Finding a good cookie recipe is not easy and I have tried many, but this one is just lovely, chewy on the outside, soft in the middle and full of flavour. Its the sort of recipe that you can play with and have a lot of fun with, depending on your mood, the season or the event.
Sugar Saucers
I made these with my Son’s Olly & Luca and they loved rolling the dough in the sprinkles for me and loved even better eating the huge saucer shaped cookies, even for my hardened crew of tasters they nearly proved to be too much, but they soldiered on and manage, bless them. Well done boys.
I did ask if they thought I should of made them smaller, but the answer was that the size of them is what made them really fun, proving that size is always everything!
This recipe came from the gorgeous cookery book Baked in America and the boys have already chosen their birthday cakes for this year from this book, so watch this space.
Buon appetito
Makes 10 huge cookies or 36 small ones.
600g Plain Flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
340g unsalted butter
120ml rapeseed oil
225g granulated sugar
200g icing sugar
2 large eggs
4 teaspoons vanilla extract
Extra sugar or sprinkles to decorate
Preheat the oven to 180c/350f/gas mark 4. Line 2 baking sheets with baking parchment.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter on a medium speed for about a minute. With the mixer on, slowly pour in the oil, and then add the two sugars, the eggs and the vanilla. Make sure to stir well after each addition. Slowly add the flour mixture about a quarter at a time. Mix only until the flour disappears. This is a very soft dough, I was quite worried just how soft, but refrigerate for at least an hour and it will be just fine. You can even keep the mixture in the fridge for up to several days before using.
Using a large ice-cream scoop (if you have one, I don’t so I just measured out the dough on the scales with a large spoon and shaped with my hands), divide the dough into balls approximately (150 – 175g) each. These were huge and I did mine at about 120g ! Place 4 balls per baking sheet and stagger them so they won’t spread into each other as they bake, don’t be tempted to squeeze to many on, they really do spread and become HUGE! Using your fingers, flatten the balls slightly and sprinkle each one with sugar, or roll in the sprinkles before you flatten them out. If you want to ice your cookies, don’t add sugar or sprinkles.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the edges start to turn golden. The middles will appear soft but will firm up as they cool. If you prefer crisper cookies, add another minute or two. Cool on the baking sheets for about 5 minutes before transferring them to wire racks to cool.
You can also try:
Glazing them with a simple water icing.
Sprinkled with demerara sugar for extra sparkle.
Add 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar to the dry ingredients and roll in cinnamon sugar prior to baking and you will have Snickerdoodles.
Add lemon or orange zest.
Use Lavender Sugar.
As is always the case, the recipe is just a guide line and feel free to play with it until your hearts content and your taste buds are satisfied. I fancy white chocolate chips in my next batch.
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