Chewy Choc Chip Cookies - Baking with hubby!

It has been a long time since I have actually taken the time to bake something. So today I promised my hubby we would bake cookies together. Or rather I would bake while he stood around waiting for them to be ready to eat!! Cookies are pretty quick & easy to make, and very yummy to eat. I love cookies that are crispy on the outside & chewy on the inside, I don't like when they are hard like biscuits. So after trying a few recipes over the years, this is the one I love and use. Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients (Makes approximately 18 cookies)

Each cookie is approximately 310 calories

• 250g Plain flour
• 200g light brown soft sugar
• 100g caster sugar
• 170g unsalted butter (must be soft or melted)
• 2 eggs - 1 whole egg & yolk only of second egg
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 360g of chocolate chips or chunks

Hubby & I chose dairy milk as it's our favourite. But by all means use galaxy, chocolate chips, smarties, mini eggs, fruit, what ever you want really! If using a bar break the chocolate in to individual squares.

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 170C/Gas mark 3 or 150C for a fan oven.
2. Sift your flour, salt & Bicarbonate of soda
3. In a seperate bowl cream the two types of sugar & butter together until thoroughly mixed & fluffy.
4. Add the vanilla extract, 1 egg & 1 egg yolk and beat until light & fluffy.
5. Add the sifted ingredients and mix until blended. You should have a creamy but quite stiff dough.
6. Add the chocolate and stir until mixed thoroughly.
7. Take a baking tray and either grease with margerine/butter or line with greaseproof/baking paper.
8. Spoon the mixture on to the tray, about 1-2 tablespoons of mixture per cookie. Leave plenty of space between each dollop and do not flatten the mixture. As it cooks the mixture will flatten out.
9. Leave in the oven for 15-20 minutes, the cookies should be golden brown (more so on the edges) soft but not runny. 
10. Serve hot with a dollop of ice-cream, or leave to cool & eat later.

Middle two are a little bit too close!

Starting to go golden brown but still uncooked in the middle, back in they go!

Perfect!

Even if I say so myself these were absolutely delicious! Give them a go and let me know what you thought!

Or do you have a better recipe for me to try? Chris & I love the large dairy milk chunks in our cookies, but what is your favourite chocolate/sweet to add?

As always, thanks for reading! xox

Three Days To Go - Chocolate Mousse

With only three days to go I am on the busy train to marital life and it's all very exciting!!
With so much going on it's not likely I will be able to blog as much as I have done the past few days since I started this blog. So I thought I would give you all a final little treat from me to keep you all happy.

This easy recipe for Chocolate Mousse is so delicious and I absolutely adore it as a treat on the odd occasion. So now I shall share it with you!

For 2 people you will require:

1 egg
1/2 oz of caster sugar
2 1/2 oz of plain chocolate (I use Bournville chocolate, but any 75% cocoa or higher chocolate will be just as good)

Melt the chocolate. A lot of people do this in a glass bowl above a boiling pan of water, but I'm a fan of 30 second blitz in the microwave, stir, blitz again until it has thoroughly melted with no lumps and it is glossy. Which ever way you prefer make sure it doesn't burn! Put the chocolate to one side for 2-3 minutes to cool down.

While the chocolate is cooling separate your egg white from the egg yolk. Working over a glass bowl crack the egg in to two halves and gently drop the yolk back and fore the two shell sections allowing the white to drop out in to the bowl. Place the yolk in to a separate bowl. If there is any shell in your white, use the larger section of shell to scoop as this is the easiest method. Once the chocolate has cooled put the yolk into the chocolate and stir until thoroughly mixed. The chocolate must still be melted but not be hot or else the yolk will cook. So make sure it has cooled and is not hot but hasn't started to set either.

Take the egg whites and mix with either a whisk, or an electric hand mixer until it reaches the soft peak stage i.e. when you lift the beater out of the egg mix it forms peaks which will fall back on it self. At this stage add a third of the sugar and whisk, add the next third and so on. Continue to mix all of the sugar and keep beating the eggs until they are glossy and can hold their peak shape.

Spoon a tablespoon of the egg white mixture in to the chocolate mix and fold in to loosen the mixture. Add the rest of the egg white mixture gradually, folding it in to the chocolate with patience and care. You don't want to beat out the air as this is what will give the mousse consistency. Divide the mixture in to two ramekins and chill for at least two hours in the fridge.

Check the mixture has set before serving. Serve with whipped cream (which incidentally tastes better with a bit of icing sugar beaten in to it) and tuck in!!

Will try to blog soon, but wedding duties call :) !!!!!

Yummy Treats - Packed Potato Skins

We all have those days where we just need a bit of comfort food, and after over 12 months of dieting I have been thinking about all the yummy naughtiness I used to eat! While spending some time with my mum this weekend we discussed one of our old favourites and I decided that I would share this yummy treat with you all. Bit of a break from the wedding theme and I can drool over my keyboard instead of all over my kitchen! 

Packed Potato Skins

You will need one Baking potato per person.
You can pick several different fillings. I will give you 3 of my favourites - but first how to cook your potato!

Preheat your oven to 220C  (if fan oven go for about 190/200C)
Take your potato and prick the skin all over with a fork. Put some oil and salt on the potato and rub in well with your hands.
Cook for about 45 minutes to an hour in the oven. Until the skin is starting to crisp and the inside of the potato is easy to push a fork in to.
Take potato out of oven and cut in half. Scoop as much of the potato in to a mixing bowl  as you can with out ripping the skins.

Filling one - ham, mushroom and pickle

Fry some sliced mushroom and any precooked ham in a pan. Add a tablespoon of pickle  and cook for a few minutes until mixture is heated through and the pickle is beginning to bubble.
Add mixture in to potatoes with a dollop of marg/butter and mix together. Spoon filling back in to the skins and put back in oven for 15 minutes or until potato mixture starts to crisp up.

Filling two - bacon and mozzarella

Cook your bacon under the grill and then chop up. mix with the scooped out potato and about 40g of mozzarella. 
Spoon back in to potato skins. Put in oven for 10 minutes. Sprinkle a small amount of mozzarella over the potato and cook for a further 5 minutes or until the cheese starts to go golden brown.

Filling three - Ham and mustard.

Dice some ham and add with a teaspoon of mustard to the potato.
Spoon in to the skins and cook for 15 minutes.

OTHER FILLING IDEAS

Chicken & mushroom
Spring onion &  cheese
Peppers
Tomato sauce and diced sausage

There are so many things you can add. It is all down to taste. But give it a go and see what you think. It's yummy comfort food for the winter and not too difficult! :)