Peanut Butter Cookies

There is a cookie for everyone. No one can resist a good cookie to go with a glass of milk or a cup of tea/coffee.

The important question for me would be: Chewy or Crunchy?
I like my cookies crunchy - chewy ones remind me of flapjacks.

Nutty cookies are my favourite as the nuts help to cancel out some of the sweetness of the cookies and make them very more-ish. Have you tried Mark and Spencer's crunchy pistachio cookies? Best cookies, EVER. I will be trying to recreate it at a later date, when I have moved in and settled in to my new abode.
I have already moved in but the stress of a first time home ownership and work has made me go quiet of late so I do apologise but fingers crossed that's me getting motivated again. I have been in my new house for 2 weeks now and I still haven't unpacked everything - I still need to clean the old place to hand back to the landlord so still freaking out a little!

Right, back to the cookies. I must admit, cookies are not my strong point and I have only been successful with 3 cookie recipes in my baking life:
Choc chip cookies - recipe from Marcus Wareing's "How to Cook the Perfect...".
Oatmeal Cookies.
And the Peanut Butter Cookies recipe below. I found this recipe in one of the first baking books I ever bought (from a 99p shop!) and I still go back to it for inspiration at times. This book is simply called, "Home Baking".
Again, I adjusted the ingredients and baking time slightly in order to achieve a more nutty taste. 
What's your favourite cookie?

Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

115g Butter, softened

120g Crunchy Peanut Butter

100g Golden Caster Sugar

80g Dark Muscovado Sugar(original recipe asks for light but I prefer the nuttiness of the dark)

1 Egg, beaten

1/2 tsp Vanilla Essence

85g Plain Flour

1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

pinch of salt

115g Rolled Oats

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180ºC and prep 2-3 baking sheets by greasing them.
• Place the butter and peanut butter in a bowl and beat until well combined.

• Beat in both the sugars until light.
• Gradually beat in the egg and vanilla essence.

• Sift together the flour, bicarb, baking powder and salt, then add to the peanut butter mixture.
• Add the oats and stir everything together.
• Drop spoonfuls of the mixture on to your baking sheets, spacing them well apart.

• Flatten slightly with a fork.

• Bake for 12-15 mins, until lightly browned. If you want them to be more crunchy then check on them every minute or so after 13mins to ensure they don't burn.

• Cool on the sheets for 2mins and then transfer them to wire racks to finish off the cooling process.

Great with a cup of espresso!

Coffee Chiffon

I love Chiffon cakes. Fact.

Easy (ish) to make, no fuss and no need to decorate.

Light and moist texture that can be eaten on it's own with a good cup of coffee/tea.

I remember the first time I made this coffee chiffon, it was for my brother's birthday and he specifically requested not to have a cake made for him (due to the fact that he's not a fan of sweet things) but I couldn't let him go without a birthday cake. He loves coffee, so I searched for ages for a coffee chiffon recipe and when I eventually found one that I was kind of satisfied with, I reduced the sugar by almost a half; using what knowledge I already knew about Chiffon cakes, at the time, to tweak the recipe. 

I used cream for the middle to add an element of freshness - it worked wonderfully and the bro really enjoyed it. Happy days!

Bro and Ella with his birthday cake.

The second time I made this, the texture was even better but the sponge lacked any flavour of coffee and I was so gutted. The reason was simple, I changed the coffee I was using. 

The coffee I used the first time was made using Nescafe Original coffee granules.

The coffee I used the second time was made using Nescafe Azera. 

Now, Azera costs more and is supposed to give a more "authentic" barista style coffee so it baffled me as to why it tasted of nothing when added to the cake!

My advice to anyone trying this recipe out, is to play around with the coffee you use and once you find the perfect one, don't change!

I am still searching for the right coffee for my Coffee Chiffon - once I find it, I will be amending this post!

If you find the perfect coffee to add to this, please comment below and share with us!

For now, I hope you like this recipe.

Coffee Chiffon

Ingredients: 

A:

300g Plain Flour

150g Caster Sugar

1tbsp Baking Powder

Pinch of Salt

125ml Vegetable Oil

150ml Fresh Coffee

8 Egg Yolks

B:

8 Egg Whites

1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar

90g Caster Sugar

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 170ºC.
• Sieve the dry ingredients from list A in to a large mixing bowl.
• Make a well in the flour.
• Put the rest of the ingredients from list A in to the well and mix with a balloon whisk until the mixture is smooth, but make sure you don't over mix it.

• Beat the whites and Cream of Tartar until foamy, gradually add the sugar from B and continue whisking until stiff peaks form.

• Fold the stiff whites in to the coffee mix in 2-3 separate batches - I use a balloon whisk for this but you can use a spatula, whatever is easier for you.

• Fold carefully but quickly until all egg white lumps are gone and then use a large spatula to complete the folding.

• Pour carefully in to a Chiffon Tube Pan. Lift the pan an inch or 2 above the work top and drop it - do this a couple of times to remove large air pockets.

• Bake for about 65-70mins - remembering that different ovens vary so check after 60 mins - using the skewer method to check it is done. Cool upside down in the tin for at least 20mins. I usually let it cool completely in the tin.

• To remove the cake, use a thin sharp knife and run it around the side of the cake and tin, then once you have taken it out, run the knife along the bottom and inside the tube part to get the cake off the rest of the pan.

You can decorate it however you like - maybe with a caramel sauce? Fresh cream? Sprinkled with walnuts? 

I prefer it plain with no filling or icing and have it with a nice cup of tea.

I Decorated the one below with a chocolate ganache and filled with a whipped ganache.

Scones

Ah, the good old scone. Dolloped with clotted cream and some good old homemade strawberry jam. What a luxury.

I have NEVER had a good scone from a supermarket or bakery. They may look good but I was always disappointed by the hard, chewy textures. Even when I made my first scone in Home Ec, it was a big fat fail. In my mind, scones are supposed to be soft and fluffy inside so that when you bite in to it, there is the textural differences between that and the crumble exterior (maybe not crumble, but it isn't hard or crispy!).
I had pretty much given up on scones, until I went to Poole in the summer of 2011.
Poole is a coastal town at the southern coast of England and I was there for a couple of months on business. During the last month I was there, M and I had come across this tearoom and decided to go in as it looked very mysterious and very different to the rest of the town centre. 

As we entered the small archway,  we walked through this very narrow old stone alley and in to, what looked like someone's kitchen. There was very limited seating but then you go across the small beautiful courtyard and in to this other room (which looked like a converted shed) that was much more comfortable and roomy.
It was in this room that I tried the best scones I have ever tasted in my life. I had never tasted anything like it and to have it with clotted cream (that was a first for me too) and jam, was just heaven! I will never forget it and nor will I forget the lovely owner who took the time out to talk to me about her tearoom, how she sourced her teapots, even gave me the name of the company that supplied her teas to her and let me have a special blend of tea that I chose myself.

As soon as I returned to Scotland, I had this huge urge to look for a great scone recipe and perfect it. When I finally got the results I was after, I vowed I would never share my scone recipe.

Yeah, I caved.

This recipe is so easy to do and it will make you regret having ever bought those awful supermarket ones again.

Key pointers:

1. Handle the dough as little as possible - working it too much will cause the gluten in the flour to start working, creating a tougher scone.
2. It's okay to use a food processor to blend the flour and butter together - as long as you pulse it just enough to get to the "breadcrumb" stage then you will be fine. Saves you time and cramps in the fingers.
3. Don't be tempted in to adding more flour! The dough is meant to be quite damp/sticky so lightly flouring your fingers and counter should be sufficient. If you add more flour you will end up with tough, dry scones.
4. When you lift the cutter from the dough, don't twist to release - this will prevent the scone from rising properly.
5. Make sure you egg wash doesn't run down the sides of the scones, this will prevent a good rise. 
6. Preheat your baking sheet - the initial heat will start the cooking process as soon as the scones hit the sheet, which gives a more even bake and a better rise.
7. Don't worry about making "perfect" shaped scones - there is no such thing. Rustic looks pretty perfect to me and as long as they taste great, who cares what they look like!

Good Luck! 

Scones (makes approx 8)

Ingredients

350g Self Raising Flour

pinch of Salt

1 tsp Baking Powder

3 tbsp Caster Sugar

85g Cold Butter, cubed

175ml Milk

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Squeeze of Lemon Juice

Beaten Egg for glazing

Method

• Preheat oven to 220ºC.
• Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder then stir in the sugar.
• Place it in the food processor, along with the cold butter and pulse until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Put it all in a bowl afterwards.

• Warm the milk in the microwave for approximately 30 secs. Ensure it is warm and not hot! 
• Add the lemon juice and vanilla.

• Make a well in the flour and pour the milk mixture in to the well.

• Using a cutlery knife, combine the flour and milk until it just comes together. Try not to work it too much.

• Tip the dough on to your floured worktop and using your floured fingertips, fold the dough 2-3times just to smooth the dough out. 
• Pat the dough in to a disc, about 4cm thick.
• Dip a 5cm cutter in to flour and plunge it in to the dough to cut out scones. Gently press the leftovers together and repeat the patting down and cutting until you have no dough left.

• Brush the tops with the egg and then place them (carefully!) on the hot baking sheet.

• Bake for 10mins until golden and well risen and cool on a wire rack.

Best eaten warm with a dollop of clotted cream and some homemade jam! (check out my previous post for the jam recipe)

If you can't finish it, freeze them once they have cooled. Defrost before refreshing them in a preheated oven (160ºC) for a few minutes.

ENJOY!!