The Cookie Jar E-Book

Liz Franklin

• Herausgeber: Ryland Peters & Small
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

Perfect for a tasty midday treat, or intricately gift wrapped for a special occasion, cookies are simple to bake yet sumptuous to eat, and with over 90 home-baked recipes you can celebrate the joy of indulging from the cookie jar. There's nothing quite like the irresistible smell and the mouth-watering taste of freshly baked cookies straight from the oven. Sometimes savoury, but often wonderfully sweet, they are the ultimate bite-sized comfort food, and oh so simple to make. Here you'll find classic recipes such as Gingerbread Men, Choc Chip Cookies and Snickerdoodles, along with more contemporary creations like Peanut Crunch, Spiced Pumpkin or Rosemary & Pine Nut Cookies to truly showcase the variety of flavours share amongst friends… or keep for yourself! Together with some basic baking tips, information about the equipment you need and advice on the best ingredients to buy – you'll be prepared and ready to bake in no time! If you're partial to some Brandy Snaps, the buttery taste of Shortbread or could nibble on the whole selection, get ready to fill up your cookie jar with these crunchy, moreish and easy-to-make bakes.

Leseprobe

THE COOKIE JAR

THE COOKIE JAR

Over 90 scrumptious recipes for home-baked treats

Liz Franklin

Photography by Kate Whitaker

Designer Maria Lee-Warren

Senior Designer Megan Smith

Commissioning Editor Stephanie Milner

Production Manager Gordana Simakovic

Art Director Leslie Harrington

Editorial Director Julia Charles

Publisher Cindy Richards

Food Stylist Annie Rigg

Prop Stylist Jo Harris

Indexer Hilary Bird

First published in the UK and USA in 2015.

This revised edition published in 2020

by Ryland Peters & Small

20–21 Jockey’s Fields,

London WC1R 4BW

and

341 E 116th Street

New York, NY 10029

www.rylandpeters.com

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Text © Liz Franklin 2015, 2020

Design and photographs ©

Ryland Peters & Small 2015, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-78879-239-4

EISBN: 978-1-78879-367-4

Printed and bound in China

The author’s moral rights have been asserted. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

A CIP record for this book is availablefrom the British Library.

US Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.

Notes

• Both British (metric) and American (imperial plus US cup) measurements are included in these recipes for your convenience, however it is important to work with one set of measurements and not alternate between the two within a recipe.

• All spoon measurements are level unless otherwise specified.

1 teaspoon is 5 ml

1 tablespoon is 15 ml

• All eggs are medium (UK) or large (US), unless specified as large, in which case US extra-large should be used. Uncooked or partially cooked eggs should not be served to the very old, frail, young children, pregnant women or those with compromised immune systems. It is recommended that free-range, organic eggs be used whenever possible.

• Ovens should be preheated to the specified temperatures. We recommend using an oven thermometer. If using a fan-assisted oven, adjust temperatures according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

• Whenever butter is called for within these recipes, salted butter should be used.

• When a recipe calls for the grated zest of citrus fruit, buy unwaxed fruit and wash well before using. If you can only find treated fruit, scrub well in warm soapy water before using.

CONTENTS

introduction

basic baking tips

for any occasion

around the world

it’s holiday season

something special

savoury bites

index

acknowledgments

INTRODUCTION

There’s something unquestionably magical about cookie baking. A simple dough goes into the oven and only minutes later you have golden, irresistible cookies that fill the whole kitchen with the most blissful aroma.

Most of us like a little sweet treat now and again, and making your own cookies at home makes that treat something really special, much nicer and far more gratifying than just blindly opening a packet of something you’ve picked up at the supermarket. And the best thing is that cookie doughs aren’t generally difficult or time consuming to make, they don’t need lots of complicated equipment – and both the dough and the cookies themselves tend to freeze really well too!

Nowadays we are constantly told to cut down our intake of sugar, salt and snack foods – and that’s no bad thing at all. But it doesn’t mean we have to go without all together. By making cookies at home rather than eating endless packets of store bought ones, we can control the amount of sugar and salt we add and avoid using hydrogenated fats that are so typical of the bought variety. Homemade cookies are more satisfying to eat too, and so it’s less tempting to eat cookie after cookie… although I have to fess up to occasionally eating a few more than I should!

All of the cookies recipes that follow are made with ingredients that can be easily found in the supermarket. I always, always use real butter, or extra virgin olive oil in the crackers – never margarine. Margarines are often made from hydrogenated fats, and those that aren’t are often a blend of various oils that leave a lot to be desired. I would rather have butter – which is a natural product with a lovely flavour – and eat less, which I find much easier to do with homemade goodies because they’re far tastier and more fulfilling!

The selection of cookies I’ve included incorporates everything from simple to stylish and all of the cookies throughout can be packaged prettily and given as edible gifts. There are cookies to please all ages and for all occasions, from spooky Witches’ fingers for Halloween to pretty lace-like tuiles to serve at the most elegant dinner party. There are cookies to comfort, biscuits to dunk and crisp crackers to top with crumbly cheese; favourites such as chocolate chip cookies, custard creams and buttery Scottish shortbread, as well as some that are a little less ordinary, such as chocolate-stuffed sablés, Garibaldi biscuits, delicate Florentines and fig rolls. Whether your preference is for something plain, or you’re the original sweet-toothed Cookie Monster, I’m sure you’ll find lots to delight as you work your way through the book. Happy cookie baking!

BASIC BAKING TIPS

Equipment

You may like to have some nice cookie cutters to hand, but apart from that, the usual mixing bowls and spoons and a couple of flat baking sheets are all that you will need. An electric handheld whisk helps for the recipes that involve stiffly beaten egg whites, and a food processor is a must for the macaron recipe on page 152, but most of the time I tend to avoid complicated cooking paraphernalia.

I like to line baking sheets with baking parchment rather than greaseproof paper as I find its non-stick properties more reliable. Non-stick silicone baking mats are really great too – they’re made of fibreglass and food grade silicone and are available from specialist catering suppliers, cook shops and online. You simply wash them, roll them up and keep them in the cupboard to reuse time and time again.

I do collect cookie cutters, and there are lots of great suppliers on the high street and online. See Suppliers on page 11 and 192.

Ingredients

Poor ingredients will give poor results. All the recipes in this book are made with good-quality salted butter, or extra virgin olive oil. Please don’t be tempted to substitute low fat margarines (or indeed any margarine), as the results just won’t be the same.

Sometimes I read reviews of recipes (not just my own) where readers have substituted ingredients and changed this or that and they are not happy with the results. By all means experiment with flavours and such, but not by changing good-quality ingredients for inferior quality ingredients. If you do use unsalted butter, then it is important to add a pinch of salt to the recipe, as the flavour of the finished cookie will be a little flat without it.

Freezing the dough

Most of the cookies in this book are made from dough that freezes really well. The doughs that are rolled into log shapes can be wrapped tightly in clingfilm/plastic wrap and then in foil. Be sure to label them so that you know what you’re getting when you take them back out again! When defrosting, if you give them a few minutes to thaw out, you can cut them into slices whilst they are still partially frozen and just add a few minutes on to the baking time. The cookies that are rolled into walnut-sized balls can be frozen in freezer-proof boxes, layered between baking parchment. You can cook them straight from the freezer, again adding a few minutes to the baking time. And the best bit is that you will always be able to have freshly baked cookies at your fingertips without too much trouble at all!

Storing cookies & crackers

All of the cookies and crackers in this book will need to be stored in an airtight container: a tin, sealed plastic box (such as Tupperware), Kilner type jar or a tight-lidded cookie jar.

Be careful when storing different types of cookies together, too – heavily spiced or highly flavoured cookies may taint any other type of cookie they are stored with and some types of softer or the more moist, chewier cookie can cause others to soften more quickly than they might if they were stored with drier, crisper biscuits. Delicate tuiles are best stored by themselves as they will soften easily and of course will break very quickly, too, but you are more likely to make a tuile for a specific serving purpose rather than as part of a mixture of cookies to keep in a cookie jar. Savoury crackers and biscuits are best stored separately from sweet cookies too, again to stop flavour transferral and premature softening.

Cooking times

All but a few of the recipes are cooked at 180°C (350°F) Gas 4. I’m all for making life easier to encourage people to cook at home rather than convincing themselves it’s too much trouble! It’s not easy to be very precise with cooking times, as that will be influenced directly by the size of cookie cutter that you have used. When a recipe calls for the dough to be rolled into walnut-sized balls, we might have differing ideas of the size of our walnuts too! Just keep an eye on the oven – none of the cookies will spoil if you take a peep and they’re not quite done.

Suppliers

For some of the recipes in this book I have used specific cookie cutters. If you’d like to source the same shapes, sizes and types I recommend the following. For the Christmas tree stack on page 120, I use a set of star-shaped cookie cutters in descending sizes available from Lakeland and for 3-D effects, J B Cookie Cutters offer a wide range of standard and custom-made cutters that can be delivered worldwide. See page 192 for more of my favourite baking suppliers.

FOR ANY OCCASION

CHOC CHIP COOKIES

I haven’t come across many people who can resist a freshly baked chewy chocolate-packed cookie – it’s a bit like trying to say no to still-warm, straight-from-the-oven baked bread. One whiff of the heavenly smell coming from the oven alone, and self-restraint goes out of the window. For the best cookie, use good-quality chocolate chips – I like a mixture of dark/bittersweet and milk/semi-sweet chocolate, but you can stick to all or the other if you prefer. Sometimes I add a handful of halved, toasted hazelnuts and slightly less chocolate.

175 g/1½ sticks butter, softened

80 g/scant ½ cup soft brown sugar

80 g/scant ½ cup caster/granulated sugar

1 egg

225 g/1¾ cups plain/all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda/baking soda

100 g/⅔ cup milk/semi-sweet chocolate chips

100 g/⅔ cup dark/bittersweet chocolate chips

2 baking sheets lined with baking parchment

MAKES ABOUT 25

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) Gas 4.

Put the butter and sugars together in a large mixing bowl and beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg and stir until fully incorporated. Mix the flour and bicarbonate of soda/baking soda together in a separate bowl and stir this into the cookie mixture. Add the chocolate chips and work everything together until evenly combined.

Roll the mixture into walnut-sized balls and arrange on the baking sheets, leaving a little space for spreading between each one.

Bake in the preheated oven for 8–10 minutes, until golden and firm.

Leave to cool for 5 minutes or so on the baking sheets, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container or cookie jar and eat within 5 days.

RUM & RAISIN COOKIES

The raisins in these cookies give them a lovely crisp-but-chewy texture, and the hint of rum just makes them even more special.

90 g/6 tablespoons butter, softened

175 g/¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons Demerara/turbinado sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon rum

150 g/1 cup plus 2 tablespoons plain/all-purpose flour

50 g/⅓ cup dark raisins (or sultanas/golden raisins, if preferred)

2 baking sheets lined with baking parchment

MAKES ABOUT 20

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) Gas 4.

Beat the butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl until smooth. Add the egg and the rum. Stir in the flour and work everything together to form a smooth dough. Add the raisins and work gently into the dough until evenly incorporated.

Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving a little space for spreading between each one.

Bake in the preheated oven for 8–10 minutes, until golden and firm.

Leave to cool on the baking sheets, before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container or cookie jar and eat within 1 week.

DOMINO BISCUITS

Decorated to look like real dominoes, these chocolatey biscuits are great fun for children and go down really well at birthday parties.

130 g/1 stick plus 1 tablespoon butter

130 g/⅔ cup caster/granulated sugar

1 egg, be aten

200 g/1⅔ cups plain/all-purpose flour

60 g/⅓ cup ground almonds

20 g/2½ tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

50 g/1½ oz. white chocolate, melted

2 baking sheets lined with baking parchment

MAKES about 30

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) Gas 4.

Beat the butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl until smooth. Add the egg, and continue to beat until fully incorporated. Stir in the flour, ground almonds, cocoa powder and baking powder, and bring the mixture together to form a stiff dough.

On a clean, lightly floured work surface, roll the dough out into a large rectangle with a thickness of about 3 mm/⅛ in. Cut out small rectangles just slightly larger than a real domino. Bring the trimmed dough (if there is any) together and roll out again to cut as many cookies out of the dough as possible.

Lay the cookies on the prepared baking sheets, leaving a little space for spreading between each one.

Bake in the preheated oven for 10–15 minutes, until firm.

Leave to cool on the baking sheets and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Use the melted white chocolate to decorate the biscuits with dots and lines to resemble dominoes. Store in an airtight container or cookie jar and eat within 1 week.

ICED COFFEE COOKIES

Coffee-flavoured glacé icing that sets ever-so-slightly crunchily makes these coffee cookies very moreish. A little sprinkling of very finely chopped walnuts around the outside perimeter give them an extra special touch, too – although you could use chocolate sprinkles or hazelnuts if you prefer.

150 g/1 stick plus 2 tablespoons butter, softened

120 g/⅔ cup caster/superfine sugar

1 egg yolk

2 teaspoons instant coffee dissolved in 1 teaspoon boiling water

180 g/1⅓ cups plain/all-purpose flour

120 g/1 scant cup ground almonds

Coffee glaze

400 g/3⅔ cups icing/confectioners’ sugar

2 egg whites

2 teaspoons instant coffee dissolved in 1 teaspoon boiling water

100 g/⅔ cup walnuts, very finely chopped

a round cookie cutter

2 baking sheets lined with baking parchment

MAKES 30

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) Gas 4.

Beat the butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl until smooth. Add the egg yolk and beat to combine. Stir in the coffee, and then add the flour and ground almonds and bring everything together to create a smooth dough.

On a clean, lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough into a large rectangle about 4 mm/⅛ in. thick. Cut out circles using the cookie cutter. Bring the trimmed dough together and roll out again to cut as many cookies out of the dough as possible.

Arrange the cookies on the prepared baking sheets and bake in the preheated oven for 8–10 minutes, until firm and golden.

Leave to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes, before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

In the meantime, mix the icing/confectioners’ sugar, egg whites and coffee together until smooth. Spread the coffee glaze over the cold cookies and sprinkle the chopped walnuts around the edges. Eat one, and then leave the rest until the glaze has set. Store in an airtight container or cookie jar between layers of baking parchment and eat within 3 days.

MALTESER COOKIES