Cookie – Baking with Gab

The best ANZAC Biscuits and reflections

This ANZAC Day blog isn’t your traditional ANZAC Day reflection. I intend no disrespect to people who are commemorating ANZAC Day the traditional way, I’m just having a different kind of ruminations.

I’ve been on a bit of a hiatus recently. It wasn’t planned, it just happened. It’s not that I haven’t wanted to blog, life just got in the way a little bit. It’s been good to get away and get some perspective. With all the time I freed up from not blogging, I had the opportunity to evaluate things from a different perspective and realized that some of my older recipes need updating!

With the rest of my free time, I went to New Zealand and Africa and met amazing people, had adventures that I’ll never forget and ate a whole lot of delicious new foods. I’ll sprinkle details of my trips in upcoming blogs, but would thoroughly recommend both destinations to anyone even vaguely considering a holiday right now. Get out there!

The last time I posted an ANZAC biscuit recipe I was at a very different stage in my life. You can read about the wonderful adventure I had here. I was totally in love with Australia and in awe of how different its landscapes can be. Right now, I’m still in love with Australia, but for very different reason. The Boy, as he was referred to in previous blogs, is no longer a part of my life. Things changed for the worse in our relationship and it ended up being unhealthy. The deterioration of one relationship, however, has meant that countless other relationships have bloomed – my friends and family are wonderful, crazy, ridiculous people who are there for me at the drop of a hat.

I am grateful for Australia because of all the people in my life that are here. I’m also grateful that we have such a delicious little morsel to help us commemorate ANZAC Day.

Enjoy your day off, I hope you’re spending it well!

ANZAC Biscuits

Makes 24

1 cup oats
¾ cup desiccated coconut
1 1/4 cups plain flour
¼ cup white sugar
½ cup brown sugar
125g butter
2 tbsp golden syrup
2 tbsp boiling water
1 tsp bicarb

Line a baking tray and preheat your oven to 160°.

Mix together all of your dry ingredients until they’re evenly distributed.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter and golden syrup over a low heat. While this is melting, put the boiling water and bicarb into a small cup and mix them.

When the butter and golden syrup are completely melted, pour the water and bicarb in and allow it to bubble up for 20 seconds, stirring as little as possible. The butter and golden syrup will react to the bicarb, bubbling and becoming cloudy.

Remove the mixture from the heat and pour over the dry ingredients. Mix until there are no dry pockets left, then spoon tablespoons of mixture onto your lined tray.

Bake the biscuits for 12-15 minutes, rotating at half way. Transfer them onto a cooling tray and devour them still warm – they won’t last very long!

Chocolate date skillet cookie and pans

This skillet cookie is everything. It’s giant, chocolatey and gooey – all of these are positives (I think) when it comes to baked goods!

I’m in love with it. I was inspired to make a skillet cookie for two reasons – one, I’d read about them before and somehow never made one; two, I was sent a cast iron pan to trial by Mark from Solidteknics.

The pan is proudly Australian made and it is built to last for generations. I love cooking in my mum’s and nan’s old pots and pans because they have character and history; they wear the marks of thousands of meals, yet continue to reliably do their job. I hope that this castiron pan will hold the same value to my kids (whenever that day comes!) Continue reading “Chocolate date skillet cookie and pans”

Catch ups and simple orange biscuits

I’ve been a bad blogger. I haven’t updated the blog in over a week! I have an excuse, I promise. I’ve been trying to organise a super-cute giveaway for the blog (keep your eyes peeled in the next few blog posts), I’ve been working like a crazy lady, and I was in Melbourne over the weekend. I do have a biscuit recipe to share with you though – that’s go to count for something, right?

So here is what I’ve neglected to tell you: Continue reading “Catch ups and simple orange biscuits”

Choc-mint dipped Christmas biscuits and small acts of kindness

This year I was invited to sign up for the Foodie Secret Santa. It’s run by Claire of Claire K Creations (she has a round-up here) and the timing could not have been better. If you’re not familiar with the concept, bloggers sign up to partake and are assigned three bloggers to mail goodies to. You receive a different gift from three bloggers in return. I made these little choc-mint dipped Christmas biscuits and sent them off to Melissa from House of Powell, Caroline of Shrinking Single and Clare from Life of Clare.

I received salted caramel fudge sauce from Melissa (we both got assigned one another!), porcini and garlic salt from an unnamed blogger and delicious, crumbly biscotti from another unnamed blogger. (I’ll update you with names when I know who the bloggers are.) I instagrammed the biscotti and caramel sauce here. Continue reading “Choc-mint dipped Christmas biscuits and small acts of kindness”

Halloween recipes and squeamishness

I don’t rate horror movies. I’m a massive wimp. I startle easily and I make involuntary “eeps” when frightened. I don’t like doors slamming themslevs, and I’m awful at being home alone.

So Halloween is not really my thing. I don’t delight in gore. In fact, I’m almost the complete opposite of everything Halloween-y. Continue reading “Halloween recipes and squeamishness”

Blueberry crunch biscuits and goodness

These biscuits are dangerously close to being healthy…sort of. Everybody always assumes that oats and coconuts make for a healthier alternative. I put in enough chocolate chips to solve that problem though! I solemnly believe that biscuits were made to be indulgent – if you’re trying to be “healthy,” you’d pick something without loads of sugar and butter in it.

Everything in moderation, right? Continue reading “Blueberry crunch biscuits and goodness”

Choc chip slice and change

I usually dislike change. I like adventures, but I am all for stability. Which is why moving has kind of thrown me off a little bit. Not having access to internet, for example, has resulted in very few posts recently. Not having access to a camera (I used to use my dad’s) means that even I do bake, I can’t show you. Not having an entirely set up kitchen yet means that my baking has slowed.

To top all of this off, the beautiful rustic table that I bought for our dining room didn’t fit through our door (insert crying face here), so we’re borrowing one from my brother’s generous girlfriend (who has been coming up lots recently!)

All of these things are different to what I am used to!!

What I do like about change though, is that it is a catalyst for experimentation. Lacking a cake tin, I opted to go back to my parent’s house and use their kitchen and camera. I was also equipped with their fabulous house warming present to the Boy and I, the Country Women’s Association Cook Book. Aren’t parents fantastic? Continue reading “Choc chip slice and change”

Chocolate chip biscuits and requests

I was recently asked by a regular reader if I had a good chocolate chip biscuit recipe. A chunky, chewy, good old-fashioned type of biscuit.

And I didn’t! What kind of blogger doesn’t have a basic choc chip biscuit recipe?!

I have several types of biscuit recipes (there’s dark chocolate caramel popcorn, perfect chocolate, boyfriend, Anzac, gluten free choc chip, speculoos and salted caramel just to name a few), but no basic choc chip ones.

So I’m setting out to amend this.

These biccies are soft and chewy, with sweet, caramel undertones as a result of the brown sugar. A word of warning – these biscuits puff up beautifully, creating a smooth, even top of the biscuit, so if you want chocolate chunks poking out of the top of your biscuit, maybe place them into the rolled balls just before you put them in the oven.

Traditional choc chip biscuits

200g butter
¾ cup brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp cornflour
2 cups plain flour
¼ cup choc chips
100g milk chocolate, roughly chopped

Cream the room temperature butter together with both types of sugar. Add in the egg and beat well before mixing in the vanilla and cornflour.

Add in the flour one cup at a time and mix at a medium speed. The mixture will become quite dry. Once all of the flour is mixed in, shape the mixture into a ball, wrap it in cling film and pop into the fridge for 20 minutes.

I never used to refrigerate my biscuit dough, but it really makes a difference to the end result. It also makes rolling the balls less greasy because the butter firms up whilst in the fridge.

Preheat your oven to 180°C and line a baking tray with baking paper (I used my silicone baking mat from House, which I’m slightly in love with.)

Once your dough is chilled, scoop a tablespoon off the mixture and roll it into a ball. Repeat until you’ve finished the mixture, then pop into the oven for 13-15 minutes. Rotate half way through the baking process if they over-brown.

The biscuits that were part of the photo shoot were eaten so quickly by The Boy and my brothers that I didn’t get a shot of how jam-packed with chocolate these little biccies are. You can see the chocolatey goodness in my breakfast biscuit Instagram post though!

Dark chocolate caramel and popcorn biscuit

The title of this post looks like two unrelated things, right? “Oh,” you though, “Gab has made some dark chocolate caramel and she has also made some popcorn biscuits, whatever they are.”

“It’s such a smoosh of words that they couldn’t all possibly be referring to one baked product,” I hear you thinking.

Well, your internal monologue is wrong. I made biscuits with dark chocolate caramel popcorn in them.

It’s like a zillion delicious things jam packed into one gloriously ugly little package.

Continue reading “Dark chocolate caramel and popcorn biscuit”

Perfect Chocolate biscuits and bargains

It’s no secret that I love biscuits. I also happen to love the English language. So when I saw this ~~super nerdy~~ cute biscuit tin on Sunday, I knew that I had to have it. I was willing to pay $10 for it, but it turned out it was on sale, so I got it for $5!!

Needless to say,Sunday was a great day. On top of my bargain, I also received an abundance of pears (which you’ll notice in the next couple of recipes that I post) and I came up with a simple, fail proof chocolate biscuit recipe. I have posted other chocolate biscuits, but none are this basic. Continue reading “Perfect Chocolate biscuits and bargains”