“Mmmmmm coooookie”– The Cookie Monster.
Cookies are cool. Making your own cookies and other baked snacks is a great way to save money but still have treats to take to school. If baking scares you, don’t worry… I promise these recipes will work.
Stuff you should know:
* Self raising flour is just plain flour with some rising agents added. If you don’t have self-raising flour, substitute every cup with 1 C of plain flour mixed with 1 t baking powder.
* Creaming butter and sugar is a key step in many baking recipes. Basically, this means taking softened (but not runny) butter, and beating it in a bowl until it lightens in colour (resembling whipped cream). Then add the sugar, and beat some more.
* Most biscuits will harden as they cool, so don’t worry if they are still soft to touch but look ready. Take them out of the oven and let them cool on a wire rack – they should harden up.
Chocolate Chip Muffins
Use mini-sized or normal muffin trays. The key to muffins is not to over-mix the dough, or else they’ll look like cone-heads when they emerge from the oven, rather than lovely little normal-heads.
Mix:
1 Egg
1/2C Milk
1C Natural Yoghurt
100g Melted butter
1 t Vanilla essence
In another bowl, mix:
1C dark chocolate melts
3 t baking powder
2 C flour
2/3 C brown sugar
1/3 C white sugar
Add wet to dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Pour into greased muffin trays (2/3 fill the tins). Bake for 15-20 minutes (or 10ish for mini muffins) at 180ºC.
Tom’s Chocolate Chip Biscuits
This is a really simple recipe that yields about 80 biscuits. Just try to ignore how unhealthy the ingredients are.
500g butter, softened
1 1/4C caster sugar
1 can condensed milk
5 C self-raising flour
300 – 500g Choc Chips or Melts
Preheat the oven to 180ºC. In a large bowl, cream butter, sugar, and condensed milk. Add sifted flour and chocolate chips. Place walnut-sized balls on greased oven trays, and flatten with a fork. Bake for 15 minutes, until golden. Cool the biscuits on a wire rack to stop them from going soggy.
Erin’s Weetbix Slice
This is a really easy slice recipe that provides yummy results. And it uses Weetbix, so it can’t be that bad for you….
4 Weetbix, finely crumbled
1 C flour
1 C desiccated coconut
2 T cocoa
1 C sugar
1 t baking powder
150g butter, melted
1 egg
In a mixing bowl, mix crumbled Weetbix with the other dry ingredients. Make a well in the centre of the mix, and add the melted butter and egg. Mix well. Press firmly into a slice tin, and bake at180*C for 20 minutes. When cool, ice with chocolate icing and cut into squares.