All posts in category biscuits and cookies

Chocolate Snickerdoodles

The school bells ring, it’s back to the classroom today for the start of the Autumn term. Where has the summer gone? Are we really gathering in the playground once again, anticipating apple-bobbing, bonfires and Christmas parties?

L seemed happy enough this morning as she caught up with her schoolfriends. Her younger sister wasn’t quite so sure as she waved goodbye to her holiday playmate (which is surprising really, given the amount of squabbling the two of them have engaged in these last few weeks).

I thought it would cheer up M if we made some cookies together (M especially enjoys baking when she doesn’t have to share the mixing with her big sister). Also, I though it would be nice to have some freshly-baked cookies to feed a starving schoolgirl at the end of her first day back.

As it happened, I was right on both counts!

Chocolate Snickerdoodles

2 1/4 cups caster sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 cup butter
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups plain/all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C/350 degrees F.

Mix together the sugar and spices, then set aside 1/2 cup from the mix for rolling the cookies in later. Add the cocoa to the remaining spiced sugar. Stir well to combine thoroughly and break up any lumps in the cocoa powder (this saves having to sieve the cocoa – a messy job).

Cream the butter and sugar. Add the cocoa/sugar mixture and beat until combined.

Beat in the eggs and vanilla.

Add the flour and baking powder, stirring until well blended.

Use a dessert spoon to scoop out walnut-sized balls. Roll these in the reserved spiced sugar, then place 2″ apart on an ungreased baking tray.

Bake in the centre of the oven for 10 to 15 minutes. Allow to cool slightly on the tray before transferring to a wire rack.

Devon Flats

For so long, I’ve watched from the sidelines and devoured the recipes of others taking part in various food blogging events. Now that I’ve taken the plunge and my own nascent blog is nearly a week old, am I really entitled – or even qualified – to participate in these??

I certainly didn’t feel either ready or capable of doing so … until, that is, I read about the latest theme for Sugar High Friday, an international event involving the creation of a favourite dessert based on a different theme each month. This month’s host, Johanna of The Passionate Cook, announced a round-up of local and regional specialities in her choice of theme, Going Local!

How could I sit back? Here in Devon we have such a feast of local produce from clotted cream to cider, fresh strawberries and raspberries to Plymouth gin and farmhouse cheeses. The climate and geography combine to create a fertile, productive farmland that is host to an ever-thriving local food culture. As insecure as I may feel about my blogging and baking abilities, I am at least confident to shout loudly about the abundance of local and regional specialities the South West of England has to offer!

Goosey Fair toffee apples, Devonshire splits, rice pudding with Plymouth gin, junket made with Devonshire clotted cream, cider sorbet, saffron cake, apple cake …

Perhaps luckily for me (too much choice could have paralyzed me into inaction!), I’m in the throes of packing for my sister’s wedding this coming weekend and our holiday the week after. Combined with looking after my 3 young children (the eldest of whom currently has chicken pox, just in time to be a spotty bridesmaid) and trying to prepare the house for significant building work next week, I didn’t have a great amount of time to ponder if I wanted to catch the deadline of Monday, 27 August. I decided therefore to keep things simple and to offer a batch of Devon Flats and Raspberries made from fresh, locally-sourced ingredients.

Devon Flats are sweet biscuits that put me in mind of afternoon village cricket teas and Women’s Institute stands at church summer fêtes. They are made with clotted cream rather than butter and have a delicious, light, creamy taste.

This is a true West Country and Devonshire offering with clotted cream and milk from West Hill Farm, flour from FWP Matthews, an egg from my neighbours’ chickens, raspberries grown by John Lake in Ebford (near Topsham) and raspberry lemonade from Luscombe Farm.

Devon Flats
Adapted from a recipe by Margaret Wilson from Tinhay Mill

225g/8 oz clotted cream
450g/1 lb plain/all-purpose flour
1 egg
225g/8 oz caster sugar
milk

Rub the cream into the flour with your fingertips. Add the sugar. Beat the egg and stir into the mixture. Add a little milk if necessary to form a soft, smooth dough. Place on a lightly floured surface and roll out thinly. Cut into 7-8 cm (3″) circles.

Place on an ungreased baking tray (this may be easier said than done! I reshaped most of my circles once they were on the baking tray) and sprinkle the tops with a little sugar.

Bake at 375 degrees F/190 degrees C for 10 to 15 minutes until the flats are golden. Leave for a couple of minutes to become firm before transferring the flats to a wire rack to cool.