Cookies and milk

During these cold evenings I love nothing more than treating myself to a nice drink and a snack and lately I can't get enough of a nice glass of cold milk. As everyone knows, milk and cookies is a classic so when I decided to do some baking today using whatever ingredients I had in my cupboards, cookies were the first thing I thought of and luckily I had enough ingredients to scrape some together.

• 200g butter
• 300g caster sugar
• 1 large egg
• 275g self-raising flour
• 75g cocoa powder
• Whatever chocolate you can find. The recipe I followed suggested 3 big bars of milk, white and dark chocolate for triple chocolate cookies but as I didn't have that, I grabbed a bag of chocolate chips and some leftover cooking chocolate. I guess it all depends on how chunky you want your cookies!
• A splash of milk
• 1 tsp of vanilla essence

Preheat your oven to 220°C (for fan 200°C) and line baking trays with baking paper. (Unfortunately I had no baking paper so instead I used tin foil and greased the top with butter.)

Soften the butter in the microwave, before mixing with the caster sugar in a large mixing bowl until creamy. 

 Add the egg and mix some more, and then add the self-raising flour and cocoa powder.

Next add a splash of milk and the vanilla essence and mix all together until combined.

Finally, fold the chocolate into your mixture using a wooden spoon. 

Scoop your cookie mixture onto the lined trays in handful sized balls - it's important not to make them too big or too close together as they will spread in the oven and you'll be left with one giant cookie!

Pop in the oven for 10-12 minutes and then remove and leave to cool. Though they will look like they are too sloppy to come out, after around 20-30 minutes of cooling they will harden up and you will be left with deliciously gooey cookies to enjoy.

 I have been given several compliments on the cookies including 'I would pay good money for these!' so I hope this recipe has been helpful and produced something quick and delicious!

Any other recipes you would recommend?

xx

Food: I Love You

A month on and I have finally found my motivation to start blogging again. Being at home whilst your friends are off with their new lives at Uni can be quite upsetting sometimes as I feel lonely and useless. So I reminded myself about blogging as, regardless of whether anybody is reading, it allows me to have a little project to work on during these long days. 

Above is a recipe book I treated myself to in September. I spotted 'The Bright Side' brand whilst in a tiny shop in Cornwall and regrettably didn't buy myself anything. It was only when shopping for a quirky notebook for a friend's birthday present that I spotted this brand again on Amazon and was immediately hooked and set on buying myself something.

Though I had my eye on their 'Evil plans and stuff'  notebook as well, I knew firstly I had to buy this recipe book as during this year I was determined to throw myself into cooking and baking. Thankfully this has paid off and I am regularly trying out new recipes, from homemade Chicken Kiev to giant cupcakes to cookie milkshakes (recipes which I do plan on uploading/demonstrating). The different areas in this book, such as 'Yummy 10 Minute Dinner' and 'Treat, Snack or Naughtiness', makes trying out different recipes even more worthwhile, and I really enjoy writing them in myself. 

Do you enjoy cooking or baking? Any recipes to recommend?

xx