Alison Roman's Salted Butter & Chocolate Chunk Shortbread

Okay I am completely powerless when it comes to chocolate, especially chocolate chips, I add them to a LOT of my baked treats, I can't resist a recipe that calls for copious amounts of chunky chocolate chips and one that's really straightforward to make...it's a failing I know!

So needless to say my eye was caught at the sight of these beautiful shortbread cookies on Instagram. I was doing my usual daily hourly scan of my timeline when I noticed this hash tag #diningincookbook, appetising enough as I love dining in but what caught my eye was what usually followed was a plateful of mouthwatering cookies. What's all this? Why is everyone raving about these cookies. Not one to be left behind on a cookie trail of discovery, I decided to find out for myself what Alison Roman's cookies were really like to make and better still what they tasted like! I know I'm a sucker for delicious tasting sweet treats so this is going to be no hardship :)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins and Knitting!!

I've been knitting a LOT recently, it's the most relaxing hobby for this time of the year. I can be found clacking needles in front of a roaring fire with half an eye on the television and the other on which row I'm on. 

It gives your brain a real work out though and I find that I get the munchies...it doesn't take long for my hungry brain to imagine steaming cups of coffee and some tasty, chocolatey muffins!  

 

I have fallen in love with this particular free knitting pattern, it's called the Swirled Ski Cap from the Craft Yarn Council and it is surprisingly easy and soooo pretty. 

It's basically a knitted parallelogram that when sewn up, gives this beautiful, buttercream swirl which can be topped off with a fun pom pom. I haven knitted it twice so far experimenting with different yarns and colours. This is my favourite combination, it matches a cowl I knitted late last year, I added the pink blanket stitch to the cowl to make them a matching set. They both stylish and extremely warm for these wintry days.

Chocolate and Black Bean Cupcakes

I've been meaning to share this beautiful recipe with you for a couple of weeks now, I wanted to share it with you around the time I posted my Chunky Black Bean and Chicken Soup recipe adapted from A Girl Called Jack. It seemed appropriate that your dinner and dessert should both contain black beans and dark chocolate...yum!

Chocolate Muffins

The only warning I can give you is, don't burn your mouth when eating these straight from the oven, yeah they're that good.

4 Ingredient Red Velvet Cookies

Over the school mid term the children and I spent some time in the kitchen, we baked a couple of cakes and by total accident we discovered this recipe for cookies!

Smoked Salmon Terrine With Cream Cheese and Fresh Herbs

I wanted to share with you one of the dishes I enjoyed both making and eating, I had reason to do a spot of entertaining recently and I was at a loss as what to serve as the starter. I wanted a dish that really didn't need too much involvement or fussiness, with no cooking on the day, something that I could make in advance and then produce with a flourish!

Weetabix Chocolate Chip Cookies

Seriously a really easy recipe, there are more photographs than words in this post! This is my last Weetabix post for now, these are really tasty, well worth a try. Each cookie has a slight crunch which is lovely, they are not chewy like my  Traditional American Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe but I think they're a real keeper. I have two other Weetabix recipes you might like to try Weetabix Brownies and Weetabix Easter Nests all quick and easy (I don't work for Weetabix. I promise). I use whatever brown sugar is in the press, however, if you use light brown sugar you will get a paler and softer cookie, where as the dark brown sugar gives a crunchier cookie.

Makes about 32 cookies

Ingredients
4 Weetabix, crushed
250g Plain flour
½ tsp  Bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp Salt
175g Soft butter or margarine
125g Brown sugar
50g Granulated sugar
1½ tsp  Vanilla extract
1 Egg
250g Chocolate chips

Method
Cream together butter and sugars.

Beat in vanilla and egg. Mix together crushed Weetabix, flour, soda and salt. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop dough by tablespoonfuls or roll small balls, place onto an greased baking sheet and bake at 180 C for 12 minutes (slightly longer for a more crisp cookie).

Cool on baking sheet for about 2 minutes, then transfer to cool completely. Store in airtight container. Cookies freeze well.

The same recipe using light brown sugar photographed above.

Weetabix Brownies

These are really quick to make and are perfect to make with your children, I found this recipe on  Nigella Lawson's forum on her website. If you are worried that your brownies will taste like breakfast cereal, well your secret is safe, no one will notice, least of all picky eater! Weetabix are fortified with vitamins and iron, all of which is a bonus. Feel free to substitute some of the chocolate with chopped nuts or dried fruit.

Makes 9

Ingredients
4 Crushed Weetabix
110g Caster sugar
110g Self raising flour
2 tbsp Cocoa powder
100g Dark chocolate chips (or chocolate buttons)
110g Melted margarine
1 Medium egg

Method

‬Mix all dry ingredients together. ‬

Add the melted margarine and egg. Mix thoroughly and tip into a square 20cm tin, lined with baking paper..

Spread out evenly and cook at 180ºC/350ºF/Gas Mark 4 for 20 mins. Leave to set before cutting into 9 pieces or 36 mini brownies.

Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are the most unbelievable cookies and should by right come with a health warning! However, if you are in serious need of a chocolate hit then these are the cookies for you.

Pan Fried Potato Chips

I got rid of our deep fat fryer a couple of years ago and I regretted as soon as I had my next craving for homemade chips. So I set around looking for alternatives, obviously you can buy oven chips but homemade chipped potatoes have a taste all of there own and that has not been replicated no matter the packet says. I've tried homemade oven chips and although nice they're not fluffy enough. So if like me you've kicked your smelly deep fat fryer out then don't go rush to your local electrical store just yet. Now obviously you have to be very careful with hot oil and children around, consider yourself warned.

Serves 4

Ingredients
4 medium Rooster potatoes
Vegetable oil
Salt

Method
Peel your potatoes and then cut them all to an even size (so they'll cook evenly) Place them in a large bowl of cold water until your ready to cook them. They'll keep like this for a couple of hours if needed. When ready heat a large frying pan with 2cm/1 inch of vegetable oil. The oil is ready when a cube of bread browns in 60 seconds. Drain and dry your chipped potatoes and cook in 2 or 3 batches at a time. If you crowd your pan the oil temperature will drop to low to crisp up the chips and they'll become a soggy mess.

Move the chips around carefully in the pan, separating each as you go. Chips are cooked when they are golden brown all over, remove with a slotted spoon. Keep in a warm ovenproof dish lined with kitchen paper, sprinkle with salt. Serve immediately.

Traditional American Chocolate Chip Cookies

 

This recipe comes with an urban myth: A woman in New York met a friend at a small coffee shop, where they ordered drinks and cookies. They liked the cookies so much that she asked for the recipe. The owner of the coffee shop said that she could have the recipe, but she would have to pay something for it. The woman agreed, and paid for the coffee, cookies and the recipe on her credit card. When she got her next credit card statement, she realised that she had been charged a massive $200 for the recipe. She was furious! She called the restaurant, which refused to refund the money, saying that it was a fair price for the recipe. The woman said that, for that price, she must have bought the copyright for the recipe and she would send it out worldwide. She passed the recipe on to everyone she knew, and asked them to do the same. So here it is; pass it on!

These are delicious, so much so, that I'm fairly sure my sister-in-law is addicted to them, you know who you are!!!!!

Makes 18 -20

Ingredients
100g Porridge Oats
125g Plain Flour
1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
50g Milk chocolate, grated
100g Butter, softened
100g Soft brown sugar
100g Caster sugar
1 Medium egg, beaten
1/2 tsp Vanilla
115g Chocolate Chips

Method
Preheat oven to 190°C and line two large baking trays with baking paper. Put the oats into a food processor or liquidiser and whizz to a fine powder , add flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt and whizz again to mix together, add grated chocolate (or break into chunks and whizz again) Put both sugars into a large bowl with the butter, cream them until light and fluffy. Beat the egg and vanilla into the creamed butter mixture.

Add chocolate chips and dry ingredients, mix well with a spoon until everything is mixed in and you have a dough. (The softer your butter is the softer your dough will be, therefore the bigger your cookies will spread out on the baking tray)

Use your hands to roll into balls the size of ping-pong balls and put them, 5cm apart, on to non stick baking paper on a baking tray, shown below.

Bake in the oven for about ten minutes. They should have a golden colour, but still look a little underdone (this is what makes the lovely chewy soft texture). If you like them crisp, keep them in a bit longer. Leave them on the tray for a couple of minutes to firm up, then use a fish slice to lift them onto a wire rack to cool.

My tip:
When the weather is a bit cooler the dough is a bit firmer so the cookies don't spread out as much (pictured below), you can gently press each uncooked cookie with a pallet knife to flatten them out if you wish before baking.

 

Chocolate Chip Flapjacks

  

These flapjacks are ideal for lunches and for the weeks when you'll be too busy to bake more than once, because they will keep all week in an airtight container. My children love them and so do all their friends but also lovely with a cup of coffee.

Makes 48

Ingredients
450g Porridge oats
Pinch of salt
150g Plain Chocolate chips
300g Softened butter
70g Caster sugar
6tbsp or 90g Golden Syrup


Method
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and line a 32cm x 34cm baking tray with parchment paper. Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl or stand mixer until combined. 

Spread the mixture into roasting tin and press it down firmly with a fork.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden. Cool slightly in the tin and cut into squares (it's important to cut the flapjacks while they're still warm). 

These Flapjacks freeze beautifully but I find that they keep happily in an airtight tin for a week.