COOKIES

MIXED BERRY & NUT CLUSTERS….Cookies, Cake & CLICK

“If life is a bowl of cherries, then what am I doing in the pits?”
Erma Bombeck
IMG 5368 Mixed Berry & Nut Clusters

Aaaaaaaargh…it’s just another of those days when time begins to run out on you even before morning has nicely broken!! Day before was a busyish day. I made cookies out of dried berries & I made chocolate chocolate-chip muffins from Nigella’s recipe @ Food network…asking for trouble to tell you the truth!

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The muffins were not nice at all, so not worthy of being posted. Had my dear friend’s kids over from Ukraine, so then made chocolate morsel cookies too. The kids are complete chocolate addicts & will not touch anything even remotely ‘berry’! Manggy, your brother’s got company!! IMG 0717
To make matters worse…no cake in the fridge for early morning indulgence. Donno what I’m talking about? Check out this at Cakespy…to all ya folk who feel guilty at sneaking a slice of cake out for breakfast, cupcakes, muffins included..we’ve got proof. IT’S OK!! Jessie says so & Bill Cosby always said so!! Since the muffins were a disaster, I quickly made a Zebra cake.

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Coffee with the Zebra
As always, this is one fascinating looking cake (recipe HERE), & a cuppa coffee makes it even better. Which gave rise to thoughts in the direction of CLICK July ’08 Coffee / Tea @ Jugalbandi

IMG 0819‘Bean Thinking Coffee’… my entry for CLICK : July 08 Coffee/Tea

Back to the cookies in question. I’ve had some dried berries lying around for a while. Actually bits & bobs of all sorts, so I decided to clear them one fine day…came up with quite a treasure.
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Some craisins, some dried blueberries,currants, raisins etc. Better use ’em up before it’s too late…books opened & a recipe found. ‘Mixed Berry & Nut Clusters’ turned out to be yummy, healthy cookies, best devoured the day they are made or the next. I think they taste best fresh, warm out of the oven with a glass of chilled milk. The kids had 4 each just after I made them. Home made cookies always taste better; it’s been eons since I bought cookies from the store. These cookies had oats too…
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Mixed Berry & Nut Clusters…
Adapted from ‘Cranberry & Orange Clusters’, ‘The Colossal Cookie Cookbook’, pg 277
Ingredients:
Butter – 1/2 cup
Sugar – 1/2 cup
Grated rind of 1 orange
Egg – 1
Vanilla Extract – 1 tsp
Rolled oats – 1 1/4 cups
Dried cranberries, currants, nuts etc – 3/4 cup
Flour – 1 1/4 cup
Baking powder -1/2 tsp
Pinch of salt

collageMethod:

  • Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Lightly grease 2 baking sheets.
  • Beat butter + sugar + orange rind till fluffy.
  • Add egg & beat again.
  • Stir in the oats & berries, nuts etc.
  • Sift the flour + baking powder + salt into the bowl & mix until evenly combined.
  • Put spoonfuls of the mixtures on the sheets, leaving space for spreading in between. Flatten slightly with a fork. Sprinkle with a little vanilla sugar or coloured sprinkles.
  • Bake for approx 15 minutes until risen & golden brown.
  • Cool on rack. They will be soft when you take them out of the oven, but will become firm as they cool.
  • Dressed up a few with sprinkles I had on hand…just to give the kids happy smiles!

IMG 5415 Colour always works up magic!!

About me: I am a freelance food writer, recipe developer and photographer. Food is my passion - baking, cooking, developing recipes, making recipes healthier, using fresh seasonal produce and local products, keeping a check on my carbon footprint and being a responsible foodie! I enjoy food styling, food photography, recipe development and product reviews. I express this through my food photographs which I style and the recipes I blog. My strength lies in 'Doing Food From Scratch'; it must taste as good as it looks, and be healthy too. Baking in India, often my biggest challenge is the non-availability of baking ingredients, and this has now become a platform to get creative on. I enjoy cooking immensely as well.

17 Comments

  • Manggy

    Wait, sorry I’m so slow, but why do I have company?

    Anyway, sorry to hear about the bad muffins. Naughty Nigella!! The cookies look good though!

  • Passionate About Baking

    YOU & SLOW…no way Doc!! My fault; meant your brother…typo corrected. & YES, naughty Nigella!!

  • Divya

    Yummy cookies Deeba..and Zebra cake looks cool..the click is so apt,I am sure the cake tasted great with the coffee..and the cookies with milk!!I am tempted to make zebra again!!

  • Sunshinemom

    Love the first pic, and the one for click, Deeba! Cookies too look rustic and yum, but then everything else you make does too! Deeba, do look up the event I started and do participate!

  • Aparna

    You didn’t have cake in your fridge? I’m shocked.:)
    I really liked your CLICK picture, Deeba.

  • Raaga

    I have a packet of mixed berries too… should make something soon!!

    I love the spread 🙂

  • arundati

    ok….who’re you trying to kid by saying you had a baking disaster?? i abso refuse to believe you….cookies look good…but i am still sticking to my disbelief!! 🙂

  • Mansi Desai

    that’s a lovely kettle! and I’d love to get a parcel of those beautiful cookies Deeba! ahem, the box is ready, right..so should I send you my address?!:D

    nice click too, btw!

  • Tom Aarons

    I think I missed these last time I wandered through your site. They look absolutely awesome and delicious.

  • familiabencomo

    Amazing! You “quickly” made a zebra cake?!?!? I am so intimidated by that, but I really want to try it. LOVE all of the cookies. Can I come over for a playdate too?

    Tanti baci, my friend,
    Amy

Thank you so much for stopping by. I'd love to hear from you.

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