Soft and gooey chocolate chip cookies

WARNING : This recipe is not for those watching their waist or intake of calories!!!

It’s been a while since I wrote about desserts which is unusual because I do (as does my partner) have a sweet tooth. It’s time to break my absence from the world of sugar and fat so here goes.

A few years ago, mum went to one of those evening classes run for adults. At the end of the 8-10 week session, they had a bring-a-plate party. I can’t remember what mum took to it but she did come back with a small serviette-wrapped bundle of chocolate chip cookies. She said that she’d taken one bite and decided that it was right up my alley so she’d wrapped up the rest for me. She went one step further and asked the lady for her recipe given how much I liked baking. I love you mum. This recipe remains my only and favourite chocolate chip cookie recipe. The thing I like most about this recipe is that the cookies are actually soft to the bite. This might not be to everyone’s liking but one can’t please everyone !

Without much adieu, let me give you the recipe. The pictures for this lot of cookies were taken as I baked a batch for my partner’s brother and friends who visited us recently.

Dark chocolate lava oozes out of a freshly baked cookie

Hazelnut, Coconut and Apricot cookies (adapted from a Donna Hay recipe)

This recipe is unfortunately not for those who have nut and dried fruit allergies. It is full of flavour and texture and my partner declared it my best cookie ever.  The house smelt amazing while these were baking and though the original recipe says to only bake it for 20 mins, my cookies took nearly an hour to bake at 160ºC (probably my crappy oven). The result was a cookie that was crisp on the outside (especially the coconut) and still slightly moist on the inside.  The 225gms of butter that went into this recipe might have something to do with its awesomeness.

For those who don’t know, Donna Hay is an Australian food stylist (whatever that means) and magazine editor. All I can say is all Donna Hay recipes that I have tried have been a success. The proportions she mentions are perfect and she is one of the few chefs whose recipes I tend to use as is. If you come across a magazine/cook book written by Donna, do give it a glance and you will find something that to whet your appetite for cooking.

Hazelnut, apricot and coconut cookies

Gingernuts

Gingernuts are my favourite tea biscuit! The word ‘gingernut’ always reminds me of a dear German friend. Like me, she too loved gingernuts. So when we set off on an Easter road trip through the North Island of New Zealand we made sure we were well stocked with gingernuts. Half way through this trip, a conversation about gingernuts lead me to inform her that there weren’t any nuts in gingernuts. She felt a bit let down by this but her love for gingernuts lived on (I think).

This particular recipe is from one of my ex-colleagues. She brought them to a meeting once and I loved them so much that I annoyed her until she parted with the recipe. She said that the biscuits never taste the same twice  and I have discovered that this is indeed true. Sometimes they are soft like gingerbread and other times hard and crunchy and great for dunking into a cup of tea/coffee/milk. I hope you like this recipe as much as I do.

Gingernuts and tea