Winter Treats

I had a request for a cookie recipe (thanks Lisa flower1!) and this week I've made two batches of yummy cookies so I'm happy to oblige.

Firstly I made some chocolate cookies using a recipe from Veganomicon:

This recipe made about 12 this size but I usually make more, smaller cookies.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup raspberry Preserve

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup canola oil - I had to buy this specially but it has lots of other uses, vegetable oil can be substituted

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup cocoa powder + 2 extra tablespoons (Use less for less rich cookies)

1&1/2 cups plain flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Mix together sugar, oil, preserve and vanilla extract.
2. Mix all the other ingredients in a separate bowl and gradually stir this into the wet mixture
3. Make golf balls from the mixture, flatten to required shape (the cookies will keep the same shape in the oven) and place on a baking tray.
4. Put in the oven for 10 mins and you're done!

A lovely easy recipe - great with a cuppa on a freezing morning/afternoon/evening ;)

On Wednesday I made peanut butter cookies, something I've been meaning to get around to ever since I moved in in October!

Despite being super yummy, a surprising proportion of the people I know don't like peanuts :O so I ended eating a few too many myself...I adapted this recipe as I didn't have any brown sugar and produced about 14 cookies.

No fancy ingredients in this recipe:

75g marg

50g peanut butter

100g caster sugar

100g plain flour

pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 200C
2. Mix together marg and peanut butter thoroughly.
3. Mix in sugar.
4. Mix in flour (mine were still quite sticky at this point so I added extra flour).
5. Make ping pong sized balls and place on a baking tray with a good 5cm between each. Flatter slightly with a fork in different directions to create a pattern. These cookies will spread out in the oven but if they touch they should be quite easy to break apart.
6. Leave in the oven for 15 mins and check progress. Leave in the oven for up to 5 mins longer until they are a lovely golden brown.

Sorry for the rubbish photography!

Apologies for the lack of my usual wit and excitement, the cold weather has frozen my creative juices!