Pistachio White Chocolate Cookies

 

Been a while since I baked. I was meant to bake over Easter but I was sick so couldn't and been wanting to try these for ages as I'm obsessed with pistachio. I had a bag of shelled unsalted pistachios from Aldi which I spent ages de-shelling and then crushed them. I didn't use the full bag as I'd eaten most of them. I used left over white chocolate coins we still had from Christmas.

Ingredients:

125g Unsalted Butter - Softened

(Take it out over night)

100g Light Muscovado Sugar

100g Caster/White Sugar

1 Egg

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

225g Self Raising Flour

½ Tsp Salt

50g Crushed Unsalted Pistachios

50g White Chocolate

What you need:

Mixing Bowl

2 Bowls

Wooden Spoon

Measuring Spoons

Sieve

Electric Whisk

Fork

Flat Baking Trays

Baking Paper

Oven 180°C

Baking time 7-8 minutes

Method:

Make sure you take your butter out the night before so it's nice and soft. 

Mix the butter with the 2 sugars with the wooden spoon first - as the Muscovado sugar is quite dry and lumpy - it stops it flying everywhere. Then when it's partly mixed you can use your electric whisk until it turns pale and creamy. Use your wooden spoons to check the consistency.

In a little bowl beat your egg and vanilla with a fork.

Once they have been mixed you can pour it into your mixture and using your electric whisk, whisk until well mixed. Then use your wooden spoon again to check.

Then sift your flour and salt and mix it together with your electric whisk using your wooden spoon to check consistency.

Add the pistachio and white chocolate and mix using your electric whisk. Once they have been mixed in, roll your dough into balls and place them onto your lined trays.

Bake in the oven for 7-8 minutes.

Leave them to cool on the tray for a couple of minutes then transfer onto a wire rack.

I could have done with more pistachio but because I was meant to make these over Easter I'd eaten some of the pistachios and only used what I had left. Cookies look really pale as I used light muscovado sugar rather than dark. Using light makes them not as sweet and dark is a lot more caramelised.


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Matcha White Chocolate Cookies

Think I've finally mastered how to make the perfect cookies! Think the secret is Dark Muscovado sugar - the recipe says light brown sugar but this was the only sugar we had in so I just went for it and it worked!

Ingredients:

125g Unsalted Butter - Softened

(Take it out over night)

100g Dark Muscovado Sugar

100g Caster/White Sugar

1 Egg

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

225g Self Raising Flour

½ Tsp Salt

1 Tbsp Matcha Powder

100g White Chocolate

What you need:

Mixing Bowl

2 Bowls

Wooden Spoon

Measuring Spoons

Sieve

Electric Whisk

Fork

Flat Baking Trays

Baking Paper

Oven 180°C

Baking time 7-8 minutes

Method:

Make sure you take your butter out the night before so it's nice and soft.

Mix the butter with the 2 sugars with the wooden spoon first - as the Muscovado sugar is quite dry and lumpy - it stops it flying everywhere. Then when it's partly mixed you can use your electric whisk until it turns pale and creamy. Use your wooden spoons to check the consistency.

In a little bowl beat your egg and vanilla with a fork.

Once they have been mixed you can pour it into your mixture and using your electric whisk, whisk until well mixed. Then use your wooden spoon again to check.

Then sift your flour, salt and matcha powder in and mix it together with your wooden spoon. Add the chocolate then use the electric whisk until well combined using the wooden spoon to check consistency.

Once your chocolate has been mixed in roll your dough into balls and place them onto your lined trays.

Bake in the oven for 7-8 minutes.

Leave them to cool on the tray for a minute or two then transfer onto a wire rack.

We'll see tomorrow whether they stay chewy.. But definitely a lot more like the cookies I've been trying to bake for years! Soft and chewy consistency.

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Biscuit Spread Cookies

Biscuit spread cookies - simple 3 ingredients super quick and easy to make. A variation of the 3 ingredients peanut butter cookies I made a while back!

Ingredients:

250g Biscuit Spread

1 Egg

50g Porridge Oats

This is Aldi's version of crunchy Biscoff spread which tastes exactly the same just cheaper!

You can use any biscuit spread you have crunchy or smooth.

Utensils:

Mixing Bowl

Scales

Electric Whisk

Wooden Spoon

Spoon

Fork

Flat Baking Trays

Baking Paper

Oven 180°C

160°C fan

Baking time: 8-10 minutes

Makes approx 20+ cookies

Method:

Mix the biscuit spread and egg in a mixing bowl with your electric whisk

Chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes until it's firmed up.

Once it's firmed up add your porridge oats and mix with your wooden spoon until well combined

Roll the dough into a ball with your hands and place them on your baking tray.

Using a fork press down on the ball then again at a 90°C angle.

This will help the cookies bake more evenly.

Bake for 8-10 minutes until the bottom of the cookies are golden.

These take a little longer than the peanut butter cookies to make as you have to chill it in the fridge for 30 mins but they're just as easy to make and taste better. I wasn't sure how they would turn out or whether it would work and it was a very experimental bake but thought it has the same texture as peanut butter so should work! However the biscuit spread is quite greasy and wet so I had to chill it and put the porridge oats to dry out the dough as I did originally just have the biscuit spread with an egg but it just wasn't going to work.

So if you don't know what to do with your biscuit spread other than eat it straight out the jar or just putting it into everything which I have been doing you can try these simple and quick cookies!

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Matcha Coconut Cookies

 A year later and we're still in a lockdown but the 3rd and I'm still baking cookies.. This variant is Matcha and Coconut!

Ingredients:

112g Unsalted Butter

(Half a block of butter at room temperature)

100g Caster Sugar

110g Soft Brown Sugar

1 Egg

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

158g Plain Flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

¼ tsp salt

1 tsp Matcha Powder

100g Desiccated Coconut

Utensils:

Mixing Bowl

Electric Whisk

Wooden Spoon

Measuring Spoons

Scales

2 Smaller Bowls

Fork

Sieve

Cling Film

Knife

Chopping Board

2 Baking Trays

Baking Paper

Oven 180°C / 160°C fan

Baking time 8-10 minutes

Method:

Mix the butter with the 2 sugars with your electric whisk until it turns pale and creamy. Use your wooden spoons to check the consistency.

In a small bowl beat your egg and vanilla extract with a fork.

Then pour that into your mixture and whisk with your electric whisk. Then use your wooden spoon again to check it's well mixed.

Once it has been mixed you can sift in all your dry ingredients - flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, matcha and salt. Add your coconut also but it doesn't need to be sifted. You don't need your electric whisk no more - mix with your wooden spoon but try not to over mix it

Once it's all mixed roll out a piece of cling film and put your dough onto it and roll it into a sausage shape securing at both ends. Place into the freezer for 30 mins this will stop the dough from over spreading when baked.

After 30 mins just cut thin pieces and roll the dough into a ball using your hands and place onto your lined baking trays leaving enough space between each one to spread.

Bake between 8-10 minutes depending on your oven. If you want soft cookies bake until the edges have turned golden then take them out and leave them on the tray as they will continue to bake. Then transfer onto a wire rack to cool completely. 

These will keep for a few days and if you want that fresh out the oven softness put them in the microwave for about 20 seconds and they will be like freshly baked out the oven!

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Fruit and Fibre Cereal Cookies

Another lockdown which means another bake... So here's another cookie recipe...

First bake of the year and post with a new phone which means a fancy new camera!

Wanted to try something new and a bit different so these are Fruit and Fibre Cereal Cookies. Yep fruit and fibre cereal in the cookies! I've seen cornflake cookies online so thought why not try it with a different cereal as it has bran flakes, banana chips, coconut shavings, sultanas and hazelnuts. They all work in cookies so why not give it a try. Didn't quite work out how I thought they would but they're edible so if you want to give it a try here's how...

Ingredients:

112g Unsalted Butter

(Half a block of butter at room temperature, taken out the night before)

90g Caster Sugar

100g Soft Brown Sugar

1 Egg

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

158g Plain Flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

¼ tsp Salt

100g Fruit and Fibre Cereal

(Finely crushed with your hands)

Utensils:

Mixing Bowl

Electric Whisk

Wooden Spoon

Measuring Spoons

Scales

2 Smaller Bowls

Fork

Sieve

2 Baking Trays

Baking Paper

Oven 180°C

Baking Time: 8 - 10 Minutes

Method:

Mix the butter with the 2 sugars until it turns pale and creamy.

That is how it should look but I forgot to take my butter out the fridge the night before so it was only out for about 3/4 hours before I needed to use it and because it's cold it didn't real soften. So you don't want it to be like this...

It just never went creamy as the butter was still cold.

In a small bowl beat your egg and vanilla extract.

Pour it into you mixture and whisk again until it is well combined.

Sieve your flour, baking powder, bicarb of soda and salt into your mixture.

You no longer need the electric whisk. 

Mix your dough with the wooden spoon.

Once the dry ingredients have been mixed in add your crushed cereal and mix.

Put some flour on your hands and roll your dough into balls and place them onto your baking trays lined with baking paper. The dough might be quite wet and greasy - mine was as the butter was starting to melt as I was handling it.

Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes. Then leave on the tray for 5 minutes before transferring onto a wire rack to completely cool.

Mine spread loads as the butter was melting as I was handling it. I should have chilled the dough in the fridge for a bit before baking it.

I accidentally put too much sugar in it and it's super sweet so I've lowered the amount of sugar in the recipe. This is the good thing with baking you do learn as you go along so next time they will be a lot better!

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