Oh look, lemon again. Have I mentioned that I love lemon? Once or twice? Sorry, I’ll try not to get stuck in a rut. I initially saw this recipe when I picked out the orange cookie recipe a few weeks ago and was intrigued by the concept. I had no idea what a ricotta cookie might be like, but I imagined something with an almost cheesecake-y flavour and texture.
I’m not a big fan of sugary things – shut up, chocolate doesn’t count. I mean, it’s not that I don’t love cookies & cakes and things, but sugary candies? Nah. No thanks. Occasionally I’ll get a craving and will buy a small bag of jelly bellies; but then I’ll eat one or two and forget about the bag until I find it in a drawer a year later. Chocolate? Yeah, that won’t last a day. But if I’m offered a candy, I’ll pass.
Caramel kinda falls in between for me, especially salted caramels. They have richer flavour, not so much sugary sweet. But still, I can usually take them or leave them. This recipe? Oh boy, I’m in trouble. I could eat the whole pan by myself. The chocolate flavour is strong, almost bitter, but it has that deep caramel flavour as well. Topped off with a bit of fleur de sel? Yeah, I’m hooked. I can see myself making this recipe a LOT.
Is there anyone who doesn’t like oatmeal cookies? They’re such a classic flavour. Generally when I think of oatmeal cookies, I think oatmeal-raisin. Which is okay, but not really what I was in the mood for this week. I really wanted to make the white chocolate & cherry variation of this recipe, but I didn’t have any oranges. Oh well. Another time.
I’ve baked a lot of bran muffins over the years, and was never really happy with any of the recipes I tried. Most of them were too dry, had no flavour, and I didn’t like that so many of them relied on processed ingredients like bran cereal – I mean the whole point of bran muffins is that they’re sorta healthy, right? Otherwise why not just eat a chocolate banana muffin… It was like the health aspect was being sacrificed for flavour, and really? The flavour wasn’t anything to write home about.
Have I mentioned my love for lemon? Years ago, I was on the search for a good lemon biscotti recipe – because lemon goes so well with coffee – but I wasn’t having any luck. All the recipes I tried didn’t have a pronounced enough flavour, or were turning out rock hard – I like my biscotti crisp, but not tooth-breakingly so. I found a recipe for pistachio biscotti that had gotten good reviews and decided to do a little tweaking and see if I could work lemon into the mix. I experimented with this recipe a few times until I got something I was happy with. Now I’ve been making this recipe for years.
You know how sometimes you’ll see a beautiful chocolate cookie at a café or bakery, and it’s such a gorgeous dark brown colour you know it must be really chocolatey. And your tastebuds are all geared up for an explosion of chocolate flavour. But then you buy it and take a bite and… it’s flavourless. The only thing even remotely chocolate about it is the colour. This is why I tend to never buy chocolate cookies. They’re almost always a disappointment.
This is not one of those cookies. It has a beautiful dark colour and a lovely chocolate flavour. Even before baking, I knew this was going to be a good one because the dough had such a strong chocolate aroma – it reminded me of hot chocolate. I’ll admit, I prefer my chocolate cookies to be more intense than this, but all my coworkers seemed happy with these.
I’ve always hated oatmeal. I wanted to like it – because I love rolled oats in baked goods – but oatmeal? Nasty stuff. A friend of mine insisted that I try steel cut oats. I was skeptical, but finally decided to give it a shot. OMG, they’re worlds apart from the glop I’d had in the past. Flavourful and with a good texture. I’m hooked.
I think there are two main camps when it comes to peanut butter cookies. Those who love them soft and chewy, and those who love them crisp. This is a crisp peanut butter cookie. Okay, I’ll admit, soft chewy cookies are okay. But growing up, our peanut butter cookies were always crunchy and crumbly, almost like a sablé. And that association will always be there.
According to the cookbook, this recipe is based on the Australian Anzac cookies. I’d never heard of them, but of course now that I have, I’m seeing the recipe all over the place. I have a Donna Hay recipe that looks very similar to this that I’ll try at some point in the future.
I had no idea what a snickerdoodle was until I baked these cookies. Are they a regional thing? Because when I brought them in to the office, no one else knew what they were either. I don’t remember ever hearing about them before. But lately, I’ve been seeing references to them everywhere.
