Hazelnut & Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today was spent mostly tucked away in the kitchen by myself. I'm a social person & love a good chat, but i'm also very happy being by myself. Especially in the kitchen listening to Radio 4 or watching re runs of Casualty (i never said i was cool) So with the Houseboy out practicing his golf swing i spent the afternoon making Summer Greens Soup, Aubergine Chutney & Cookies. All a success (well i think so) although i didn't quite anticipate the Chutney being so hot-despite the recipe warning me. I reckon it will balance out with a good strong cheese.I always cook for others & love having people over, but i think i sometimes lose sight of cooking purely for myself. I can thank a certain Mr T. Fry for making me change this slightly. He recommended a great blog www.gastronomicalme.com. In it she talks about the pleasure of eating alone & purely relishing simple ingredients put together. I'l be getting a fair bit of practice starting tomorrow as the Houseboy is heading off to Aberdeen for the next two weeks... They say 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' or in the Houseboys case buys him two weeks peace & reduces my washing load by half.  

Earlier in the week i mentioned seasonal produce & i when i was walking down North End Road yesterday i saw a fruit & veg stall selling fresh figs. Figs are a fruit i rarely eat, i think because trying dried figs put me off. After buying a tray of ten & getting home i wondered what i was actually going to do with them. I had a good look through my cook books & found an interesting recipe for Fig Jam by Stephanie Alexander but quickly realised that they firstly needed to be dried out in the sun. Fail, as, not only do i not like dried figs there is no chance i could find enough sun in August let alone October to complete the recipe. So we decided to eat them simply wrapped in Parma Ham & they were delicious. I'm looking forward to having some for breakfast tomorrow morning. 

This is a Nigel Slater recipe from a Guardian publication in 2009, its one of the nicest cookie recipes i have made in a while. I doubled the recipe (only because the Houseboy & i are both taking them to work) & made them really big. Crispy on the edges & chewy on the inside. Perfect with a cup of tea on an Sunday afternoon.  

Ingredients: 

• 75g skinned hazelnuts
• 180g butter at room temperature
• 90g golden caster sugar
• 90g light muscovado sugar
• 2 eggs
• 100g plain chocolate
• 180g plain flour
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda 

Method:

 

Set the oven at 180C/gas 4. Toast the hazelnuts till they are golden brown. This is easiest done under a hot grill with a watchful eye, but you can do it in a non-stick pan if you prefer.

Cut the butter into small pieces and put into a food mixer fitted with a beater attachment. Add the sugars and cream to a light and fluffy texture – you may have to scrape the mixture down from the sides a couple of times with a rubber spatula. You can, of course, do everything with a hand-held electric mixer or even a wooden spoon if you prefer to do it that way.

Break the eggs and beat them into the mixture. Chop the chocolate into small chunks, the size of small gravel and add it, together with the sieved flour and bicarbonate of soda, slowly and at quite a low speed, to the dough.

Take a large, heaped 15ml tablespoon of the dough and put it on a non-stick baking sheet (or use baking parchment if you prefer). Flatten it lightly. Continue with the rest of the mixture, putting the dollops of mixture well apart from each other.

Bake in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes until they have spread and are golden in colour. Let them cool for a few minutes before lifting them off and transferring them to a cooling rack.