On Saturday I spent a few happy, mad and chaotic hours with my sister and her little ones. My Love was around but buried deep in the darkest jungle that is our garden..armed with a 'bush wacker' to take down all the nettles, brambles, thistles and other unwanted green things from the veggie garden and fruit trees area. lol. So I had decided to be pro-active and weigh out all the ingredients for the 'little ones cooking session'. I had also decided to make lunch before they got here and I had a lovely tomatoey and cheezey pasta bake sat waiting to finish off baking in the oven come lunchtime. So I was set..neat little bowls with everything in. Trays ready...all set! Nothing could go wrong...eh? *sighs* lol.
The little ones arrived bringing with them their wonderful enthusiasm and hugs and kisses. When I asked if they still wanted to make cookies, they threw off their coats and bags and jumped up and down with excitment. N was pointing up to where their aprons sat and asked for hers straight away and was a very big girl and put it on herself. M and I chatted about his morning as I tied him in. There was the usual tussle as we got set up at the work counter. My sister was with us by then with a sleepy little L who kept smiling at me as I got them started. Nothing could go wrong eh? lol
And for a while it didn't. The little ones did their jobs well and with only minor disagreements lol. There was the whole 'dropping of the chocolate chip bowl and losing a quarter of the chips to the kitchen floor incident'...but after manic sweeping and grabbing of the spoiled chips by myself and the little ones before the Sock Stealer could get to them...hey...we coped with that! lol
My sister was busy sipping a lovely hot chocolate and cuddling L...things were going so well until it came time to put the mix of choc chips in the dough...which was looking decidedly like pancake batter. M held the bowl of chips over the mixing bowl..N was busy trying to 'taste test' one or two...I reached behind me and held up my little measuring jug to suddenly realise that instead of 6tbsp of water..I had used 6 fl oz...I managed to grab the chips as M began to pour. Phew! I explained what I had done and the little ones thought it quite funny...especially M who through his giggles, told me with a reassuring hand on my arm....."Silly Auntie R...it doesn't matter...it's ok!". Auntie R was feeling a little embarrased...let me tell you. But a cutie, eh? lol. So the contents of the mixing bowl were quickly dumped into a glass pie dish and left to one side for M and I to experiment with when we had finished making the cookies.
So we engaged in a serious attempt at speed cookie making..lol. My sister needed to feed L so had abandoned the madness, for the peace of the lounge and eventually N had gotten bored and asked to be let go....so M and I faced the cookie mission alone. But he was a little trouper and finally we had two batches of cookies in the oven baking, one more to go in...so we had a quick tidy up and we joined the girls in the lounge.
Then my oven decided to act up....I was a little frazzled at this point...lol..but the good kind lol. So my cookies that should've taken 8 minutes to bake took 18 minutes...finally I had them all out on wire racks to cool. The oven got turned up to 'damn hot' as that is now one of its only settings when it's playing up...Pasta got thrown in the oven and I went and had some time with my sister who was trying desparately to stay awake on the sofa. Bless her.
Lunch was finally served up and M had his usual pepper mountain with his pasta and N had her 'Matoe mountain. lol. My Love was called in and we all sat down to our lunch watching The Aristocats...heaven. The little ones and the big ones were all waiting eagerly to 'test' the cookies and I quickly blitzed up some Nana Shake (N's name for it) with the help of the N. I was so over these cookies by this point..lol. Then I remembered we still had the batter from the failed batch and I threw it in the hot oven and left it. Everyone loved the cookies and enjoyed the shake. And then shortly after, My Love went outside to play with the machine once more and my sister, L and N were all snuggled safely snoozing on the sofa. So M and I sat at the dining table and drew up a Questing Map...it was a lot of fun.
Chaotic...complete madness...but I wouldn't swap this time for anything. Very precious moments.
 |
| The Epic Cookie Making shall be a thing of family history..I fear. lol. But finally I present Double Choc Chip Cookies with a fresh Banana Milkshake. |
Double Chocolate Chip Cookies Made 18 very large cookies
(Recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking/C.Patrick-Goudreau)
3 tsp Orgran No Gluten Natural Egg replacer (equivalent to 3 eggs)
6 tbsp water (NOT 6 fl oz lol R)
1 cup/225g vegan butter
3/4 cup/150g sugar (I use white caster)
3/4 cup/170g tightly packed light or dark brown sugar (I use half & half)
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups/280g unbleached plain flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 to 2 cups/175g to 350g vegan choc chips (I used half dark half white choc)
1 cup/150g chopped nuts-optional (I didn't use)
Preheat the oven to 375'f/190'c/Gas Mark 5. Line cookie baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a mini blender blitz the egg replacer and water until it is thick and creamy.
In a med combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Set to one side.
In a large mixing bowl add the vegan butter, sugars and the vanilla extract and then using a hand held electric whisk, beat until light and fluffy. Add the thickened egg replacer mix and mix in.
Gradually add in the flour mix to the batter and combine thoroughly.
Then stir in the chocolate chips and stir until a soft dough forms.
Using a 1/4 cup measure scoop out portions of the cookie dough and place onto the lined baking sheets. (I put 6 to a tray to allow for spreading.)
Bake in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes (or 18 if using a rapidily dying oven! R) Place the trays onto a wire cooling tray for a few minutes to allow the cookies to set. Then carefully take them off the trays and onto the racks to cool completely.
 |
| The Cookies...I am told they were delicious...lol |
(Original recipe from the Rocket and Rose Vegan Kitchen)
2 pints/4 cups of soya milk or milk of choice
4 large ripe bananas, peeled and stringy bits removed
Drizzle of agave nectar (no more than 2 tsps)
1 tsp vanilla extract
Break up the bananas and place into a large blender. Drizzle over the agave nectar and the vanilla extract. Pour the milk on top and then blitz for a few minutes until very smooth. Serve immediately or store in the fridge until wanted.
It was an epic battle but we got there in the end. lol. And you may be asking what happened to the batter in the pie dish. To quote M...."OMG we've got the world biggest cookie everyone!" It came out of the pie dish easily and went home with them to have with custard as a pudding later in the week..it had turned out a little sponge like. lol. Ah well...now we know!
Enjoy!
~R~
