Cookie Exchange + Easter Baking

Today I get to talk about cookies! :) Tamzin @ Salad and Sequins organised a cookie exchange recently, and I was paired with Ffion @ Chocolate & Raspberries. I loved taking part in this exchange. Ffion has given up chocolate for Lent, which kind of forced me to think of more interesting cookies to make - ones that I would usually not make as Liam wouldn't like them. But when I was sending half of them to Ffion, I could afford to make cookies whose leftovers would only be intended for my tummy!! ;)

After looking on Ffion's blog, I discovered that she loves mango. A quick google later, I found this recipe for Coconut Mango Cookies. I used brazil nuts in place of the almonds for a more "tropical" taste. The recipe was a bit more labour intensive than cookies I usually make, involving forming the cookie dough into "logs" and then chilling for at least an hour.

The extra time was worth it though. These cookies have a lovely texture once baked. There was no temperature given on the recipe, but I cooked mine at about 200C for 10 minutes and they came out great. I was a bit worried when I took the first batch out of the oven as, despite being brown at the edges, they were still a bit wobbly. They set up after a couple of minutes though so all was fine! :)

I still have one log left in the freezer to bake another time as well, happy days!! ;)

The other cookies I made were peanut butter cookies (which also include orange zest). I thought I could trust this recipe as it is by Paul Hollywood, but the cook time of 25 minutes is way too long. The first batch were burnt after 20 minutes (so still 5 minutes less than recommended), so I made a 2nd batch and they only actually need 10 minutes to cook! Crazy that the recipe is so wrong!! I looked in the comments section after I burnt the first batch, and lots of people had the same issue. Whoops, should have checked there first! The second batch turned out perfectly though...

To my surprise, Liam really liked these cookies too - apparently the orange zest "mellowed" (<-- his word) the peanuts?!! Oh well, another "acceptable" cookie recipe to add to the list so no complaints here!!

I'd never done a cookie exchange before and was a bit worried about how they would survive in the post, so I packaged up 10 of each cookies - on the basis that even if one set crumbled (the peanut cookies seemed less sturdy than the others) then Ffion would still receive almost a whole 12 cookie batch!!

I packaged them in a cardboard box lined with bubble wrap (and then put a card to Ffion on top of the cookies for extra protection) and crossed my fingers...

I was so relieved when Ffion let me know that they'd all arrived in one piece...phew!!

I also received my cookies from Ffion yesterday too. She sent her cookies in a hard plastic box (wish I'd had that sensible idea!) so her cookies were still in perfect condition...

Ffion sent me Apple & Oat Cookies (the bigger ones on the right in the photo below), and Wholemeal Hazelnut Bakes...

I love both of these - thank you so much Ffion! :)

Ffion did say in her note that she hadn't realised quite how similar the recipes were going to be until she started making them, but as she said, at least she knows from my blog title that I love oats! ;) They are quite different though - the apple ones are softer and sweeter, whereas the hazelnut ones have a slight taste of coffee as well as the crunch from the hazelnuts. Both super tasty!

***

Whilst we're on the subject of baking, I thought I would quickly talk about the Easter cookery class Izzy went to on Tuesday. It was for 2 hours and she absolutely loved it - she came out buzzing with excitement over the fun she'd had and all the things she'd made! The lady who was running it did say she'd hoped they'd have time to make one more thing, but cooking with a group of 8-10 children had, understandably, taken much longer than when she'd been practising with just her daughter in the kitchen! Izzy still came home with quite an impressive haul though...

Chocolate crispy "nests"...

Easter biscuits...

And, my personal favourite, hot cross "bunnies"...

These were coming out of the oven as the parents were arriving to pick up our children, so they were still warm when we got them home...so good! :)

Have you done any "Easter baking" yet this year? Izzy's putting me to shame, haha, I haven't done any! I was tempted to make the same creme egg cupcakes I made last year, but am resisting as I know I'll just eat most of them myself! Instead I'm going to skip Easter and focus on ideas for my Mum's birthday cake, which is on Monday so not too long away anyway. I am tempted to make hot cross buns though, they can't be that hard if the children made them right?! Although the lady had made the dough in advance...have any of you ever made hot cross buns before? Feel free to link to trusted recipes!

Saturdays are for...

• baking amazing "Millie's style" cookies (I used 100g white chocolate chips, 100g dark chocolate chips).

All 15 cookies were eating by the 4 of us today, but I still have more dough left to bake tomorrow, yey, these are the best cookies I've ever managed to make! :)

•  eating leftovers for lunch - I made a burrito from last night's fajita leftovers - fried onions and pepper, salsa, cheddar and goats cheese inside, sour cream and guacamole on top.

• receiving flowers (thanks Liam!) - rubbish photo as is it was already pitch black by the time he bought them home at 5.30pm - hate lack of daylight in winter! :(

• easy dinners. Although, note to self: next time buy Lidl's fresh pasta instead of Waitrose - a third of the price and Izzy likes the spinach & ricotta flavour, whereas she complained her way through eating this!

• filling in quizzes. The lovely Lara at Princess Goddess Mommy tagged me in an award - thank you! :)

The rules of this nomination are:I get to tell you seven random things about myself as well as pass on the award to seven other great bloggers.

Nominees, in order to accept this award you must:
-Thank and link back to the person who awarded you - CHECK
-Write seven random things about yourself - CHECK
-Award seven other awesome and inspiring bloggers - CHECK

I've tried to think of 7 random things about myself that are at least vaguely interesting, so here goes!

1. My dream for the "future" is to retire abroad and own a cocktail bar on a beach somewhere. There is the small matter of making lots of money first, but as I have about 20 years until the children are likely to leave home, I figure I have plenty of time left to worry about that!
2. I stopped eating meat for Vegetarian Month (or was it week? I kept going so I'm not sure...) when I was 12. I kept it up through a school trip to China (which therefore involved living on plain boiled rice and a few watery green vegetables for 10 days) but going to boarding school when I was 16 defeated me. I can't even remember what the vegetarian options were that the canteen served, but whatever it was was enough to turn me back to meat for another 8 years!
3. I have size 8, wide, flat feet. I therefore hate shoe shopping. I remember my Mum once having to buy me boys shoes to wear to school, as all the girls shoes that year were too thin and pointy.
4. I go through stages of wanting to cut my hair really short or dye it blonde. The fear of not liking it and it taking too long to grow back holds me back, plus the expense of constantly having to dye my dark roots is quite off-putting! I used to use semi-permanent dyes in red/purple "auburn" colours quite regularly until about a year ago though, maybe I should do that again.
5. I can't stand baked beans. The taste and texture make me gag. That always seemed to cause problems when I went to friends' houses for tea as a child, and now means I dislike the texture of chickpeas, kidney beans etc...although if I mash or puree them then I quite like the taste. (Houmous, mmmm!)
6. I have a little sister who is 10 years younger than me, and then Izzy is 10 years younger than her. Nice even age gaps!
7.  I asked Liam for help with thinking of Number 7 and his response was "you like food"...haha, suppose that is definitely true, but a bit concerning that that is the first thing he thinks of!!

And I guess the main thing we can tell from the above is that I do like to ramble on! Love how the last couple of facts are so much shorter than the others...I was running out of steam!!

I now get to tag 7 other bloggers to complete this award. I've seen this done by a few people already, so I will try not to tag the same people as them...feel free to ignore me if you have already been tagged though!

Angie @ Musings of a Violet Monkey
Sarah @ Every Day's A Picnic
Hannah @ Mind Running Wild
Nicky @ Kabocha Fashion
Becky @ Becky Blog
Ali @ (Almost) Athletic Ali
Sarah @ Sweet Potato Sarah

What was the best thing you did this Saturday? And what is your favourite type of cookie? This recipe was so successful that I plan to re-create it with lots of variations. Although I suppose I need to be a bit cautious...one of my favourites - white chocolate with dried cranberries - would not be approved of by Liam so I'd end up eating the whole batch by myself!