Gooey, fruity & nutty chocolate chip cookies!

It’s a miserable day outside so I decided to get baking. What better way to deal with the cold than to make cookies and have them with tea (or coffee) sitting in front of the fire – and this is the result – Enjoy!

Preparation: 10 minutes                    

Cooking: 15-20 minutes

Oven: 190 C (fan 170 C)                 

Equipment: 2 x greased & lined trays

Makes 12 large cookies

Ingredients

75g chopped hazelnuts

75g sultanas

100g white chocolate chips

180g plain flour

110g dark brown sugar

120g butter (soft)

1 level teaspoon baking powder

1 level teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg

Method

• Put all the ingredients - apart from the nuts, sultanas & chocolate chips - in a bowl and mix with a hand mixer or a wooden spoon (I used my hands – great fun if you want to get children into baking).
• Once mixed add the rest of the ingredients and mix to combine all the items. Don’t over mix or the dough will become too wet.
• Divide the mixture into 12 balls and place on the 2 trays with ample space in between for the cookies to spread. I put 6 cookies on each tray.
• Put in the oven and after 10 minutes turn the trays around to get an even bake - check after 15 minutes and if they look golden and crisp the cookies are done. It is important to keep an eye after 15 minutes or the cookies may burn at the edges.
• Once cooked, leave to cool on the tray for 5 minutes before removing carefully using a spatula. Let the cookies cool down completely before putting them in a sealed container where it will keep for 3 days unless devoured by cookie monsters!

Notes

1. You can use any combination of nuts, fruits and chocolate chips so feel free to add or remove as you like.
2. Make smaller sized cookies by making teaspoon sized balls but make sure you check the cookies after 10 minutes as cooking times will reduce. You should be able to get up to 30 small cookies.

Carrot cake with cream cheese icing

Here, after a couple of busy days, is the recipe to go with the pictures below! I used a mix of white and wholemeal flour to give it some texture and lots of carrots to make the cake moist. The cake will keep for up to three days but in our house it does not even last a day!

Preparation:  20 minutes             

Cooking: 1 hour

Tin size: 23 cm round or 20 cm square greased and lined with baking paper

Oven: 180C (fan 160C)

Ingredients

3 cups thickly grated carrots

1 plain flour

¾ cup whole meal flour

1 ½ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon ginger

½ teaspoon mixed spice

¾ cup roughly chopped walnuts

¾ cup sultanas

3 large eggs

1 ½ cups dark brown sugar

¾ cup vegetable oil

Method

• Whisk oil and sugar together until combined.
• Add eggs one at a time beating well into the mixture.
• Sift flours, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda & spices over the wet mix and stir with a metal spoon until almost combined.
• Then add the grated carrots, sultanas and walnuts – mix well with the spoon.
• Pour into the prepared tin & bake for 60 minutes or until a skewer (inserted in the middle) comes out with clean/with little crumbs. Check the cake after 40 minutes and cover with baking paper if browning too much.
• Cool in tin, then tip out on a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled, spread with icing of your choice.

Cream cheese icing

Take 250g full fat cheese and mix with a wooden spoon till smooth. Add 1 ½ cups sifted icing sugar, 1 ½ teaspoons of finely grated lemon rind and 1 ½ teaspoons of lemon juice and mix until well combined. Spread over the cake and chill in fridge for one hour before serving.

Notes

• If you don’t like icing then just give a dusting of icing sugar or simply eat plain – the cake is yummy eaten warm or cold.
• If you don’t like nuts, substitute with half a cup extra of sultanas.
• To make the cake more decorative, place whole walnuts on top of the cake mix before baking.

Apple and yoghurt cake with sultanas

This cake was given to me by my sister Saira.  I was looking for a light cake which would satisfy my sweet tooth and also reduce the fat content a bit - no I am not a health freak but like to try lighter versions as they leave me satisfied and feeling less guilty!

Serves 6 generous slices

This version of the cake has brown sugar to give a
crunchy top

Ingredients

3 oz sugar

4 oz plain or all purpose flour

4 tbsp low fat yoghurt

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla essence

3-4 hard apples peeled, cored and sliced (thick or thin - it's up to you)

1 small cup raisins

Method

	Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees (160 for fan oven)
	Grease and line an 8 inch loose bottom cake tin.
	Beat sugar and eggs with vanilla until the mixture becomes light and fluffy
	Add the flour and beat well.  Add yoghurt and beat for a couple of minutes till the mixture is smooth.
	Put sliced apples and raisins and mix together.  Pour the mixture into prepared tin and bake for 25 minutes or until firm to touch.
	Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or custard along with a nice hot cup of tea!

Note:  The mixture will be wet so don't worry about it.  If the mixture looks runny, just add some more flour before adding the fruit.  This cake is good warm or cold but always refrigerate once cooled and it will keep for two days.

If you want to give it a richer look sprinkle top with brown sugar then bake as above. This will give a nice shiny (and crunchy) finish to the cake as seen in the picture above.