Do you ever get those moments, when nothing but a biscuit and a cuppa will do? But oh what about the bingo wings and the ‘moment on the lips, lifetime on the hips’? Well, with these little gems, you can have your cake and eat it – or at least your biscuit!
As an avid cook I do like to try out different recipes, just ask my family, they’ll struggle to think of a meal that we’ve had twice in the last year. But they do have their favourite biscuits, peanut butter being one of them (which I’ve posted on here a while back). So I thought it was time for a change.
I love baking rich, indulgent cookies, but my husband has recently been complaining on his expanding waist line. So in order to satisfy his desire for a sweet snack, yet ensuring the button doesn’t fly off his trousers, I made three treats whose recipes are courtesy of the Weight Watchers.
Caramel Cookies
Makes 60
Ingredients
120g butter softened
140g light brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
120g plain flour
120g wholemeal flour
½ tsp baking powder
Preheat oven to 200° (fan 180°) and set aside two non stick baking trays. In a large bowl cream together the butter, sugar, egg and vanilla extract. Add the remaining ingredients and beat thoroughly, ideally using an electric mixer. Scrape the dough out of the bowl and roll into a log (or two) approximately 4 cm wide. Wrap tightly in cling film and refrigerate for at least 60 minutes. Cut the dough into 3mm slices and arrange on a baking tray. Bake for 10 minutes until lightly brown. Allow to cool slightly before transferring onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes 24
Ingredients
25g butter softened
2 tbs vegetable oil
100g light brown or muscovado sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 pinch of salt
1 egg
100g plain flour
¼ tsp baking powder
75g chocolate chips or broken chocolate – plain, milk or dark
Preheat the oven to 190° (fan 170°) and set aside two non stick baking trays. In a large bowl cream together the butter, oil and sugar until light in texture and paler in colour. Add the vanilla extract, salt and egg and beat well until creamy. Sift in the flour and baking powder and fold in the chocolate chips. Drop spoonfuls of the cookie mix onto non stick baking trays and bake for 5 – 8 minutes until golden and spread out. Allow to cool slightly before transferring onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Choc-Peanut Frozen Cookies
Makes 16
Ingredients
60ml skimmed milk
4 tsp heaped, cocoa powder
25 g caster sugar
50g peanut butter
125g oats
2 tbs vegetable oil
In a small pan heat together the milk, cocoa powder and sugar until the cocoa powder and sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil and remove the pan from the heat. Add the peanut butter and stir until it has dissolved. Mix in the oats and the oil. Divide the mixture into 16 balls and place on a large tray. Freeze for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.
I was actually expecting them to be half the size of ‘normal’ cookies, but no, they were just as big and smelt delicious as they were cooking. The trouble was, they were a bit too moreish, which meant double the amount were eaten! Oh well, looks like I’ll be getting the needle and thread out to reinforce the trouser buttons after all!