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Baking | Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies with Smoked Sea Salt and Fluted Pistachio & Craisin Cookies … cookie l♥v

Deeba @ PAB

“Think what a better world it would be if we all, the whole world, had cookies and milk about three o’clock every afternoon and then lay down on our blankets for a nap.”
Robert Fulghum

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies with Smoked Sea Salt and Fluted Pistachio & Craisin Cookies … Cookies Cookies Cookies. The events of the past week asked for something comforting … the call was for cookies! Last months Daring Bakers challenge was meant to awaken the cookie monster in us, which it did. Sadly,  I never did get down to posting them.

Excuses? Plenty and thankfully not too lame. Exams! Then the internet has played truant. The service provider refused to acknowledge the basic problem. A month later, after trying every solution under the sun, they finally agreed to redo the wiring {which is what we asked for in the first place}. Frustrating but true, like so many other things in life. I am happy to be back to blogging with less stress.

Of late, I’ve been bitten by the brownie monster and it was just  a matter of time before I hit cookie mode. Daring Bakers in November set me off. Made two lots {downgraded from an ambitious 5-6}. Then the posting date passed by with intermittent internet and these poor cookies went into drafts. With the net now up and racing, I thought I’d better get them out before the bells begin to jingle louder. When the kidlets were younger, December always woke up the cookie monster in me. The jar was never empty. I was always elbow deep in dough {well almost}. My days {and often nights} would go in backbreaking baking, frosting cookies, doing stain glass cookies, hanging dozens onto the tree, making dozens more for the kids, their friends, for orders etc.

Then the ‘forever hungry for pretty Christmas cookies’ kids grew up. I fell to easier and more practical cookies to make. I hardly ever do cookies that need dressing up and fussing over. Wholewheat Gingerbread Men Cookies are an exception though; I really enjoy doing these. {Ceramics courtesy Urban Dazzle}

Now I consider myself lucky if freshly baked cookies even get a chance to ‘cool completely‘! Before I know it, dirty grubby teen ‘lad’ fingers hesitatingly come forward to grab a few, while the older sister bites gently into them. The two are ALWAYS game for cookies.

I started off pretty early in November. First out of the oven were Fluted Pistachio & Craisin Cookies. Simple, crisp and delicious with craisins and pistachios adding beautiful flavour. The craisins were orange flavoured, so slight hints of orange teased the palette! Good beginning!

Then I happened to see these chippers on a beautiful blog  Reclaiming Provincial. I instantly knew they were about to happen in the near future, pretty near future. I mentally ticked off everything I loved about them …

They are from a book I long to own {read yet another book} Good to the Grain, Kim Boyce. Wholewheat flour only. Brown sugar too. Seemed like a good deal! They certainly were! Watch them as they bake though … they can go from brown to dark brown in a heartbeat.

My cookies didn’t flatten like the ones I saw. Maybe because our Indian wholewheat is heaps different from the American whole wheat pastry flour {I presume the original recipe uses wholewheat pastry flour}. Maybe the egg I used was a tad small. Whatever, but these are darned delicious cookies!

I did add a drizzle of honey; maybe I could have added another. There’s plenty of time for experimenting because these are good cookies and are going to show up more often! Sorry for the delay in this Daring Bakers post Peta.

Holiday season is the time for sharing and Peta of Peta Eats is sharing a dozen cookies, some classics and some of her own, from all over the world with us.

[print_this]Recipe: Fluted Pistachio & Craisin Cookies

Summary: Simple cookies to enjoy holiday baking this season! Enjoy these crisp, light and delicious cookies with a cup of tea or coffee! Makes 2 dozen

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:

  • 100g unsalted butter
  • 75g raw sugar
  • 1 egg yolk {reserve the white}
  • Zest of 1 lime
  • 25g almond meal
  • 175g plain flour
  • 25g pistachios, chopped
  • 25g craisins, chopped

Method:

  1. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment. Preheat the oven to 180C.
  2. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the yolk and zest and beat again.
  3. Add all the remaining ingredients and mix well and bring together into a smooth dough. {In case the dough doesn’t come together well, add a little egg white to bind it}
  4. Roll out to 1/8″ 4mm thick and stamp out with fluted cookie cutters. The cutters need to be sharp to cut through the craisins and pistachios.
  5. Place on the prepared sheet and bake at 180C for 13-15 minutes until light golden brown.
  6. Cool for 5 minutes on the tray, and then remove to cooling rack to cool completely.


Recipe: Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies with Smoked Sea Salt

Summary: Rustic, earthy and delicious wholegrain chocolate chip cookies … worth every bite! {Minimally adapted from Good to the Grain, via Reclaiming Provincial}. Makes 2 dozen

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:

  • 225g whole wheat flour
  • 3/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 100g unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 60g dark brown sugar
  • 60g raw sugar {bura}
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 100g bittersweet chocolate chips
  • 1/2 tsp smoked sea salt

Method:

  1. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment. Preheat the oven to 180C.
  2. Sift flour, baking powder and baking soda into a medium bowl. Reserve.
  3. Beat the butter with both sugars in another bowl on low speed. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat again for a minute.
  4. Add the sifted flour mix and incorporate on low speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl.
  5. Fold in the chocolate chips {on low speed, with a wooden spoon, or your hand}.
  6. Drop walnut size scoops of dough about 1.5″ apart onto the baking sheet. {I rolled mine into balls and flattened them slightly}.
  7. Sprinkle over with sea salt if desired.
  8. Bake for 15-18 minutes until the cookies are evenly dark brown.
  9. Cool for 5 minutes on the tray, and then remove to cooling rack to cool completely.

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Also find me on The Rabid Baker, The Times of India

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