Saturday 22 November 2014

Biscoff and chocolate cookies


Many food bloggers are are always trying to find the ultimate cookie recipe. Some like their cookies crunchy, others like them chewy. I like any cookies. Soft, crunchy, chewy or any other kind. They are just different aspects of the same ultimate delight. So while others work hard trying to perfect their recipes to be just so-and-so or this-and-that, I just enjoy the cookie recipes they create. There are all these ideas about how cookie dough improves when it's stored in the fridge for a few days. A few DAYS? I can't even leave it to chill for a few hours. When I want my cookies now, I want them NOW. And that's the ultimate genius with cookies, they are pretty quick to make, if you don't insist on leaving them in the fridge for days. About 10 minutes to whip up the dough and then about 10 minutes in the oven. If you are in a cookie emergency, like I was the other day, you can have cookies on the table in less than half an hour. Now THAT's what I call a perfect cookie!!

On a side note, how ironic is it that this recipe uses Biscoff spread, which basically is cookies made into a spread, to make cookies. Yes, it's a bit weird. At least this time I managed to save enough cookie butter to actually make cookies, last time I bought Biscoff spread I just ate it straight out of the jar and had almost none left to bake with. 

This recipe was one that I have pinned ages ago, just in case of a Biscoff cookie emergency. It's from a blog called Buns In My Oven, but it's originally from a book by Katrina Bahl called The Biscoff Cookie & Spread cookbook. The original recipe says it makes about 30 cookies, I made mine bigger so I got 16 cookies and hence had to increase the cooking time a bit. I don't like small cookies, they just make me sad. A cookie should be a good size, it's very rewarding to have a big cookie in my opinion. But you can of course make the cookies any size you want.

Biscoff and chocolate cookies (makes 16-30):
120 g butter at room temperature
120 g Biscoff spread
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla (I used 2/3 tsp vanilla paste)
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt (I omitted this as I used salted butter)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 cup chocolate chips

The howto:
Cream together butter, Biscoff spread and the sugars. Keep on whisking and add the egg and vanilla. In another bowl, mix the dry ingredients and combine with the butter and sugar mixture. Fold in the chocolate chips. 

Make balls or use a cookie scoop to drop balls of cough onto a cooke sheet, leaving space between for the cookies to expand. Place in fridge for 30 minutes to chill (I have a confession... I skipped this step and the cookies still turned out nice, although if you have more patience than me you should probably do it to give the butter some time to chill before baking).  Preheat oven to 175 degrees C (350 degrees F). Bake for 8-15 minutes, depending on the size of your cookies. The original recipe, which says the recipe makes 30 cookies says to bake them 8-10 minutes, my larger cookies (16 cookies from the dough) were done in 15 minutes. Place on wire rack to cool.

The verdict:
These were very nice cookies, soft on the inside and slightly chewy on the outside. The one thing that did surprise me was that the Biscoff flavour did get very mild after baking the dough compared to how the dough tasted before baking. 

I used dark chocolate chips as that was what I had in my cupboard when my cookie craving struck. I can't stockpile milk chocolate chips as I just eat them straight out of the bag... But I think milk chocolate would go great with these cookies as well, and that's what recommended in the original recipe. The cookies are perfect served with a glass of cold milk.

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