Cooking with Max.
Inspired somewhat by pussreboots, it must be said.
Last weekend we made peanut butter cookies (my first time ever at such a quick and easy classic). YUM said Mr TQD. YUM said Nell. YUM said I. YUK said Max.
Poor bear, after he was so good, stirring everything together, and watching them bake in the oven! Next time, I said, we'll put in chocolate chips. Next time, he said, we'll make chocolate chip chocolate cookies. (Can you see a theme there?)
This weekend comes around, and he wants to make chocolate cake for Monkey Bear and Mr Banana's birthday. (Not that it's their birthday or anything, Max just wanted a special m'casion [occasion] for baking.) I found a dead simple chocolate brownie recipe. However, I obviously do not know the difference between *cocoa* and *drinking chocolate*. D'oh, to say the least. Hey, I never claimed to be a chocoholic or have any knowledge beyond "bittersweet good, milk bad"! Ah well, Mr TQD & I are going to have fun scraping chocolate goo out of the muffin tins tonight. :)
PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 & 1/4 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
(And 75g unsalted natural peanuts, chopped, although we skipped that bit, and next time I'll chuck in a handful of choc chips.)
Beat together butter and peanut butter.
Gradually add the sugar and beat well.
Add the beaten egg a little at a time, until it is thoroughly combined.
Sieve the flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt into the peanut butter mixture.
Add the peanuts (choc chips!) and bring all the ingredients together to form a soft dough.
(Wrap and leave to chill for about 30 minutes. I completely missed this instruction, so is obviously not necessary! But it would make the next step less sticky.)
Form the dough into 20 balls and place them on to greased baking trays about 5cm apart. Flatten them slightly with your hands (or a fork, Max had fun doing that!).
Bake in a preheated oven (190C) for 15 min until golden brown.
Cool on a wire rack.
Not mentioned in the recipe: try to not make a complete pig of yourself over yummy soft warm cookies while your four (and a half) year old looks on in disgust. *He* knows that one should not have a treat without eating all of one's lunch/dinner first!
Last weekend we made peanut butter cookies (my first time ever at such a quick and easy classic). YUM said Mr TQD. YUM said Nell. YUM said I. YUK said Max.
Poor bear, after he was so good, stirring everything together, and watching them bake in the oven! Next time, I said, we'll put in chocolate chips. Next time, he said, we'll make chocolate chip chocolate cookies. (Can you see a theme there?)
This weekend comes around, and he wants to make chocolate cake for Monkey Bear and Mr Banana's birthday. (Not that it's their birthday or anything, Max just wanted a special m'casion [occasion] for baking.) I found a dead simple chocolate brownie recipe. However, I obviously do not know the difference between *cocoa* and *drinking chocolate*. D'oh, to say the least. Hey, I never claimed to be a chocoholic or have any knowledge beyond "bittersweet good, milk bad"! Ah well, Mr TQD & I are going to have fun scraping chocolate goo out of the muffin tins tonight. :)
PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 & 1/4 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
(And 75g unsalted natural peanuts, chopped, although we skipped that bit, and next time I'll chuck in a handful of choc chips.)
Beat together butter and peanut butter.
Gradually add the sugar and beat well.
Add the beaten egg a little at a time, until it is thoroughly combined.
Sieve the flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt into the peanut butter mixture.
Add the peanuts (choc chips!) and bring all the ingredients together to form a soft dough.
(Wrap and leave to chill for about 30 minutes. I completely missed this instruction, so is obviously not necessary! But it would make the next step less sticky.)
Form the dough into 20 balls and place them on to greased baking trays about 5cm apart. Flatten them slightly with your hands (or a fork, Max had fun doing that!).
Bake in a preheated oven (190C) for 15 min until golden brown.
Cool on a wire rack.
Not mentioned in the recipe: try to not make a complete pig of yourself over yummy soft warm cookies while your four (and a half) year old looks on in disgust. *He* knows that one should not have a treat without eating all of one's lunch/dinner first!