Cookie dough sandwiches

First of all I must urge everyone who has ever been caught with their finger in the mixing bowl to buy 'The Cookie Dough Lover's Cookbook' by Lindsay Landis.

I knew I had to have this book the second I knew about it. I was so very excited when it arrived late last week and yesterday was my first opportunity to cook from it. I wanted everything and could not actually decide what to make and so I had to get M to select for me. He chose cookie dough sandwiches, Two chocolate chip cookies sandwiched together with chocolate chip cookie dough! Hmmmm.

I have tweaked the recipe a little, everything is measured in cups so I have converted it to grams, I reduced the sugar and tweaked the cookie dough recipe slightly too. This is mainly because I often find lots of american style baking a little too sweet for me.

For any one who is worried all the cookie doughs in the book, that are designed to be eaten raw, are eggless, so it is safe for all.

Cookie dough sandwiches


Makes between 20-24 sandwiches


For the cookies


170g butter
125g caster sugar
2 tsps vanilla paste
75g light brown sugar
2 eggs
210g plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Pinch of salt
100g chocolate chips (I used dairy milk chopped into small chunks)


For the cookie dough


115g butter
75g brown sugar
tsp vanilla paste
50g icing sugar
40g flour
Pinch of salt
60ml whole milk
40g mini chocolate chips (again I used dairy milk, these need to be very small, so halve regular chocolate chips or chop your chocolate nice and small)


To make the cookies beat the butter, sugars and vanilla paste together until smooth and creamy, you can use an electric whisk, for some reason I used a wooden spoon and good old fashioned elbow grease!


Beat in the eggs until fully incorporated. Add the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt and mix until combined. Finally stir through the chocolate chips until evenly distributed. Cover the dough and allow to chill for at least 1 hour or even overnight. nb I left my dough for an hour, I think that it would have been better left for two.


Preheat the oven to 190C/170C FAN and line two baking sheets with baking parchment. Roll tablespoon sized pieces of the dough into balls and place on the baking sheets, at least 5cm apart. nb, you may want to leave more space between as my cookies spread a lot, mind you if I chilled them for longer they may not have spread as far.


The recipe states to flatten the balls lightly with your fingers, I did not need to, and my cookies spread nicely, though I suspect if you have chilled you dough for along time you may want to flatten them a little. Trial and error may be needed here. 

Bake the cookies for 8-11 minutes (check after 8) until golden around the edges. Leave on the baking sheets for a couple of minutes and then transfer to a wire rack until completely cool. 


To prepare the filling beat the butter, brown sugar and tsp vanilla paste until light and fluffy, this time I did use my electric whisk! Mix in the icing sugar, flour and salt until incorporated. Slowly add the milk and beat for about 2 minutes until light and fluffy. Stir through the chocolate chips. 


When the biscuits are totally cool sandwich them together with the filling. These will keep for up to 3 days in kept in a tin in the fridge.  

I love love love these cookies, they taste absolutely amazing the day they are made and just as fantastic the next day.

Thyme and Gruyère sourdough

After making a sourdough loaf I decided to store my starter until I needed it again. Once a sourdough starter is well established it is a good idea to use a method of storing it to save you on flour!

I added enough bread flour to the starter to make a stiff batter. I then covered with clingfilm and left at room temperature for 3 days. When I wanted to make my next loaf I first disposed of half the batter. I then added another 100g flour and enough water to take the remaining half back to the consistency of thick paint. Within a few hours it was bubbling happily again, non the worse for its 3 day storage at room temp.

For my next loaf I added a little flavouring to my loaf, I used the recipe and method described here, with a few tweaks. The flour I used was all wholemeal bread flour, to the batter I added grated Gruyère cheese (not sure how much, maybe 80g?) and a couple of tablespoons of parmesan cheese. I also added fresh thyme leaves.

The cheese added a nice dimension to this sourdough loaf, the thyme did not come through quite as much as I had hoped, I think I need to add more.

As I went away for a week I needed to store my starter more long term. I added enough flour to make a batter consistency and then kept it covered in the fridge for 10 days. I will be baking a loaf this week and will let you know how storing the starter this way turns out.

White chocolate and orange cookies

Rather unusually I had some white chocolate going spare, I normally cannot keep it my in cupboard long term without nibbling at it!

A quick root around my baking cupboard confirmed that I had all the ingredients handy to make these cookies.

 I do not think that I have made them since I was in america which is a) a crime, as they are delicious and b) why I had forgotten that a few aspects of the recipe need tweaking. 

These cookies spread, a lot, they need to be much more than the stated 5cm apart, and secondly they do not need to be flattened, they spread enough on their own. The first batch of my cookies were still delicious but a little misshapen!

These were not planed but as I have just realised that they have white chocolate in them I am going to squeeze them into this months alpha bake. Alpha bakes is a blogging challenge which is hosted on alternate months by Ros from The more than occasional baker and Caroline from Caroline makes. This is a monthly challenge where the aim is to bake with an ingredient that starts with the random alphabet letter chosen for that month. This months host is Caroline and the letter ‘W’.

White chocolate and orange cookies

makes ~30

113g butter

230g caster sugar

tsp vanilla paste

zest of an orange

1 large egg

165g plain flour

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

150g white chocolate, chopped 

Preheat the oven to 190C/170C FAN and line baking sheets with baking parchment.

Cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla paste. Add the orange zest and the egg and beat until fully incorporated. Add all the remaining ingredients and stir to combine.

Roll into balls, I used a tablespoon as  guide, and space very well apart on the baking sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes until golden.

Leave to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, using a palette knife, transfer the cookies to a wire rack to finish cooling. 

Once I had ironed out the creases, my cookies looked like cookies! They should keep for 5 days in an airtight tin, but I am not sure they will last that long!

Vanilla and chocolate marble cake

Hi, sorry for the week off, I have been away volunteering and have not had internet, let alone any time to bake.

Here is something I baked just before I went away, sadly I forgot to take many pictures as it got eaten very quickly. However I can verify that it is a very nice cake, the natural yoghurt makes it extremely moist and it is very satisfying to have with your afternoon cuppa.

Vanilla and chocolate marble cake


125g butter
200g caster sugar
tsp vanilla paste
3 large eggs
150g natural yoghurt

170g self raising flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

40g cocoa powder
60ml boiling water

40g white chocolate
75g icing sugar
tbsp milk

Preheat the oven 180/160 FAN. Grease a bundt tin well, or alternatively grease a 2lb loaf tin and line the base. 

Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla paste together until light and fluffy. Lightly beat the eggs, add to the bowl and mix until combined. 

Add half the flour and and all the bicarbonate of soda and mix until fully combined. Add half the the yoghurt and mix again. Add the remaining four and mix until combined. Add the remaining yoghurt and give a few more stirs.

Mix the water and cocoa powder to form a paste. Remove ~1/3 of the cake mix into a clean bowl and fold through the cocoa paste until combined.

Put blobs of the two different mixes into the tin, I used an ice cream scoop. 

When all the mix is in the tin use a knife to marble the two together, be careful not to marble too much, a few swirls should do it.

Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes, in my bundt tin it took just over 30 minutes. When done leave to cool in the tin for at least ten minutes. Remove the cake from the tin and leave to cool fully on a wire rack.

Meanwhile make up the white chocolate icing, gently melt the white chocolate and set aside to cool slightly. Mix the milk with the icing sugar and then add the cooled white chocolate and mix until smooth and well combined.

Put the icing into a disposable icing bag and snip off the end. Pipe the icing in a zig zag pattern over the cooled cake.

As well as being  a tasty cake it look impressive, I think I was a little too cautious with the marbling and when I make it again I will give it a couple more swirls.

Apple pancakes

I have to admit I am not a huge pancake fan. Sure I have them on pancake Tuesday but that is about it. However since a recent america trip I do sometimes find myself fancying the fluffy american style pancake.

The recipe below is quick and simple and produces very nice fluffy pancakes. The mixed spice and apple give a really great flavour.

Apple pancakes


makes 10 smallish pancakes


100g self raising
50g caster sugar
tsp mixed spice
1 egg yolk
100ml milk
1 apple grated


Mix the flour, sugar and mixed spice together. Combine the milk and egg together and then add into the dry ingredients. Stir with a wooden spoon until combined then mix in the apple.


Heat a teaspoon of butter in a frying pan. Add tablespoons of pancake mix to the pan and cook for about a minute, flip over and cook for about another 30 seconds until both sides are golden brown. Keep warm in a low oven whilst you continue making pancakes until the batter is all used up.

These pancakes will definitely be making a reappearance on my breakfast table. I had them with sliced banana and maple syrup and they were just amazing.