golden around the edges. Rotate trays in the oven about half way through to ensure they cook and colour evenly. 

Allow the cookies to cool on their trays. 

To make the icing, mix the icing sugar and rose powder in a medium bowl, then gradually add 2 tbsp of the rosewater to form a smooth thick icing. Add a little more rosewater if the icing is too paste like. The icing needs to be fairly thick so the icing won’t run off the cookies, but not so thick its difficult to spread. 

Using a small palette knife ice half of each heart shaped cookie, and place back on their trays and allow the icing to set for a few hours. I found I had a little icing leftover at the end, but to be honest I’d rather have a little too much than not enough! You could always ice some of the biscuits fully rather than just half if you really wanted to use it all up. 

Allow the icing to set before storing in an airtight container. Will keep for about a week.

Makes about 36 heart shaped cookies.

Reference: ‘Cookies’ by Peggy Porschen (Quadrille Publishing, 2014), p.8. 

Cranberry and Caramilk Cookies

I had the idea for these cookies (or biscuits, I am still feeling conflicted as to which they should be called!), at work one day. A colleague of mine is American and her and another in our team where talking about Thanksgiving foods, as Thanksgiving was the following week. I heard them mention something about cranberry, and for some reason the idea for these biscuits just popped into my head. It probably wasn’t long after I had made my Raspberry and White Chocolate biscuits, on which this recipe is based. Maybe I just had biscuits on the brain. 

While I didn’t get a chance to make my new cookie idea before Thanksgiving, I did ensure I tried them out on Boxing Day. I had kept a bar of Cadbury Caramilk for my next biscuit batch, as while this white chocolate is already caramelised, I thought it would be great used in biscuits where the white chocolate has extra time to further caramelise in the oven. I’m so glad I used it as the Caramilk tastes great in these cookies, and if I can find anymore I will buy some and keep it for my next batch. 

These cookies are also great for this time of year, when we all hopefully have some time to bake, and maybe have some leftover dried fruit from making other Christmas-y things. I love using cranberries, but I’m sure other chopped dried fruit would be great too. 

I hope you are having a lovely festive season, and have a great start to 2020. If you want to keep up with my news and more baking talk, my weekly newsletter will be restarting a couple of weeks into January - to sign up click here. 

Cranberry and Caramilk Cookies

Ingredients: 

250g unsalted butter, softened or margarine (I use Proactiv Buttery)

200g brown sugar

100g white sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3 egg yolks

325g plain flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

200g dried cranberries, roughly chopped

180g bar Caramilk (or other white chocolate), chopped

Method: 

Beat the butter or margarine and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment until combined. Add the vanilla extract, then the egg yolks mixing until combined. 

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour and the baking soda, then add to the butter mixture and mix on a low speed until almost combined. Then add the cranberries and chopped Caramilk and mix until combined.

Remove the bowl from the stand mixer, cover and refrigerate for at least 30-40 minutes (the dough can also be shaped into two logs, covered with plastic wrap or baking paper and frozen at this point too). 

Pre-heat oven to 160 degrees Celsius and line 3-4 trays with baking paper. Once the dough has been in the fridge for 30-40 minutes, scoop out heaped tablespoons of the mixture and place on the prepared baking trays (leaving room for the biscuits to spread as they cook).

Bake for about 18 minutes (rotating trays halfway). The biscuits will be golden once done.

Allow to cool on their trays.

Store in an airtight container, they will keep for about 1 week.

Makes about 55 biscuits.

Reference: ‘The Violet Bakery Cookbook’ by Claire Ptak (Ten Speed Press, 2015), pp.140-1.