Spicy Icy Hot Cookies

The interetsing mix of cinnamon's spice and the coolness of raw icing sugar on your tongue provides a really interesting flavour mix upon first bite. The cookie underneath is more subtle but still really tasty with just a touch of spice.

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To make enough for two dozen (or so) cookies you will need:
Flour - 2 cups
Baking Soda - 1 tsp
Salt - Pinch
Cinnamon - 1 1/2 tsp
Ginger - 1 tsp
Butter - 1 cup, soft
Brown Sugar - 1 1/2 cups
Vanilla - 1 1/2 tsp
Eggs - 1
Chocoalte chips - 2 cups
Icing sugar - 1/4 cup
Cinnamon - 1/8 tsp

• Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C, Gas Mark 4).
  
• Sift the flour, baking soda, salt and spices into a bowl, set aside.

• In another bowl beat together the butter and sugar.
• Add the egg and vanilla and beat well.
• Add the sifted ingredients and blend in.
• Refrigerate the mixture for at least a few hours
  

• Remove from fridge and make into balls approx. 1 tbsp each.
• Mould dough by hand into small balls then roll in a mixture of icing sugar and cinnamon.
• Pop the rolled balls onto a baking tray then flatten to 1/2" thickness with the flat bottom of a cup/plate.
  
• Bake for 15 minutes, until the cookies start to firm up just a touch.

Caramel Cuts Cake With Pineapple Icing

This Hawai'ian cake is dense and sweet: lots of sugar and no rising agents. A thin slice will suffice, especially with the addition of a sweet icing with just a touch of pineapple flavour to it.

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To make one 9" diameter cake you will need:
Flour - 1 1/2 cups
Vanilla - Dash
Butter - 1/2 cup, melted
Brown Sugar - 2 cups
Eggs - 2

For the butter icing, you will need:
Butter - 1/2 cup, soft
Icing sugar - 2 cups
Pineapple juice - 2 tbsp

• Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C, Gas Mark 4).
  
• Sift the flour into a bowl, set aside.

• In another bowl beat together the butter and sugar.
• Add the eggs and vanilla then beat well.
• Add the flour and blend in.

• Pour into greased and lined (this is important - the cake will stick without greaseproof/wax paper) 9" baking tin.
  
• Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the top hardens up and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.
• Set aside and let cool.

• Mix together the icing ingredents and beat well, adding more icing sugar until the desired thickness of icing is achieved.
• Top the cooled cake, using a spatula, with the icing.
• Allow to set
• Serve small slices - this cake is sweet and heavy.
  

Spiced Molasses Cookies

Rich, gooey and sticky fresh out the oven these cookies are wonderfully dark and sweet from the molasses (treacle) used to make them. The quantities I give for the spices add a nice, subtle touch of spice to the flavour but by upping the ginger a touch they can be moved closer to a gingerbread type cookie. Also worth a shot is upping the cinnamon and adding teaspoon or two of paprika for a bit of hot and spicy bite.

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To make enough for two dozen (or so) large cookies you will need:
Flour - 4 cups
Baking Soda - 2 tsp
Salt - Pinch
Cinnamon - 2 tsp
Ginger - 2 tsp
Cloves (ground) - 2 tsp
Butter - 1 1/2 cup, soft
Brown Sugar - 2 cups
Molasses - 1/2 cup
Eggs - 2

• Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C, Gas Mark 4).
  
• Sift the flour, baking soda, salt and spices into a bowl, set aside.

• In another bowl beat together the butter, molasses and sugar.
• Add the eggs and beat well.
• Add the sifted ingredients and blend in.

• Mould dough by hand into balls 2-3" diameter (you should get about 24) and pop onto a baking tray.
• Bake for 10 minutes, until the cookies start to firm up just a touch.

Chocolate Chip Cookies With Zucchini

Hot on the heels of a great standard chocolate chip cookie recipe comes this slightly more off-the-wall variant. The zucchini adds a nice chewy heartiness to the cookies, give the whole thing a bit of a whole-wheat feel.

The first batch I made tasted almost entirely of the added ginger & nutmeg so this recipe has those amounts cut down a touch, you might want to boost them a little for a touch more spice to the cookies.

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To make enough for two dozen (or so) you will need:
Flour - 2 1/2 cups
Baking Powder - 2 tsp
Salt - Pinch
Cinnamon - 1/2 tsp
Nutmeg - 1/4 tsp
Ginger - 1/4 tsp
Butter - 1/4 cup, soft
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Brown Sugar - 1 cup
Egg - 1
Zucchini (grated) - 1 1/2 cups (one medium zucchini should do it)
Chocolate chips - 1 cup

• Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C, Gas Mark 4).
  
• Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and spices into a bowl, set aside.

• In another bowl beat together the butter and sugars.
  
• Add the egg and beat well.
• Add the grated zucchini and stir in.
  
• Add the sifted ingredients and blend in.
• Add the choc. chips, stir in well.
  

• Mould dough by hand into balls 2-3" diameter (you should get about 24) and pop onto a baking tray.
• Bake for 15 minutes, until the cookies are a light brown colour.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are some spectacular chocolate chip cookies: they're plain and simple, nothing fancy but they hit just the right consistency. Not too soft, not too chewy and a decent size so you get a good bite from them. I think these are my new favourites.

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To make enough for a one and a half dozen you will need:
Flour - 3 cups
Baking Soda - 1 tsp
Salt - Pinch
Butter - 1 cup, soft
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Brown Sugar - 1 cup
Vanilla extract - 2 tsp
Eggs - 2
Chocolate chips - 1 1/2 cups

• Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C, Gas Mark 4).
  
• Sift the flour, baking soda and salt into a bowl, set aside.

• In another bowl beat together the butter, sugars and vanilla.
  
• Add the eggs and beat well.
• Add the sifted ingredients and blend in.
  
• Add the choc. chips, stir in well.
  

• Mould dough by hand into balls ~3" diameter (you should get about 18) and pop onto baking tray.
• Bake for 13 minutes, until a prod offers some resistance to deforming and the cookies are a light golden colour.

Ceasar Salad Dressing

I'm not a big salad fan usually, but a good simple one with a decent dressing can make a wonderful accompaniment to a steak and some mashed potatoes. This dressing does a good job of spicing up a bowl of leaves so it's not so bad.

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To make enough for a decent sized salad (3-4 people) you will need:
Garlic - 2 or 3 cloves, mashed twice
Egg yolks - 2
Wine vinegar - 1 tbsp
Lemon juice - 2 tbsp
Dijon mustard - 1 tsp
Canola oil - 1/2 cup
Parmesan - 4 tbsp
Worcestershire sauce - 1 tsp
Salt & pepper - to taste
Bacon - 4 rashers, chopped in small bits and fried crisp
Croutons - a good handful

• Mix the garlic, yolks, vinegar, lemon juice and mustard in a bowl.
• Slowly add the oil, mixing constantly.
• Add the S&P, parmesan and Worcestershire.

• Toss the croutons and bacon through the salad then drizzle with the dressing.

I'll update you as soon as I work out how to add some booze to this, promise.

Jack Daniel's Lemonade Jelly

I made this a few weeks ago when I found some leftover gelatin in my cupboard and decided I fancied some jelly, since it'd been a good while since I'd had any. The idea that I could make my own flavour from scratch also appealed and, after a scour of the fridge and cupboard for suitable flavourings, this is what I came up with.

The balancing of the Jack to the lemon flavour was tough, since it's quite a strong flavour on its own. For other, less harsh, alcoholic additions you might want to up the booze a touch while cutting down on the juice. The lemonade I used was Sobey's own brand non-sparkling lemonade, I doubt that a sparkling variant would work particularly well in a jelly, but then I haven't tried so it might be worth a shot.

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To make one jelly (feed 6-8) you will need:
Boiling water - 1 cup
Cold water -1 cup
Gelatin - 1 1/2 tbsp
Sugar - 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp
Liquid flavouring - 1 1/4 cup (I split this 1 cup + 2 tbsp lemonade to 2 tbsp JD and it worked out well)

• Start one cup of water boiling.
• Meanwhile, mix the gelatin with the cold water (it won't dissolve fully yet, don't worry).

• Mix the sugar into your liquid flavour (really doesn't sound appetising, does it?).
• Pour the boiling water into the juice and mix well.
• Add the hot juice to the gelatin mix.
• Mix in well until the sugar and gelatin have fully dissolved then refrigerate.

• Remove from fridge a few hours alter and enjoy.

Variants:

• Any fruit juice + vodka would probably work just as well in the same ratio, maybe a touch more vodka depending on how harsh its burn is.
• Żubrówka, a Polish bison grass vodka, is absolutely gorgeous with apple juice - I've not made it yet, but it should make for a fantastic jelly.