Lorraine Pascale's "Big yummy double Choc Chip Cookies"

My sister has been working overtime these past few days and so I thought I'd bake her one of her favorite treats....cookies!

This recipe comes from Lorraine's "Baking Made Easy" book that was released to coincide with her TV series. My sister actually brought me this for Christmas last year and I'm a little ashamed to admit I've only used it once, and that was a good few months ago now. I must say, it's not my favorite book to flick through when looking for something to bake. Only a small handful of photos are of the actual food items, there are more pictures of Lorraine filling the book. (But that might just be me being picky? I like to see what I'm attempting to make when following a recipe)

I left these beauties sitting on the kitchen side with a tall glass of milk for when she got home, and they got a a big thumbs up! Cookies can be very much hit or miss, either you can manage them easily or overcook them till they're rock solid (not so nice!). I'm not a big cookie fan to be honest, but I think everybody in the house enjoyed these as a treat.

The recipe states this makes eight large American-style cookies, but as you can see I got near seventeen reasonably sized ones out of my mix. As always with these types of things I always know that they will make more than it says anyway! The only change I made was to use only milk chocolate chips as that was all I had to hand, I chucked in the last of a leftover open bag I had, I think there was around 150g of chips in there which I mixed in.

Big yummy double choc chip cookies
By Lorraine Pascale

110g butter
200g soft light brown sugar
1 egg
seeds of 1 vanilla pod or 2 drops of vanilla extract
165g plain flour
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
30g cocoa powder
100g milk chocolate chips
100g dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to Gas Mark 5/190°C and line your baking trays.

Put the butter and sugar in a bowl and cream together until combined. Add in the egg and vanilla and mix well. It might look like the mixture has curdled but just give it a good mix and it will come good.

Add the flour, salt, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and cocoa powder and mix until the dough comes together. (It will be quite stiff)

Add the chocolate chips and mash everything together with a wooden spoon.

Divide the mixture into balls and space evenly on your trays. Bake in the oven for between 10-12 minutes.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the tray, they will be very soft but will harden up.

I had my oven set to Gas Mark 4 as it can be a little temperamental sometimes, and this way I know I won't overcook them too quickly. I found my cookies needed between 9-10 minutes and came out with a great crispy edge and soft center.

After a mere 24 hours in the kitchen there were hardly any left! I think I can safely say they were very much enjoyed by my family!

XOXO

Recent baking buys

This past week I've been stocking up on little pieces here and there so fill my baking cupboard. With the Jubilee just around the corner the shops are filled with loads of wonderful goodies! (Although I must admit on a recent trip to the supermarket the baking isles were looking a little empty, everyone seems to have the baking bug at the moment!)

Starting at the top left, I found this little stand that holds nine cakes for a mere £1.50 in a local charity shop. I already have the medium and large ones so it's a nice addition to the collection. Underneath it, (sorry hard to see I know!) is a cake turntable which I paid £1.00 for on Sunday at a car boot sale. The Dr. Oetker decorations and shimmer sprays also came from a lovely lady at the same car boot sale who has small stocks of cake decorating things plus a few food and drink items. I usually pick up these kinds of things from her as she only charges 50p each for them so the lot cost me £3.50, and I know the sprays cost £3.99 each in Tesco's! (I love the gold sprayed over chocolate cakes!) I also picked up the English Provender Co. Orange Essence Water from her, it was her last bottle and she gave it to me for free.

On the Far right is some super cute baking cups I purchased from my local garden centre, ten of them are black and white stripes, the other polka dots. I also got the icing bag on the far left along with the six single cardboard cupcake stands. I think each item was around £1.99, great value! The shelves were nearly empty when I was there so can't wait to see what else they have when they get more stock in.

The twelve little tartlet tins and the two next to it also came from another charity shop, both together cost 50p, bargain! Finally the cake toppers of Queen Elizabeth II were purchased off eBay, thought they were a little different compared to the usual union jack flags and they should look great with my red, white and blue striped cake cases!

And finally I just couldn't resist this beautiful tin from Marks & Spencers. They did a couple of other designs but I snatched this up straight away with no hesitation, it's just so damn pretty!. (That's not to say the other ones weren't nice!) It's filled with Scottish shortbread petticoat tails but I only really wanted the tin to be honest.

This cake stand came from Tesco's, thought it was a bit of fun to stand the cakes on this weekend! They also do mugs, side places and cups and saucers, all rather lovely and really, I thought, why not?!

I'm going to a relatives house for a big old party this weekend with all the family for the celebrations, so I hope everyone has a lovely Jubilee weekend!

XOXO