“If life is a bowl of cherries, then what am I doing in the pits?”
Erma Bombeck
Erma Bombeck
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!
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!! 
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.
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.
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…
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.
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…
Mixed Berry & Nut Clusters…
Adapted from ‘Cranberry & Orange Clusters’, ‘The Colossal Cookie Cookbook’, pg 277
Ingredients:
Butter – 1/2 cup
Sugar – 1/2 cup
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
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
- 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!
