Cranberry and White Chocolate Cookie

It's got to be short and sweet today lovely readers.. There's a whole lot of Christmas baking and decorating to be done and I have to say I am in full festive swing. I have my Christmas fruit cakes baked and topped up..  I will share that post with you shortly, but today I just wanted to show something super simple to bake.  If you were so inclined to bake something for friends or family this winter.

I am a really big fan of homemade, in case you hadn't already guessed and I just love to give cookies and macaron out as gifts. They are so cute wrapped up in bags with bows and I genuinely believe people like a break from the aul' box of Victoria biscuits and tubs of sweets. I always make up a couple of batches, tie a few bags together and send them around the neighborhood. These are perfect for folk you want to knowledge this festive season, without spending a fortune!

The cookies below are crisp on the outside but soft and chewy on the inside. The cranberry offers a nice tart taste, to balance the sweetness of the white chocolate and sugars. They make a good Christmas cookie. Perfect as gifts and sharing.

Cranberry and White Chocolate Cookie 

makes 36 cookies  approx 

115g soft, salted butter
95g 100% vegetable fat or shortening
200g white granulated sugar
220g soft brown sugar
2 large free range eggs
2 tsp vanilla
425g self raising flour
100g porridge oats (optional)
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
250g of white chocolate chips
150g dried cranberry bits

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F or Gas mark 4. Line your cookie sheets with some parchment.

Beat the sugars, butter and shortening together until it looks like mashed up breadcrumbs.
Add both the eggs and then the vanilla and mix until fully incorporated.
Dry whisk the flour, baking powder and bicarb of soda ( and oats if using) together and then add to the wet mix. Mix until just together.

Add the chocolate chips and cranberry pieces and mix until it's a soft dough consistency. This mix is not sticky, but more like really soft playdoh.

Using a tablespoon, scoop out the dough and roll them into golf ball sized balls. So.. being the way I am... I weigh these out to be about 40g balls (give or take a gram on either side)... If you think I'm going to pick off a gram or add a gram, you damn near lost yo' mind!

Space them out on your trays as they spread...

Cook for 10-12 minutes, depending on how crisp you want them to be. 10 in my oven is crispy on the outside and soft and chewy in the inside. Yum!

Try leave them on the sheet to cool for at least 15 minutes. Which, let's face it, never happens.. Just be careful when they come out. They are hot.

Let me know what kinds of things you are baking or making for your family and friends this year.. Or is there anything you would like to see here, anything I can help you out with?

 Let me know in the comments below, or send me an email! I would love to connect! Enjoy the beginning of the festivities my dears!

Tis' the season and all.

Vanilla, Pecan Pie Cheesecake

It seems oddly fast how quickly November is progressing. Not that I have an huge problem with this, more that I am not the biggest fan of November itself. Once Champs birthday is over, we kind of have a nothing month.. Just a countdown until I can start to decorate for Christmas. 

The Americans, in all their ruffled, presidential upheaval have Thanksgiving in the middle; to break up the monotony. We don't celebrate this obviously, but I do like the desserts that come out around this time. 

Imagine I have never made a pecan pie? And I still haven't considering I made this up into a cheesecake instead. But it seems so alien, that one of my favourite nuts and my penchant for pastry have yet to meet in my kitchen. They will one day I'm sure. Just not today.

Today is a baked vanilla cheesecake, soft, fluffy and oh so creamy. Topped with a dark caramel, nutty goo, that hints of cinnamon and vanilla. Perfect for the Thanksgiving table. Perfect to share with friends. Perfect to keep to yourself... because who needs friends anyway...

You've got cheesecake. 

Vanilla Baked Cheesecake

The Crust
200g  digestive biscuits
80g toasted pecans
85g butter, melted

Preheat your oven to 190C/375F/ Gas Mark 5.
In a medium bowl of a food processor, crush together the biscuits and pecans.
Melt the butter and mix together the crumbs.
Press into a 9 or 10 inch round spring form tin.
Bake for 10 minutes until the crumbs have set and turned a dark golden colour.
Allow to cool fully.

The Vanilla Filling
Three (3) 225g packets of full fat cream cheese
60ml of double cream
2tbsps of flour
pinch of salt
200g caster sugar
100g soft light brown sugar
4 large eggs
1tsp of vanilla extract

Reduce the oven to 150C/300F/Gas Mark 2.
Beat the cream cheese, double cream, flour and salt until smooth and fluffy.
Add the sugar and continue until smooth.
Add the vanilla, then the eggs one at a time, mixing in the next after the last yolk has been incorporated.
Beat all the ingredients until smooth, ensuring there are no lumps or bumps.
Pour into the cooled crust.

Sit the spring form tin in a large baking sheet, that has sides to allow you to fill the baking sheet with water. Fill your baking sheet with boiling hot water, about 1/3 the way up the cheesecake tins wall.
Put the whole lot in the oven for 50-55 minutes. Until the top has turned golden and when you move it, the center jiggles a little bit.

Crack open the oven after the time allotted with a wooden spoon. Turn the oven off and allow the cheesecake to cool fully in the oven.

Remove from the oven and refrigerate overnight (or for at least 4 hours).

When you are ready to make the topping, remove the cheesecake from the fridge and the pan, if you have not already done so.

The Pecan Pie Topping

180g soft brown sugar

45ml double cream

30ml maple syrup (or honey or corn syrup)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

150g toasted chopped pecans

Add all the ingredients EXCEPT the pecans to a small pot. Over a medium heat, bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and allow to simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring often. Remove from the heat, stir through the pecans and allow to cool. 

Putting it altogether...
Once the pecan topping has cooled, scrap out the bowl on top of the cheesecake and spread to the edges. I kept mine slightly away from the edge to allow for some whipped cream swirls.. The cheesecake can be served at this stage, or kept up to 3 days in an airtight container in the fridge.

You wont get to three days. You'll have it eaten.

I photographed the cheesecake after some time in the fridge. At room temperature the topping is much gooier! YUM!

Linking up here and here with #bakeoftheweek... A new feature for me, but I do love to link up with other bakers and foodies. So much inspiration out there... You might find something you like too!

Peach Winter Crumble

With January well on it's way, I have been finding it hard to get back into things. College isn't back until the end of this month and I think because I had worked so hard last semester, I deserve an elongated break... whether or not that's right, it is what I am telling myself anyway!

I'm not a fan of January, a strange month. An in between month, sort of a no mans land with a tendency to throw up atrocious weather and consequently, varying degrees of boredom. Now you could say here if I started back into college work I could curb some boredom but then.. I wouldn't have time to bake you see, so really it's best I leave that for another while.

I did find in the absence of activity, the need to look into my kitchen drawers and ponder whether or not they will ever look as good as those you see in the magazines. I noticed the half empty packets of bits and pieces and figured I would put them to good use in a fruit crumble. 

Thing is, tinned peaches were all I had in abundance. And with my kids and husband having a strong aversion to any fruit that isn't chocolate, I was making this crumble for myself. Not that that's a real problem per say, but it is a problem when you are trying to reduce your sugar intake or you know, watching your waistline expand. 

Peach Winter Crumble

The Peaches:
2 cans of peach halves

2  tbsp soft brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp mixed spice

Pinch of ground cloves

The Crumble:

140g plain flour

60g ground almonds

100g porridge oats (not instant)

75g cold butter

50g soft brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 180C, 350F or Gas mark 4.

Drain the peaches and pop them into a deep baking dish. Scatter over the sugar and the spices and then toss everything together.

In a bowl, combine the flour, oats, ground almonds and soft brown sugar.

In another bowl, melt the butter in the microwave and pour into the crumble mix. Mix together with a fork until you have a rough crumbly, squidgy mixture.

Scatter over the peaches, then bake for 25-35 mins until golden and crunchy on top.

Allow to cool and enjoy!

How are you getting through January? Or do you like being marooned on no mans land.. I'd love to know what you think!