New Neighbour Cookies

When we spent our first weekend at the new house, we wanted to meet our new neighbours. I am very excited about having neighbours, having lived in a little lodge that's a bit out on its own. So I wrote them a note suggesting they should pop in and baked a batch of oat and raisin cookies:

I was a bit disheartened when nobody came at first, but later that evening, nearly everybody was out in their gardens enjoying their decks (see my garden pinspiration for more whimsical dreaming about our plans) and we got to meet them all. They were all lovely and it's made me even more excited and even less inclined to want to do this as a speedy project to sell on, much to Dave's amusement.

On the Sunday, next-door-but-one, who had been away the previous day. knocked on the door and look what they had made for us:

And they were super lovely, just like their cakes!

Easter Iced Cookies

I think that cookies are a good way to celebrate all occasions, so here are some fun Easter and spring time cookies. Plus I got to use Yolky (the very cute egg separator) for the first time.

Recipe: Easter Iced Cookies

225g plain flour

100g sugar

125g butter

1 egg yolk

1-2 tbsps water

Pinch of salt

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180℃/350℉/Gas Mark 4

2. Sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl and stir in the sugar

3. Using your fingers, rub the cubes of butter into the flour mix until it resembles breadcrumbs

4. Stir in egg yolk and enough water to hold the mixture together, form into a ball

5. Wrap the ball of dough in foil and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes

6. Roll out on a floured board to approximately 0.5cm thick and cut into shapes

7. Bake on a greased baking tray in the centre of the pre-heated oven for approximately ten minutes, until lightly golden

Decorate using pastel shades of icing and all manner of pretty sprinkles:

Send some to a friend, if you can bare to spare a few:

And finally, go out and enjoying the beautiful spring sunshine we've been having in England today!

Oat and Raisin Cookies

We had a great start to the weekend watching Gloucester's rugby team beat Toulouse from work's corporate box last night, but it was back down to the not-so-dizzying heights of normal 'lodge life' today.

Instead of studying for my journalism course, I managed to procrastinate most of the day away. This did, however, result in a batch of rather tasty (and sort of healthy) oat and raisin cookies...

Oat and Raisin Cookies

Ingredients:
50g butter
50g plain flour (or wholemeal if you have it and are feeling virtuous!)
25g caster sugar
25g soft brown sugar
80g porridge oats
50g raisins
1 tbsp honey
1 egg
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
Pinch of salt

1. Pre-heat oven to 180C (160C fan)
2. Line a baking sheet
3. In a large bowl cream the butter, both sugars and honey until well-combined
4. Add the egg and mix well- don't worry if it's a bit lumpy at this point
5. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, oats, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, salt and raisins
6. Add the flour mix to the creamed butter and mix together well
7. Spoon onto the tray in balls 3-5 cm wide. Make sure they're well spaced as the cookies will spread
8. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until lightly golden. Don't worry if they look and feel a little undercooked as they will firm up outside of the oven, if you cook them for any longer they will loose the chewy cookie texture

By the time I managed to take a photo, we'd already munched our way through a few warm ones from the oven, yum!