Raspberry & White Chocolate Cookies

29-09-2017 Local Black Bookbiscuits, cookies, raspberry, recipe, treats, vegetarian, white chocolateLeave a comment

I’ve already confessed most of my food obsessions – cake (obv.), dumplings, soup, tomato, peach…

But there’s still one I haven’t quite come around to talking about just yet…

So here it is – the admission of my unconditional love for Sainsbury’s white chocolate and raspberry cookies.

Crispy edges, soft and buttery middle, big chunks of milky white chocolate and bursts of tart raspberry – what’s no to love?

Except of course for the more than obscure ingredient list.

Nothing a quick update to my trusty go-to cookie recipe couldn’t fix though!

The perfect combination of crunchy, chewy & gooey, big chunks of chocolate and tangy raspberry with none of the nasties… Those raspberry & white chocolate cookies are possibly even better than the original!

Absolutely perfect if people suddenly decide to pop round for a cuppa. You can whip them up in a few minutes, pretend you slaved away in the kitchen for hours and get all the cookie points!

Seriously, get this recipe under your belt & you’ll never want a store bought cookie again – sorry Sainsbury’s!

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Pile them high and serve with a mug of something warming and delicious!

They’ll keep in a tin for about a week but they’re berry addictive so good luck with that!

Poppy Seed & Parmesan Cheese Biscuits

03-06-2017 Local Black Bookbaking, biscuits, cheddar, cheese, cookies, parmesan, poppy seed, recipe, snack, vegetarian1 Comment

Cravings are an evil, evil thing.

Picture this. You’re sitting on the coach, minding your own business (read: trying your hardest not to watch the entire season of House of Cards in one go) when, coming from nowhere, the idea of crunchy, crumbly cheese biscuits pops up into your mind.

You try to push it away, but there’s nothing to be done. Before you know it, you find yourself rummaging through your kitchen cupboards, hoping you have all the ingredients to make your craving dreams come true.

If you’re lucky, you’ll avoid the late-night visit to your closest Tesco Express to pick up the missing bits. Otherwise… well, you’ll just have to go, won’t you?

Then it’s time to get measuring, mixing, and baking, peering through the oven door and wishing the time to pass quicker so you can -finally- get your hands on those long anticipated cheese biscuits.

That’s the thing about cravings: they make you do crazy things. Like a supermarket run / baking session in the middle of the night.

But after that first crumbly cheese biscuit bite, you can’t help but think that it was all worth it.

You know what they say… Sweet dreams are made of cheese!

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More snack recipes:

Coconut curry roasted cashews

Chocolate madeleines

Cinnamon & Ginger Thumbprint Cookies

02-12-2016 Local Black Book12 biscuits of Christmas, biscuit, biscuits, Christmas, cinnamon, cookie, cookies, ginger, recipe, snack, treat1 Comment

J-23 guys! 23 more days til the most wonderful time of the year and I cannot wait! And really, what better way to get in the festive mood than a plate of spicy, cinnamon-ey cookies?

Nothing. My point exactly.

For me, that first bite of something sweet, crumbly and unmistakably cinnamon-ey is what marks the official start of the festive season.

Most years, mince pies are the way this happens (and I absolutely love it that way!).

But this year was different. This year, that ‘first bite’ was one of these gorgeous, homemade Cinnamon & Ginger Curd Thumbprint Cookies.

Flavoured with the warm aromas of cinnamon and ginger, they are the super Christmas-sy version of the already quite Christmas-sy jam thumbprint cookies.

They’re super easy to make (absolutely no need to be a smart cookie!) and with all these spices, they definitely make for the perfect seasons’ greetings!

Cinnamon & Ginger Thumbprint Cookies (makes 30)

For the cookie dough:

200g flour + some for dusting
100g granulated sugar
125g soft unsalted butter
4 egg yolks
a small pinch of salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon

To garnish:

100 ml (about 1/3 jar) Granny Cool Ginger Curd (this thing is the absolute BOMB!)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1. In a big bowl, whisk together the egg yolks with the sugar and salt until it becomes fluffy and doubles in volume.

2. Add in the flour and cinnamon and mix. You should get a crumbly texture, not dissimilar to that of crumble, only much finer.

3. Incorporate the butter and knead lightly until the dough comes together, adding more flour as you go if necessary.

4. Wrap the dough in greaseproof paper and let it rest in the fridge for about 30 min.

5. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Take the dough out of the fridge and shape into balls the size of a large cherry.

6. Place the balls about 5cm apart on prepared baking sheets. Press a thumbprint into the center of each ball, about 1 cm deep.

7. Bake for 15 min.

8. Let the cookies cool entirely. Fill each indentation with about 3/4 tsp ginger curd, then dust the cookies with ground cinnamon.

Halloween Monster Brookies

28-10-2016 Local Black Bookbaking, brookie, brookies, brownie, brownies, cake, chocolate, cookie, cookies, halloween, recipe2 Comments

Sure you can buy them in the stores, but there’s something special and fun about making your own Halloween treats.

As far as I’m concerned the spookiest day of the year is as good an excuse as any to bake a batch of favourite sweet treats… And everybody knows that brownies are the way to my heart.

Now, I’m a big fan of the traditional recipe, but trust me when I say Brookies, the genius crossing between brownies and cookies, are next level good.

Chewy, crumbly, super chocolate-y and just a tiny bit spooky, these Monster Brookies are the ultimate Halloween-win treat, and you definitely want a batch (or three) of those in your life ASAP!

Halloween Monster Brookies (makes 6 monster-sized cookies)

Ingredients:

120g 70% dark chocolate
15g butter
75g caster sugar
30g cornflour
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg
15g chocolate chips
30g Smarties
a few drops dark food coloring (or, even better, a food-safe black pencil)

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

2. Place the chocolate and butter in a bowl and set over a pan of simmering water. Stir until melted and combined, then remove from the heat.

3. In the meantime, combine the sugar, cornflour, baking powder and egg and whisk until light and fluffy. Add the chocolate-butter mixture and mix until well combined.

4. Spoon tablespoons of mixture onto baking trays lined with baking paper, making sure you leave enough space inbetween them (they spread A LOT while baking). Dot the top of the cookies with the chocolate chips and Smarties.

5. Bake for 12-13 min in the preheated oven, then set aside to cool before drawing eyes using the black food colouring.

Sea salt and chocolate chips cookies

09-12-2015 Local Black Bookbaking, cake, chocolate, chocolate chips, cookies, cooking, recipe, treats2 Comments

I recently re-discovered a recipe I used to be kind of addicted to.

Back when I was in my last year of High School, I developped an addiction to baking as a way to release stress. So much so that in the last few weeks before my exams, I baked up to 3 cakes a day. My brother and sister were really happy with this situation, my dad, not so much.

These cookies (or one of their variations) were amongst the usual suspects back then (together with this little wonder) and there wasn’t a week I wouldn’t bake at least one batch.

And then, God knows why, I stopped.

Continue reading “Sea salt and chocolate chips cookies” →

Rustic Peanut Butter Cookies

03-12-2015 Local Black Book12 biscuits of Christmas, advent, baking, Christmas, cookie, cookies, dessert, peanut butter, presents, recipe4 Comments

It’s starting to look a lot like Christmas.

There are so many things to love this time of the year it’s hard for me to choose a favourite.

But Christmas cookies are definitely amongst my favourite traditions and I always bake a few of them in case anyone is still hungry after the festive feasts (nobody is but the cookies still get eaten…).

And this year, those rustic but rather wonderful Peanut Butter Cookies will definitely be part of my selection! Continue reading “Rustic Peanut Butter Cookies” →

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Raspberry & White Chocolate Cookies

Poppy Seed & Parmesan Cheese Biscuits

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Sea salt and chocolate chips cookies