Seriously chocolatey cookies

My niece came to stay for the weekend and since the weather was shocking, what else were we going to do other than hit the kitchen to bake up a choclatey storm?

It took us a while to narrow our recipe choices down to chocolate cookies. We actually used a recipe for chocolate and sour cherry cookies, but we rejected the sour cherry element for two reasons: Natasha thought they sounded gross, and I didn't have any anyway!

Apparently the mixture tasted gorgeous even before baking - its a wonder that we had any left to bake!



We made 11 enormous cookies and had one each for pudding, accompanied by strawberry icecream.



Here's the cherry-less version of the recipe, but I do think the cherries would be good in them, just perhaps not for teenagers who don't like their chocolate diluted by fruit!

Chocolate Cookies

235g dark chocolate
150g plain flour
40g drinking chocolate
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
100g butter
240g soft brown sugar
2 eggs

Sieve the bicarbonate of soda, flour, salt and drinking chocolate.
Beat the butter and sugar together, then add the eggs one at a time, beating well as you add each one. Fold in the flour mixture in 3 stages, beating well after each addition.
Melt the chocolate and mix it into the cookie mixture.
Line baking trays with non stick baking parchment. Form balls of mixture (about a tablespon per cookie) and place them on the baking sheet. Put in the fridge to firm up for 1/2 hour.
Heat the oven to 165C.
Bake the cookies for 15-20 mins until crackled on top. Cool on the tray for 5 mins then on a wire rack until cold.



Yummmmmmmmmm. (But go easy on them - they're very very very chocolatey.)

If you want to add dried sour cherries then use about 85g and mix them in after the dark chocolate.

Presents!

I do like presents. Particularly unexpected ones. I did well this week: Dan brought me home the River Cottage Fish cook book. Just my kind of thing. Good gift. Then through the post arrived a jams and preserves book - a 'just because' present from my sister. Aaaahhh.

My Christmas bread bowl is yet to materialise, so I also got a consolation gift of an icecream maker. Totally unnecessary kitchen equipment really, but I have been lusting after one for quite a while.

So, this weekend I just had to use at least 2 out of 3. Jam seemed like I needed a bit more planning so fish and icecream were on the menu.

Dan & I very democratically went through the Fish cook book and agreed on a recipe to make for Sunday dinner to Christen the book: Mussel, bacon and spinach gratin.
It is a time consuming dish, so only really appropriate for a day when you have plenty of time.

First up, clean and cook the mussels.



Remove them from the shells, cook bacon & garlic, make bechemal sauce, wilt & chop spinach. Mix together, sprinkle with breadcrumbs & parmesan, bake.



Totally worth the effort - very delicious indeed.

And for pudding.....Mexican Chocolate Icecream.

It was a bit of a gamble, but I couldn't find quite the recipe I wanted, so I took the basics from a couple of different recipes and adapted it to suit me. Maybe a bit silly for the first attempt, but it seems to have worked out OK.
So this is what I ended up with:

Mexican Chocolate Ice-Cream

150ml double cream
570ml goat's milk
125g caster sugar
100g dark chocolate
1 cinnamon stick
2 cloves
4 egg yolks
1 teaspoon corn flour
50g almonds - chopped

Put the double cream and milk in a pan with the cinnamon stick (broken in half), 25g sugar, cloves. Warm over a gentle heat until it comes to a simmer. Take off the heat, cover, and leave to infuse for 30 mins. Strain.
Beat the egg yolks and 100g sugar together until a pale lemony colour. Put the egg yolks in another saucepan, add a ladleful of the strained milk and stir to mix. Put over a very gentle heat & gradually add the remaining milk, stirring to amalgamate. Cook gently, stirring frequently until the mixture starts to thicken. Add a teaspoon of cornflour if needed to help thickening.
Strain again through a fine sieve.
Grate the dark chocolate and stir it into the milky custard. Stir until completely melted. Sieve again.
Place in a jug, cover with clingfilm (let the film touch the surface of the liquid to prevent it forming a skin), cool, then chill in the fridge for at least a couple of hours.
Churn in an icecream maker according to the machine instructions, adding the chopped almonds 5 minutes before the end of the churning time.



Transfer to a freezer container and freeze for a couple of hours
Et voila...spiced chocolate icecream with almond chips.



Dan and I both thought that this was yummy, but the addition of a note of citrus would elevate it to stupendous - so next time I will also add some mixed peel when I add the almonds.

Comfort food for a cold weekend

Its been a cold weekend again. Frost in the mornings, icy roads. There's been a beautifully clear and crisp feel to the air.

To my mind freezing weather requires home comforts, and I don't think it can get any more comforting than bangers for tea. Dan's dad and uncle had made a load of sausages and given us a few, so it seemed the perfect time to try out a dish that has been on the 'to do' list for a while: Toad in the Hole. Very traditional, very stodgy, and oh so perfect for a cold night.

I went back to my good old Kitchen Bible for this recipe, so it was Tamasin Day-Lewis' method. It turned out really well, despite the fact that I'd run out of plain white flour so had to use nearly all wholemeal. That didn't seem to spoil it in the least.


It even looked like the picture in the book! I was so proud.

Neither Dan nor I had ever had Toad in the Hole before, but we'll definitely be having it again. Dan had so much that he had to lie down to recover. The combination of crispy yorkshire pudding batter, good sausages, and wholegrain mustard, all dished up with green veg and gravy (me), plus mash (himself) - oh yes, its definitely a keeper.

Also this week, I finally baked the cookie dough I made before Christmas. It has sat in the freezer for over a month feeling unloved, but it is designed to be frozen, and it came out and baked up unspoilt.
So, White chocolate and Pecan Cookies (from the Hummingbird Bakery cook book) were also eaten in quantity over the last couple of days. Yummy. (A few did make it to the intended recipients - my running club - but not as many as I had planned. Dan kept swiping them every time he walked through the kitchen.)

Clams and jams

I had a weekend off! Hurrah!

That meant I had time to do some slightly more interesting cooking.

First up: clams. So much prettier than mussels and so much easier to prep (no scrapping off nasty beards and barnacles).
I steamed them with a combination of chilli, garlic and coconut milk and served them with noodles.

We'll gloss over the fact that I nearly gave Dan a heart attack because the (one) chilli was so hot. I'll be cooking these again next time I see them in the fishmonger. I'll try not to make my boyfriend cry next time (wuss!).



Then since I was a lady with far too much time on my hands this weekend, I made jam. Pear jam with dark chocolate sprinkles. Oh yes. I am a culinary genius. It was gorgeous!

Actually, I am not a culinary genius at all... this lady is.



I'm inspired to have more lazy weekends, and each one will start with fancy french bread and home made jams for breakfast.

When's the weekend? Is it here yet?