(no subject)
So it appears that when I am drunk I start talking about clothes, shoes and shopping and I will not shut up.
Argh, the shame.
By means of an apology*, I will make public this fantastic experimental recipe which I have just baked and found to be a rousing success. For SCIENCE! And CALORIES!
Of course, it's based on a couple of basic cookie recipes which I found on t'interweb, and of course it's American, so apologies to British readers for the use of cups and everything, but really if you don't have a set of measuring cups they're less than a fiver down most supermarkets which sell kitchenware.
Anyway: Lovely orangey Maya Gold chocolate chip cookies
Ingredients
4oz. butter (or one stick, for readers in for'n parts)
3/4 cup golden sugar (I don't think it matters if it's granulated or caster)
1 egg
1 and 1/4 cups plain flour
1 orange (medium sized)
1 bar of Green & Black's Maya Gold chocolate
Kit
One large mixing bowl
A hand mixer, if you have it, otherwise a big fork or spoon
Big knife
Chopping board
Grater or zester
Citrus juicer
Baking sheet(s) and baking parchment
An oven (duh!)
Method
Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Put some baking parchment on your baking tray(s) and put to one side.
Make sure the butter's good and soft and cream it together with the sugar.
Get the orange, and zest all of the skin right over the bowl. This means that not only the zest, but a lot of the lovely oil produced by the zesting goes into the mixture (Microplane owners will have it easiest).
Squeeze the zested orange and add half a tablespoon of the juice to the bowl. Drink the rest. It's healthy, and you'll need to get some sense of virtue out of this.
Beat the egg and add it to the rest.
Add some of the flour and mix it in thoroughly.
Now, roughly chop up your bar of chocolate into something vaguely chocolate chip sized, tip all of it into the mixture and stir it through.
Add the rest of the flour and mix it in.
NB: There's no real reason for you to add flour, then chocolate, then flour. I just find it easier to stir the chocolate through evenly when the mixture isn't stiffened up by all the flour. Your method may vary.
Now you will have quite a sticky dough and slightly orangey, slightly chocolately hands. This will not matter, because now you're going to scoop out bits of the dough and roll them into walnut-sized balls. Then put the dough balls onto the be-parchmented baking sheet or tray and press them down until they're about half an inch thick. Leave plenty of space between the balls because they will spread. Really spread. Do not underestimate the spreading which will happen. You should be able to get about 12 onto a baking sheet, maybe 8 onto a baking tray. Ultimately you'll get about twenty or so balls of dough from the amount you've made.
Put into the oven. It took 12 minutes to cook them in our fan oven, but ovens are variable, tempramental beasts, so put them in for 10 minutes to start with and have a look after 5 minutes to see if they're cooking evenly.
When they're done they will be a nice almondy brown around the edges and a nice light gold in the middle. Whip 'em out of the oven, let them cool on the trays for at least 10 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.
You should be okay to sneak one 20 minutes after they're out of the oven. The chocolate will still be a little melty. Mmmm. Melty.
Further notes - Don't be too picky about the sugar. If you want to use white sugar, go ahead. I prefer golden (unbleached) because I think it adds to the flavour and frankly, I'm not enamoured about the idea of bleached sugar. But I'm not going to dictate my pernicketyness to anyone else.
As you may have noticed, this is really easy to double up - in fact, it's adapted from recipes which did use double these ingredients. If you're expecting visitors, the double quantity recipe is best.
More importantly, you don't have to use Maya Gold. Chop up a bar of plain or milk chocolate instead or use a cup of chocolate chips. Your cookies, your choice!
*Because I express emotions through food, what with being my mother's daughter and it may be slightly dysfuntional but I don't hear you complaining over there, with your mouth full and everything, HUH?
Argh, the shame.
By means of an apology*, I will make public this fantastic experimental recipe which I have just baked and found to be a rousing success. For SCIENCE! And CALORIES!
Of course, it's based on a couple of basic cookie recipes which I found on t'interweb, and of course it's American, so apologies to British readers for the use of cups and everything, but really if you don't have a set of measuring cups they're less than a fiver down most supermarkets which sell kitchenware.
Anyway: Lovely orangey Maya Gold chocolate chip cookies
Ingredients
4oz. butter (or one stick, for readers in for'n parts)
3/4 cup golden sugar (I don't think it matters if it's granulated or caster)
1 egg
1 and 1/4 cups plain flour
1 orange (medium sized)
1 bar of Green & Black's Maya Gold chocolate
Kit
One large mixing bowl
A hand mixer, if you have it, otherwise a big fork or spoon
Big knife
Chopping board
Grater or zester
Citrus juicer
Baking sheet(s) and baking parchment
An oven (duh!)
Method
Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Put some baking parchment on your baking tray(s) and put to one side.
Make sure the butter's good and soft and cream it together with the sugar.
Get the orange, and zest all of the skin right over the bowl. This means that not only the zest, but a lot of the lovely oil produced by the zesting goes into the mixture (Microplane owners will have it easiest).
Squeeze the zested orange and add half a tablespoon of the juice to the bowl. Drink the rest. It's healthy, and you'll need to get some sense of virtue out of this.
Beat the egg and add it to the rest.
Add some of the flour and mix it in thoroughly.
Now, roughly chop up your bar of chocolate into something vaguely chocolate chip sized, tip all of it into the mixture and stir it through.
Add the rest of the flour and mix it in.
NB: There's no real reason for you to add flour, then chocolate, then flour. I just find it easier to stir the chocolate through evenly when the mixture isn't stiffened up by all the flour. Your method may vary.
Now you will have quite a sticky dough and slightly orangey, slightly chocolately hands. This will not matter, because now you're going to scoop out bits of the dough and roll them into walnut-sized balls. Then put the dough balls onto the be-parchmented baking sheet or tray and press them down until they're about half an inch thick. Leave plenty of space between the balls because they will spread. Really spread. Do not underestimate the spreading which will happen. You should be able to get about 12 onto a baking sheet, maybe 8 onto a baking tray. Ultimately you'll get about twenty or so balls of dough from the amount you've made.
Put into the oven. It took 12 minutes to cook them in our fan oven, but ovens are variable, tempramental beasts, so put them in for 10 minutes to start with and have a look after 5 minutes to see if they're cooking evenly.
When they're done they will be a nice almondy brown around the edges and a nice light gold in the middle. Whip 'em out of the oven, let them cool on the trays for at least 10 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.
You should be okay to sneak one 20 minutes after they're out of the oven. The chocolate will still be a little melty. Mmmm. Melty.
Further notes - Don't be too picky about the sugar. If you want to use white sugar, go ahead. I prefer golden (unbleached) because I think it adds to the flavour and frankly, I'm not enamoured about the idea of bleached sugar. But I'm not going to dictate my pernicketyness to anyone else.
As you may have noticed, this is really easy to double up - in fact, it's adapted from recipes which did use double these ingredients. If you're expecting visitors, the double quantity recipe is best.
More importantly, you don't have to use Maya Gold. Chop up a bar of plain or milk chocolate instead or use a cup of chocolate chips. Your cookies, your choice!
*Because I express emotions through food, what with being my mother's daughter and it may be slightly dysfuntional but I don't hear you complaining over there, with your mouth full and everything, HUH?