Almonday morning cookies

I have had possibly the most productive day I could have had (other than perhaps the last couple of hours spent playing the classic PC game Rise of Nations...) today. After an - all too rushed - awakening a couple of minutes to nine, only seconds before my driving instructor pulled into the drive, I had a really rather enjoyable driving lesson (no, I still haven't passed my test at 19 though I should have by the end of this challenge...). And back before most Uni students are even awake on most days off I got straight down to revising for my final year exam - which looms ever closer - this Thursday afternoon. I won't lie, I was kicking some serious revision ass. I had written two essays on existentialism and the economics of the new industrial estate (sounds rather complicated doesn't it... mainly because it is!) before lunch, so I decided I'd take a break to bake some delicious (but rather boringly named) "Almond Cookies with a Cherry On Top."
-Yes the name does what is required of a name but somehow I feel it is lacking in a bit of invention, or pizazzz. How about Cherry Surprises? (Almond being the surprise) Or Almond Suprise? (cherry being the surprise)... Or perhaps something which has no surprises at all but is still inventive! -
Perhaps things could have gone better... Firstly, I decided (for the good of my health and wallet) that halving the recipe would be necessary. A bad idea, I always forget one thing if I do this, today I ended up not halving the quantity for the amount of Almond the recipe asks for. Oh dear.
Secondly, I completely didn't read the book at all (again). I accidentally sifted the flour into the butter and sugar before I even began to melt the butter. But a bit of re-sifting meant it went into the pan largely flour-less.
I then added in what I thought was almond extract... Naturally, it was the vanilla extract! I definitely need some new form of storing all my spices, herbs and extracts in a way which is more easily "filed" ... But I figured that since I'd accidentally doubled the amount of ground almond I put in the recipe this might be ok...
So I ploughed on regardless of my challenge to do every recipe in the book TO THE LETTER , I figure they're more like guidelines anyway! As you might be able to tell from my writing style today, that this was no disaster at all. Usually I'd be throwing exclamation marks all over the place, inventing adjectives and filling in expletives' middle letters with asterisks by now. Yet, I'm as cool as a cucumber, calm as the lull before the storm and as collected as... pokémon cards. And why might that be??
IT ALL WORKED OUT!! Somehow, miraculously, everything went completely and extraordinarily to plan! Despite all these relatively major fudge ups the biscuits came out as right as rain, as tasty as chocolate, as delicious as knowing a dirty secret about your boss. They are lovely! I suppose it's about time my luck turned in my baking, every tiny mistake I;ve made so far really blew up in my face but today it all went swimmingly!
Oh wait. I forgot one thing... Remember I mentioned that I'd been revising really well until I decided to take a break? Well, I suppose something bad had to happen after all those mistakes; I've written no more than one or two more words of revision since the biscuits came out the oven. Dammit, I guess that's karma for you!

The Result: 

Mmmmmmiraculous

Recipe 10 - Classic Oatmeal Cookies:

Ingredients for 15:
 Plain Flour 70g 
Butter 90g 
Demerara Sugar 140g 
Small Egg 1 
Water 2 Tbsps 
Vanilla Extract 1 tsp 
Plain Rolled Oats 190g 
Salt 0.5 tsps 
Bicarbonate of soda 0.25g 

Method: 

1: Cream butter and sugar together then beat in the egg, water & vanilla extract until smooth. 
2: Mix the oats, flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda together in a separate bowl. Slowly mix into the creamy mixture. 
3: Place spoonfuls of the mixture onto a greased baking sheet making sure they’re well spaced. 
4: Cook until golden brown for about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and sheet and leave to cool on a wire rack.

See how I fared at trying the recipe here.

Shocklate caramel shortbread...

I must admit than I didn't fully realise how absorbing this challenge was going to be. Obviously I knew a regular baking task would be difficult but there are so many tasks related to that which make it so difficult, and honestly I didn't expect the eating part to be a problem.

I am not a fat person but nor do I eat healthily really (McDonald's is a particular heart stopping favourite of mine) so I assumed that eating baked goods daily (or thereabouts) would be dead easy and really enjoyable... How wrong was I!

After the cheesy scones I felt a little gluttonous, it's my own fault for eating 7 in a day but still! After the cupcakes I felt sick, and the bread the other day was eaten in one sitting (that's one whole loaf of bread!). So as a note for people attempting this sort of thing... Make sure you have a lot of fat friends you can give treats to, because I have none!

Anyway, to the challenge, last night was time to make Caramel chocolate shortbread. These are such devilish creations that they have three layers of heart-attack inducing ingredients but it's the one in the middle which proved to be one of the most demoralizing challenges so far.

Making caramel you have to keep stirring all the ingredients whilst they simmer until it turns thick... This DOES NOT HAPPEN. I tried my hardest and I followed the instructions to the letter but still it somehow ended up burning and having bits in it. I ran around panicking whilst trying to keep stirring and also cook the base at once, it didn't seem to be going well at all but I had to finish it so I did.

So let's face it they look gooood, and honestly they taste good too. I don't know why the caramel has bits in it but it doesn't taste bad at all, it's probably the best thing I've baked yet! So the moral of the story is that even when everything looks to have failed miserably, never give up!

The Result:

Check out the recipe here...

Recipe 9- Chocolate Caramel Shortbread:

Ingredients for 12:
Base:
Plain Flour 175g 
Butter 115g 
Golden Caster Sugar 55g 

Filling and Topping:
Butter 175g 
Golden Caster Sugar 115g 
Golden Syrup 3 Tbsps 
Canned Condensed Milk 400g 
Plain Chocolate 200g 

Method: 

1: Grease and line the base of a 9inch shallow square tin. 
2: Using a food processor bind together butter, sugar and flour then press it into the prepared tin and smooth the top. Bake for 20-25 mins or until golden. 
3: Meanwhile, make the filling. Gently heat butter, sugar, golden syrup and condensed milk until the sugar begins to dissolve whilst constantly stirring. Bring to the boil and simmer for six to eight minutes stirring constantly and ensuring the entire mixture is moving (un-stirred mixture at the bottom will burn). When the mixture becomes thick immediately remove from the heat and add to the base. Chill the base in the fridge (about half an hour). 
4: Melt the chocolate and pour over the caramel and shortbread base. Chill in the fridge again until the chocolate is solid. Cut into slices and serve.

Check out how I fared at the recipe here!

I pecan't make biscuits...

Today's challenge was chosen by fate, I flicked the recipe book and stopped on a random page, and it seems that fate was decidedly against me. Pecan and Maple biscuits were the challenge and by god did I fail and quite spectacularly so.

My first tip to those attempting this recipe is to ensure that the maple syrup has its lid on properly. Mine was a fresh bottle so I had to peel that little bit of foil off the top before I could pour the correct amount carefully in, naturally I put the lid on... but somehow forgot to screw it on properly. Maple syrup all over the place. In the bowl (along with carefully measured out ingredients), on the surface, on my hands and on my pack of butter. The frustration was incredible. But I managed to scoop out most of the offending syrup to roughly the amount which was required and thundered along with the recipe.

The next problem is a more significant problem in terms of the quality of the end result (though far less dramatic), I have no baking paper and the recipe asks for it specifically. I would say it's not rule breaking by just using a tray here right? If it is I apologise and promise to invest in some for the next time, especially considering the disastrous end product. Whether it was the tray or that there was too much syrup or that I missed a step or something I don't know, but what I do know is that what came out of the oven weren't biscuits but some sort of abominations created by the cookie-monster.

The Result:

Mmmm, horrible crumbly mess...

As you can see these are not, by any stretch of the mark, biscuits but more a sugary-nutty mess piled on a plate slowly being (even more) ruined by the saltiness of my tears falling on them after I crumbled (pun intended as always) under the pressure. On the plus side, they are still quite a tasty mess.

My tip to anyone trying the recipe is to:

A - Not drop maple syrup everywhere.

B: Try making less biscuits, the recipe recommends 18 but these are way too thin, perhaps 12 would be better.

C: Baking paper is probably a most have, I bent a spatula in half trying to scrape these off the tray. 

Thanks for reading, I'll be back tomorrow! If you've enjoyed it please share and subscribe. 

Recipe 4: Pecan & Maple Biscuits

Ingredients:
Pecan Nuts: 85g
Softened Butter: 115g
Maple Syrup: 2 Tbsp
Muscovado sugar: 85g
Beaten Egg yolk: 1
Self-Raising Flour: 115g
Cooking Time:
10-12 mins

Steps:
1: Pre-Heat oven to 190c/Gas Mark 5.
2: Keep 18 Pecan Halves and roughly chop the rest.
3: Place butter, maple syrup, and sugar in a bowl and beat together with a wooden spoon. Beat in egg yolk. 
4: Sift over the flour and add the chopped pecans. Mix to stiff dough.
5: Place 18 spoonfuls of the mixture onto greased tray/sheet top each with a pecan.
6: Bake for 10-12 minutes. Leave to cool on a rack.