Blueberry Breakfast Cookies

Winter is heeeeeeere! I know it’s a faux pas to talk about the weather too much but as a chronic warm-body winter is the only time of year I can stand having more than one layer on. It also means we can bust out Coco’s extensive collection of dog jumpers and now she’s too old to put up a fight (15, yo).

The only problem with winter is that my breakfast smoothies become slightly less appealing due to the can’t-feel-my-fingers-any-more factor. These cookies are an awesome make-ahead option that you can chuck in your bag to munch on before work/school/ sitting at home watching Glee etc. (DON’T JUDGE ME!).

If you go with frozen blueberries use them straight from the freezer, don’t let them sit around at room temperature for too long. This will make them more likely to leak colour and make your cookies grey, but it won’t affect their flavour.

Blueberry Breakfast Cookies

Only slightly adapted from Blueberry Breakfast Cookies over at How Sweet It Is.

2 cups rolled oats

1 cup + 2 tbsp whole wheat flour

2 tbsp brown sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

115g dark choc chips

2 ripe bananas, mashed

1 large egg

2 1/2 tbsp butter, melted

2 1/2 tbsp coconut oil, melted

3 tbsp milk

3 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups frozen blueberries

Preheat the oven to 175 C and line a large baking tray with baking paper.

In a large bowl mix together the oats, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and choc chips.

In a medium bowl whisk together the banana, egg, butter, coconut oil, milk and vanilla.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until just combined.

Add the blueberries and barely mix them in (otherwise the colour of the blueberries will make your cookies go grey).

Drop 2 tbsp of mixture at a time onto the baking tray (I use my mini ice cream scoop) leaving at least 2 cm to allow for spreading.

Bake for 12-15 minutes then allow the cookies to cool on the baking tray.

Repeat until all of the mixture is used.

Cookies can be stored for up to 5 days.

Raw Choc Chip Cookies

I’ve had more days off than usual lately, and unfortunately/fortunately that means more opportunities to cook. I’ve got baked goods coming out the wazoo and not a whole lot of it is healthy. I’m not a health nut but I do my best to keep things balanced (please ignore the kilo of Doritos that I got from Costco yesterday) and these Raw Choc Chip Cookies caught my eye. Another bonus is that they don’t require any kind of heat to make and that is kind of essential this time of year, all my homies in Queensland will know what I’m talking about. There is a large list of things that become an absolute no-no in summer which includes but isn’t limited to turning on the oven, leaving the house, eating soups/stews, moving beyond the limit of your fan and any unnecessary movements in general. As a result I’ve been collecting recipes that don’t need the oven, as well as watching every possible thing on my hard drive (had an all day Back to the Future Marathon, dayum that is an awesome trilogy).

If you want them to be gluten free then you will need to track down some gluten free oats. Oats are naturally gluten free but commonly gluten-tainted from being processed.

Adapted from Raw Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies over at This Rawsome Vegan Life.

1 cup rolled oats

10-15 dates, pitted

1 cup nut butter ( I used peanut butter)

2 tsp vanilla essence

2 tbsp water

5 tbsp liquid sweetener (I used honey but that makes them not vegan)

1 tbsp coconut oil

1/2 cup raw vegan chocolate, chopped

Blend the oats in a food processor until coarsely ground.

Add in all other ingredients (except for the chocolate) and pulse until the mixture starts sticking together in a dough.

Pinch the mixture between your fingers, if it sticks together easily it is done, if it is crumbly add more liquid sweetener 1 tbsp at a time and pulse until it does stick together.

Tip the mixture into a mixing bowl and stir through the chocolate.

Roll tablespoon sized balls (or press into a tablespoon measure and slide the formed cookie out like I did) and place on a tray lined with baking paper, chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Oatmeal Lace Cookies

23 years I have lived without knowing that these cookies existed. They’re basically chewy caramel with oats in it. Problem number one, they are mostly comprised of butter and sugar. Problem number two, this recipe makes about 60 cookies, so make sure that you have people to give these away to. What ever you do, don’t bake these and watch a whole season of Dance Moms because you will stress eat half of the batch.

A teaspoon doesn’t sound like a lot of mixture but this recipe spreads massively while baking. I did a test batch using a tablespoon of mixture and the cookies ended up waaay too big.

Oatmeal Lace Cookies

Barely adapted from Oatmeal Lace Cookies over at Add a Pinch. 

225g unsalted butter

2 1/4 cups brown sugar, packed

3 tbsp plain flour

1 tsp salt

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/4 cups rolled oats

Preheat oven to 190 C and line 2 large baking trays with baking paper.

Combine the butter and brown sugar in a medium saucepan over low heat, stirring until the butter and sugar have melted together.

Take off the heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes.

Beat in the flour, salt, egg and vanilla then mix in the oats.

Drop teaspoons of the mixture on to the prepared baking trays at least 5 cm apart.

Bake for 5-7 minutes, keeping a close eye on them to prevent burning (my oven took exactly 5 minutes).

Slide the cookies (baking paper and all) on to a flat surface and allow to cool completely before moving.

Repeat until all of the mixture is used up (have one batch cooking in the oven while you prepare the next batch).

Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Salty Malted Choc Chip Cookies

Or as they’ve come to be known, The Other Crack Cookies. The malt powder and salt combine to make these more-ish and irresistible, not to mention if you bake them right they’re chewy as hell (in the best way). Malt is another childhood nostalgia moment for me, we would always get double chocolate thick shakes with malt in them when Dad took us shopping, so thick you could barely get it through the straw. I’m old enough to make my own malt thick shakes now and my own malt cookies! And so are you, get baking.

Salty Malted Choc Chip Cookies 

Adapted from Salted & Malted Chocolate Chip Cookies over at Raspberri Cupcakes.

125g butter, room temperature

1 cup tightly packed brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg

1/2 cup malt powder

1 1/4 cups plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups choc chips plus extra for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 180 C and line a large baking tray with baking paper.

With a hand mixer beat the butter, sugar and vanilla together until pale and fluffy then beat in the egg and malt powder.

With the mixer on low beat in the flour, baking powder and salt, the mixture should be fairly dry and come away from the sides of the bowl.

Fold in the choc chips using a spatula.

Roll tablespoons of the mixture into balls and place on the prepared baking tray at least 3 cm apart, sprinkle the tops with extra choc chips.

Bake for 13-15 minutes, allow to cool on the tray then repeat with the remaining mixture until all the dough is used up.

Almond Oat Choc Chip Cookies

I guess you could also call these Chuck-in-what-ever-you-want Cookies because that’s how versatile they are. The original recipe called for pecans, I never have pecans in the house, threw in some almonds instead. You know what would rock in these? Hazelnuts. Do it and tell me how it goes. If you like fatter cookies, roll them out and let them chill in the fridge for a few hours, it helps the butter firm up again and prevents the cookies from spreading so much in the oven. Warning, this makes alooooooot of cookie dough so halve it if you don’t want to be rolling cookies for 40 minutes. I might have mentioned it in an earlier post but my cookie rolling days are over and I use ice-cream scoops to portion out my dough, clean hands and it is so much quicker. If you make a lot of cookies, cupcakes and muffins they are worth the investment.

Almond Oat Choc Chip Cookies

Adapted from Oatmeal Choc Chip Cookies over at The Shabby Chic Housewife.

2 1/4 cups plain flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

225g butter, room temperature

3/4 cup caster sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 cup rolled oats

2 cups choc chips (I used dark chocolate)

1 cup chopped almonds

sea salt for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 190 C and line a large baking tray with baking paper.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda.

In large mixing bowl beat the butter with an electric hand mixer until smooth then add both sugars and beat until combined.

Add the vanilla and both of the eggs, beat until well combined.

Add the flour in 3 lots, beating well in between (use a spatula to scrape the sides and base of the bowl).

Mix the oats, choc chips and almonds into the dough with a spatula.

Roll 3 tbsp of dough into balls and place on the prepared baking tray around 3cm apart (I used an ice-cream scoop with a 3 tbsp capacity).

Sprinkle each cookie with a little bit of sea salt.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, until lightly browned.

Allow to cool on the tray then repeat with remaining dough until it’s all used up.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

I’m steadily working my way through the extensive recipe archives over at Saveur and when I came across this recipe I knew that I had to get these cookies in my mouth. They were part of a recipe collection called 8 Great Recipes that Rocked the Internet, a list of recipes that were passed around the internet and featured by a whole bunch of well known food blogs. The one thing that these recipes have in common is IT, something that causes you to keep on making them and gives you the urgent need to share the recipe with everyone you know. And there is something about these cookies, man.

The whole wheat flour makes them chewy like an oat cookie but with a smoother texture. Don’t skimp on the sea salt, I kept it pretty reserved but regretted it afterwards.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from Jess’s Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies over at Sweet Amandine.

3 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp sea salt

225g butter, room temperature

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup caster sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

300g dark chocolate chips

sea salt flakes for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 175 C and line a large baking tray with baking paper.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.

In a large bowl cream together the butter, brown sugar and caster sugar until pale and fluffy (about 2 minutes) then mix in the eggs and vanilla extract.

Add in the prepared flour mixture, stir until combined then fold in the chocolate chips.

Roll about 3 tablespoons of dough into balls and place on the prepared tray leaving 3 inches of separation (I used a medium ice-cream scoop with a 3 tablespoon capacity).

Just before baking sprinkle each ball of dough with sea salt.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, allow to cool completely on the tray.

(You can roll out all of the balls of dough and keep them in the fridge to bake at your leisure, if you do this the cookies will probably take closer to 20 minutes to bake).

Almond and White Chocolate Cookies

These cookies are another recipe to use up stuff from my pantry and they were well received. I normally bake double or triple chocolate cookies but I figured that the almond and white chocolate combo would shine best if left in a basic cookie mixture. My oven tried to burn the second batch but I saved them just in time and the white chocolate chips that had been touching the tray turned into little caramelised gold nuggets.

I’m not very patient when it comes to letting butter come to room temperature so I usually blast it for 30 seconds in the microwave which nearly melts it completely. Be a better person than me, be patient. Beating room temperature butter and sugar together results in a better textured cookie. If you take out the almonds and white chocolate this is a really good basic cookie recipe, it’s the same one I use for Crack Cookies.

Almond and White Chocolate Cookies

Adapted from Choc-chip Cookies from AWW Big Book of Beautiful Biscuits.

1 cup flaked almonds

125g butter, room temperature

1/2 cup caster sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg

1 3/4 cups self-raising flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 packet of white chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 180 C and line a large baking tray with baking paper.

To toast the almonds place them in a medium pan over medium-high heat and stir until they are light brown and toasted, set aside to cool.

Cream together the butter, caster sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract until pale and fluffy then beat in the egg.

Add in the flour and salt, mix well.

Add the chocolate chips and toasted almonds, mix until evenly distributed.

Shape into tablespoon sized balls and place on the prepared baking tray, allowing room for spreading.

Bake for 10-12 minutes then allow to cool on the tray.

Cookies ‘n’ Cream Ice-cream

This ain’t your nanna’s ice-cream. It’s the most luscious vanilla ice-cream studded with the most addictive (at least for my sister and I) cookies. Cannot stop eating! I actually used 2 less egg yolks than the original recipe and it’s still the best vanilla ice-cream I’ve made. I don’t usually plan to make custard based ice-creams but recently I’ve made this Marshmallow Icing a few times and it leaves me with the perfect amount of egg yolks for a batch, lucky me. Easy projects like this have been keeping me sane while I’m in quarantine, a whole week stuck at home with no energy. Want to know how desperate I got? I started watching Dawson’s Creek! And Sex and the City, although if I’m going to be really honest I started watching it before I got sick. I swear, is Carrie the most self-obsessed character you’ve ever seen? At this point I’m not so much watching because I enjoy it but rather so I can get all my frustration out by screaming at the TV whenever Carrie does something stupid. It’s also a great way to get some alone time in the lounge room because it naturally drives all of the menfolk away.

If you’ve never made a custard before just stir it over medium-low heat so that there is less chance of over cooking it, it will take longer but better safe than sorry.

Cookies ‘n’ Cream Ice-cream

Adapted from David Lebovitz’s Vanilla Ice Cream in The Perfect Scoop.

2 cups milk

3/4 cup caster sugar

1 cup thickened cream

large pinch of salt

4 tsp vanilla bean syrup

4 egg yolks

3 tbsp liqueur (I used Frangelico but would have used a vanilla liqueur if I had one)

200g chocolate sandwich cookies (I used Oreos)

Place 1 cup of the milk in a bowl large enough to hold the final mixture and place a strainer over the top.

In a medium saucepan combine the remaining milk, sugar, cream and salt and stir over medium heat until warmed through, then thoroughly mix in the vanilla bean syrup.

In a medium bowl whisk together the egg yolks then pour over the warmed milk mixture, whisking constantly, then pour it all back into the saucepan.

Place the saucepan back on medium heat and stir constantly with a spatula, making sure to scrape the bottom of the saucepan.

Stir until the mixture thickens and coats the back of the spatula then pour the custard through the strainer into the prepared bowl with the milk in it.

Take the strainer off the bowl and add in the liqueur, mix together well.

Cover with cling film, pressing it down onto the surface of the custard to prevent a skin forming.

Place in the fridge and let it chill overnight.

Churn the custard in an ice-cream machine according to manufacturer’s instruction, while it is churning crush the cookies into pea sized pieces by placing them in a ziplock bag and bashing them with a rolling pin.

When the ice-cream has finished churning, mix in the crushed cookies then transfer to a 1L capacity container (this recipe made a little bit more than 1L for me but that will change depending on your ice-cream machine).

Chill in the freezer for 4 hours before eating.

Brownie Bites

These cookies are basically portable, personal brownies. I came across the recipe randomly on Pinterest and it was the best thing to happen to me all week. I had been scouting for a recipe to make as a birthday present for the Boyfriend’s sister and I knew I had found The One. My suspicions were confirmed when two family member’s who were lucky enough to score some asked me for the recipe. Not to mention that they only have four tablespoons of butter in them, which basically makes them a health food! (Tell me I’m not the only one who tries to delude themselves like this).

Be sure to read the original recipe, I feel like it really highlights the importance of LETTING YOUR CHOCOLATE THICKEN! If your mixture is too soft your cookies will spread and dry out. Apparently they still taste pretty good but don’t have the fudge-y-ness of the cookies done correctly. When I found that my mixture was too soft I let the mixture sit, washed up the dishes, cleaned the kitchen and by the time I was done the mixture had become stiffer and resulted in the lovely thick cookies pictured above. There is so little flour in this recipe so I think I might experiment with almond meal to make a gluten free version. I have listed one packet of dark chocolate chips in the recipe but I also had some white ones so I chucked them in as well.

Brownie Bites

Adapted from Julia’s Outrageous chocolate cookies over at Julia’s Album.

200g 70% dark chocolate, chopped

4 tbsp unsalted butter

2/3 cup plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 large eggs

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 packet dark choc chips

Preheat oven to 175 C, line a baking tray with baking paper and spray it with cooking oil.

Heat the dark chocolate and butter together in the microwave in 20 second bursts, mixing in between (you want the chocolate to be just melted, the consistency of peanut butter).

If you melt the chocolate too much and it becomes runny, allow it to sit at room temperature until it becomes very thick (the consistency of peanut butter).

In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking powder and salt, set aside.

In a mixing bowl large enough to hold the finished mixture combine the eggs, sugar and vanilla, beat with a hand mixer until it becomes pale and fluffy.

Mix in the melted chocolate, then mix in the flour until just combined, lastly add the choc chips and mix in by hand.

The mixture should have the consistency of a normal, stiff cookie dough, if it doesn’t hold it’s shape when scooped, allow it to sit at room temperature until it becomes quite firm.

Drop spoonfuls of mixture onto the prepared baking tray, allowing room for spreading.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, checking at 12 mins to see if the cookies have developed a light, cracked crust on them (bake for a few minutes more if the crust hasn’t developed yet).

Cool on the baking paper until they reach room temperature.

Crack Cookies

Is the name slightly inappropriate? Possibly. But that’s what these cookies are called around these parts and I wouldn’t think of calling them anything else. They have earned this nickname for the fact that certain people (who claim to not like chocolate) find them irresistible. This recipe began it’s life as the first cookies I ever baked and this is their latest reincarnation. It was the Chocolate Chip Recipe from the Woman’s Weekly Big Book of Beautiful Biscuits, pretty much the first recipe book I ever baked from. I cut my teeth on cookies and chocolate slice but what I really loved was flipping through the pages and just imagining the food. When I look at it now I have to laugh at the typical 80’s photography and food styling but it will always have a special little place in my heart, right next to Zooper Doopers and Melody Pops.

Most recipes for choc chip cookies are pretty conservative on the choc chip front but not these ones, they have a whole 1 1/2 packets squashed in there. This guarantees that every cookie has its fair share of chocolate and there isn’t a little pile of chocolate-less cookies left in the bottom of your cookie jar. Those cookies always make me sad.

I frequently change between dark, milk and white chocolate chips for this recipe but a favourite seems to be a mix of all three. It’s also a great way to use up any leftover choc chips or bars of chocolate you have languishing in your cupboard. The original recipe says to cook for 10-15 mins but I am a chewy cookie gal so I’ve found that 10 mins in my oven results in my perfect cookie. Start off with 10 mins and slowly increase the time to decide how you best like your cookies.

I use my mini ice-cream scoop to portion out the dough and I think I would end up in the fetal position if I ever had to roll out cookies by hand again. The cookies end up larger this way, so stick to hand rolling if you want to have the 45 little cookies that the original recipe makes. I don’t think that I ever made it to 45 when I used to roll them by hand, I would get sick of it and use the remaining dough to create one giant cookie, that I dubbed the Omni-Cookie.

Crack Cookies

Adapted from Choc-Chip Cookies, from the Women’s Weekly Big Book of Beautiful Biscuits.

125g butter, room temperature

1/2 cup caster sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar, lightly packed

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 egg

1 1/2 cups self-raising flour

1/4 cup cocoa

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 packets your choice of choc chips

Preheat oven to 170 C.

Cream together butter, sugars and vanilla until combined.

Beat in the egg and cocoa until combined.

Mix in flour and salt, when combined mix in the choc chips.

Shape teaspoonfuls into balls and place on a lined baking tray, allowing room for spreading.

Bake for 10 – 15 mins depending on cookie preference, shorter for chewy cookies, longer for crunchy cookies.