White Chocolate, Date and Cardamom Cookies

I have been waiting for a couple of weeks to post this.  2 Sundays ago I felt like baking.  I had 2 spare eggs and some butter, so looked for some cookie recipes.  I very nearly did my usual batch, but I decided to give Jamie's recipe another whirl.  With a slight twist.

I kept the basic cookie dough the same:

125g butter
100g (1/2 cup) unrefined golden caster sugar
1 large egg, preferably free-range or organic
100g plain flour
25g porridge oats
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt (well, that's what Jamie says - I can't bring myself to put that much salt in anything, so just sprinkled a bit in the mix)

Take your butter out of the fridge 15 minutes before you start so it has time to soften a bit first (or, use Dairy Soft and the microwave...).  Put the butter in a mixing bowl with the sugar and mix with a wooden spoon until you get a thick, creamy consistency.  Crack your egg into another bowl and beat it with a fork, then add it to the butter and sugar and mix well.  Sieve your flour into the bowl to remove any lumps, add the oats, baking powder and salt, and mix until lovely and smooth.  (Or you can just put everything into a food processor and whiz until smooth).

Then I had to get creative with the flavours.  He suggests citrus cookies - requiring an orange and a lemon (I had orange but no lemon); or double chocolate cookies (I had white chocolate but no dark).  In the little blurb at the top of the recipe, he says you can flavour with dried fruit and nuts as well, just keep the quantities the same as for the chocolate cookies (50g of each).  I contemplated white chocolate and orange biscuits.  Thinking of my pantry contents, I remembered I had dates from making raw brownies (about to happen again tonight).  And I'd just made a cardamom curry so that spice was on my mind.  Cardamom is associated in my brain with Morocco; Morocco equals dates.  Cardamom is also associated for me with white chocolate thanks to a truffle recipe.  I decided to combine all these elements. 

I had thought far enough ahead that I had included a 1/2 teaspoon of cardamom with the flour and baking powder in the basic mix.  I really like cardamom, and I know that jar of spice is nearing the end of its potency.  If you're not such a huge cardamom fan, consider a smaller quantity... 

Chop 50g of white chocolate (I have a new chocolate-block-chopping-for-biscuits technique, almost like shaving it - and then I put the rest back in the pantry).  Chop 50g dates (I chopped them into about 12 pieces each, so they were about 1/2cm square).  Add the chocolate and dates to the mix, spoon onto a piece of clingfilm and roll into a sausage shape with a roughly 7cm diameter.  Pop the dough into the freezer for 30 minutes.  Or 40.  Or 50...  That last step I remember being awkward from last time (the sausage bit, not the resting in the freezer).  It was still a bit awkward.

Preheat oven to 190C/375F/gas 5.  Get your chilled dough out of the freezer and cut it into 1cm thick slices (not my best skill - next time I'm just going to do the tablespoons of dough, flattened, thing).  Place these on 2 non-stick baking trays, leaving a good bit of space between the slices because they really spread during cooking.  Bake for 8 - 10 minutes, until the edges of the cookies are golden brown.  Let them cool down slightly before placing on a wire rack to cool completely and crisp up.

This combination is (for me, anyway) a winner.  Besides, I prefer my cookies soft on the inside and these deliver.  Best baked when other eaters are around.

Saturday's photo:

Post-run, we had Mexican.  The light-fitting was comprised of Corona bottles.

Sunday's photo:

There is a grevillea by the road, with a new flower in the process of unfurling.