Chewy Cookie Challenge

Dan set me a challenge last week to make the perfect chewy cookies - mainly because he is greedy and he knows that setting me a baking challenge will result in lots of goodies to eat (all in the name of research) and secondly, he thinks chewy cookies are perfect swirled into ice cream...and who am I to argue?

After asking some initial questions about the features of a perfect cookie (chewy, packed with choc chips, slightly syrupy in taste, palm of your hand sized) I set off with recipe research. I stumbled happily over this recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction and was sold by the Pinterest worthy photos of cookies and her geeky attention to detail, resulting in perfect looking cookies.

I tried two of her recipes - the tweaked choc chip cookie recipe here (with Smarties for added crunch)

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

and the cake batter flavoured cookies loaded with sprinkles and choc chips - here.

Cake Batter Choc Chip Cookies with Sprinkles

I have to say that my cookies are not as photogenic as Sally's, so I think a bit of tweaking is needed here and there, but in terms of taste, they are the ULTIMATE chewy cookies - definitely worthy of being swirled into ice cream.

Hints and Tips

• I found that the cookies do have a tendency to spread, so definitely follow Sally's tip of rolling the cookies to be taller, rather than wider (using the amount specified for each cookie, roll the amount into two balls and build one on on top of the other, to look like cookie dough snowmen).
• I found that the cake batter cookies seem to spread far more than the standard choc chip cookies, so would maybe reduce the amount of cookie dough per cookie from 1.5 tablespoons per cookie, to 1 tablespoon per cookie. 
• I also found that with both recipes, a maximum of 6 cookies per tray were best, to avoid cookie spreading casualties! 
• I didn't try baking the dough from frozen, but would definitely try this next time, to aim for the most photogenic cookie.
• My oven is quite fierce and so I found that 9 mins at 160 degrees Celsius was the right amount of time to ensure chewy centres and a pale golden hue at the edges. I found that 11 mins at this temp overcooked the cookies. Check them at 9 mins and decide from there what your perfect baked finish is.
• DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT MOVING THESE COOKIES ON TO A COOLING RACK UNTIL 10 MINS HAS PASSED - THEY ARE TOO FRAGILE TO MOVE UNTIL THIS POINT! 

Becky BakesWell Taste Test #2 - Cheap Flour v Posh Flour

Well, the cakes have been baked, eaten and the results are in!

For a girl who spent her childhood in the kitchen pretending to be a TV cook, making this baking film has been fun. I do have to say thanks in particular to my husband for filming the baking process in a creative way and then working hard to edit the footage to produce the three minutes of eye candy you are about to see.

I will write a separate post later to explain the reasons behind the decision we came to about the winning flour, but I want to give you all a chance to see the film without encountering spoilers.

Click on the thumbnail below to watch the film.

MOBILE USER? CLICK ME TO WATCH THE FILM.

Watched the film? Was the result what you expected it to be? Leave any questions or comments in the comments box below.

Watch out for the results discussion soon.

Becky BakesWell x

Becky BakesWell Taste Test 2 coming soon...

Mother's Day Baking

In honour of my mum, this Sunday's baking session was focused on making her a delicious cake.

My mum is not a big fan of iced cakes and I was in the mood for making something honest, humble and homely - the sort of cake that you would find at a country fete. My mum loves custard and I have been mulling over ideas for a custardy take on a Victoria sponge, so today felt like the day for a bit of kitchen pottering. 

I had originally decided to use rhubarb jam to sandwich the cake halves together, but couldn't find any when I went to the supermarket. So - let's be honest here - the better option was to buy some lovely

pink forced rhubarb and stew it to create my own intense rhubarb compote.

Here's the finished cake in its custardy, sweet-sour glory. It is a tall, greedy looking cake and I'm pleased that it looks a little like a Lily Vanilli cake in style. This was unintentional, but certainly a happy occurrence!

If you're not familiar with Lily Vanilli's cakes, here's a link to her site.

http://www.lilyvanilli.com

Spring Creativity

It's amazing what a bit of sunshine can start! After waking up early with a cup of tea,
the morning got off to a happy start with a spot of Sunday morning baking. I had ordered
a brownie pan from ebay earlier in the week and wanted to try it out. The result?

These chocotastic beauties!

The spring sunshine also made me yearn for a more sprightly Sunday lunch than the
usual roasties and trimmings, so after a spot of cookbook browsing, I settled on Caramelised Onion and Cheese Tarte Tatin. Rather than the roast potatoes, I decided to go for crushed new potatoes with lemon, mint and feta - perfect for a lighter lunch.

Here's the Tarte Tatin in its glory.

There must have been a creative buzz in the air today as Dan decided to test out some
photography ideas and produced a short Spring film snippet for his project Ma Memoire Photography.

See the link below!

Ma Memoire Spring Beer

Happy Sunday,

Becky BakesWell.

The First Becky BakesWell Wedding Cake...

It has been nearly two months since the confetti was thrown and my beautiful polka dot wedding cake was baked, decorated, stacked and sliced. It is based on a design by the esteemed Peggy Porschen, chosen to compliment the polka dot silk tulle of my wedding dress.

There were four tiers, each comprising of different flavours of cake. The bottom tier was chocolate sponge, filled with chocolate ganache and Black Forest syrup. The next tier up was a vanilla Victoria Plum Sponge. The vanilla sponge was drenched with Creme Brulee syrup and filled with vanilla ganache and Victoria Plum jam. The third tier was a lemon sponge sandwiched with fragrant lemon buttercream and lemon curd. Finally, the top tier was a traditional fruit cake in honour of my Nan, as she doesn't think a wedding cake is complete without a fruit cake!

It was without doubt, the most exciting and nerve-wracking challenge I have ever set for myself. However, the moment when I finally finished the cake and I stood back, tired, drained and with more than a touch of Wedding Eve nerves, I also felt a sense of quiet pride that I've never really experienced before. For the first time, I felt I had achieved something that I had previously thought was a bit beyond my ability. I recognised too, the sense of elation that a creative person gets when you see your dreams and ideas standing before you in reality.

In my previous career as I teacher, the sense of achievement I was meant to feel on exam results day when my students had done well and passed their exams was present, but it always felt slightly hollow, as it felt a bit conceited to believe that my students' achievements were my own achievements - after all, they had taken the exams, not me. When I bake, I feel that I am at my most authentic, so it was nice to finally feel comfortable in accepting credit for my work from those most important to me.

Here's to the first Becky BakesWell wedding cake - hope there are many more to come...

Becky B x