Sorry for my absence those past days - I was apartment hunting in Vienna, or more precisely taking a look at the apartment that was already promised to me via internet. Skype makes it possible.
I am really happy that I finally found something that seems nice. So much trouble with pets and nudists - both are not really my favorite flatmates.
Besides doing a short trip to Vienna I spent the time in the “Weinviertel” in the Wachau, Austria. A lovely region for everyone who likes good wine, good food and a picturesque landscape. I definitely consider myself as more of city person I sometimes love to get out in the nature and take a break from the everyday life. But more of this trip in the next post.
Before leaving I made cowboy oatmeal cookies. Great recipe for basic outmeal cookies. I just put in whatever I found in the kitchen that day. So one is very flexible with the ingredients.
Have a wonderful day,
Annika
Cowboy Oatmeal Cookies
(makes about 25 medium sized cookies)
Ingredients
125 g/ 1/2 cup butter
125 g/ 1/2 cup brown sugar
125 g/ 1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
vanilla
lemon zest
250 g/ 1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 baking powder
pinch salt
125 g/ 1/2 cup oats
125 g/ 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
125 g/ 1/2 cup butterscotch chocolate chips
60 g/ 1/4 cup cranberries
60 g/ 1/4 cup brittle chips
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius/ 350 degree Fahrenheit
2. Beat butter, brown sugar and white sugar until creamy.
3. Add egg, lemon zest and vanilla and stir until well blended.
4. Mix in all dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
5. Fold in the brittle chips, butterscotch chips, white chocolate chips and oats.
6. Place tablespoon sized balls of dough on the baking sheet.
7. Bake for 8 minutes until the edges are golden brown.
A lot of people have a favorite kind of granola or cereals. My brother is one of them. He loves this certain kind of granola. I really like it too. But it sure isn’t healthy. Besides the cereals, there is plenty of chocolate and brittle chips in it. This is why I try hard to be abstinent from this granola. Sometimes I have to give in though - especially late at night!
So as I consider the granola more as a dessert than as a real dish I decided to incorporate in a real dessert: cookies.
Now it finally makes sense to eat it - any time after breakfast!
I highly recommend you to grab your personal favorite granola and bake those cookies.
Have a wonderful day,
Annika
Favorite-Granola-Cookies
(makes 24 medium-sized cookies)
Ingredients
125 g/ 1/2 cup butter
125 g/ 1/2 cup white sugar
125 g/ 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 Egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
250 g/ 1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch salt
375 g/ 1,5 cup of your favorite granola
250 g/ 1 cup mini marshmallows
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 150 degree Celsius/ 325 degree Fahrenheit.
2. Beat butter, white sugar, brown sugar and the egg until creamy.
3. Add vanilla extract, flour, baking soda and salt.
4. Stir until well incorporated.
5. Fold in your favorite granola and mini marshmallows.
6. Place dough balls on a baking sheet. They should be the size of a tablespoon.
7. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes.
Today classic peanut butter chip cookies are on the menue. I described my rather tense relationship with peanut butter. But I have to admit that I really loved these cookies. Somehow I m liking the flavor again. We ll see about this development haha.
My family is on vacation in the US and I cannot wait their return: They will bring me bags filled with tons and tons of different kinds of chocolate chips. You don’t really get them in Germany, so importing is a good solution for that tiny problem. Sure you can make cookies without chocolate chips, but it won’t be the same!
Have a great day,
Annika
Peanut Butter Chip Cookies
(makes about 30 small to medium sized cookies)
Ingredients
125 g/ 1/2 cups butter, room temperature
125 g/ 1/2 cup brown sugar
60 g/ 1/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
180 g/ 3/4 cup peanut butter
vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
250 g/ 1 cup flour
180 g/ 3/4 peanut butter chips
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius/ 350 degree Fahrenheit.
2. Beat butter, brown sugar and sugar until creamy.
3. Mix in in the egg.
4. Add peanut butter, vanilla extract, baking soda and flour.
5. Fold in the peanut butter chips.
6. Bake for about 8 minutes.
Another round of cookies - I made those for my brother and his friends when they left for their summer holiday to France. These cookies seemed appropriate because they weren’t covered by chocolate that could melt yet they incorporate chocolate pieces. So you still get that chocolate component…even white and dark chocolate, so a double chocolate cookie. I didnt know my brother’s friends taste but with regular chocolate chip cookies you cannot go wrong in my oppinion. Who doesn’t like them? Plus they got a little box filled with brownies - so the cookies weren’t the only choice they had! :)
Have a wonderful day,
Annika
White and Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies
(makes around 35 medium sized cookies)
Ingredients
125 g/ 1/2 cup butter, melted
125 g/ 1/2 cup white sugar
125 g/ 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
125 g/ 1/2 cups white chocolate chips
60 g/ 1/4 cup dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 180 degree celsius/ 350 degree Fahrenheit.
2. Mix flour, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.
3. Stir melted butter, white sugar and brown sugar until creamy.
4. Add vanilla and the egg.
5. Pour in the dry ingredients and stir.
6. Fold in the white chocolate chips and the coarsely chopped dark chocolate.
7. Place tsps of dough on the baking sheet.
8. Bake for 9 minutes.
At home we have this little box that we named “Cookie box”. Literally! No translation…it is the cookie box. And this cookie box needs to be refilled regularly…quite often…basically every second or third day. This is the reason why you will find a lot of cookie recipes on this blog.
People will walk through the living room, watch TV or read a book and every now and then they snatch a cookie!
Have a wonderful day,Annika
Toffee Chocolate Cookies
(makes 35 small cookies)
Ingredients125 g/ 1/2 cup butter
60 g/ 1/4 cup dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
125 g/ 1/2 cup brown sugar
60 g/ 1/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla sugar
360 g/ 1.5 cup flour
2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
pinch salt
250 g/ 1 cup Toffee Bits
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius/ 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Melt the butter and the chocolate.
3. Mix the sugar and the egg in another bowl until foamy.
4. Add vanilla, flour, cocoa and salt.
5. Stir in the chocolate-butter mixture.
6. Fold in the Toffee Bits with a rubber spatula.
7. Place the cookie dough on the baking sheet - about one teaspoon of dough.
8. Bake for 10 minutes.
Sun is out - and the end of the exam period is in sight!
What else do I want. I am so excited for tomorrow noon: I will be able to do all the things I haven’t had time for during the last weeks: go out, see friends, go shopping, do some paperwork, hang out in the garden, read books (I have accumulated a very big pile), plan vacation, look for an apartment in Vienna and obviously bake ;)
I really like those cookies - white chocolate and cranberry. A combination that you don’t get too often. At least in Germany. We are not that much of a cranberry nation. We don’t even have a German name for them. But the berries give the cookies the special twist…!
So give them a try.
Enjoy the sun and have a wonderful day,
Annika
White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies
(makes 30 cookies)
Ingredients
250 g/ 1 cup butter, room-temperature
125 g/ 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
2 tsp vanilla sugar
2 cup flour
pinch salt
125 g/ 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
90 g/ 3/4 cup cranberries
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius/ 350 degree Fahrenheit.
2. Mix the butter and confectioner’s sugar.
3. Add vanilla sugar, flour and salt.
4. Fold in the white chocolate chips and the cranberries.
5. Make a log of dough with a diameter of 3 to 4 centimeters.
6. Place the log on plastic wrap.
7. Put the dough in the fridge for about an hour.
8. Cut the log into 1 cm thick cookies.
9. Place on a baking sheet.
10. Bake for 10 minutes until golden brown.
