11 mins
13 minsCan’t believe how long I’ve been ignoring my blog, or more like OUR BLOG if the other writer is still around to update, yes, I’m talking to you Banya~
I have suddenly had a brainwave that I odd to try out and train myself for a marathon someday. This is because I’ve been only running on 2-6 hours sleep for coming close to 3 months now. I had a long battle with assignments, and now exams (+ falling down the stairs and a fever in between all of that jazz). It’s really been pushing my limits both mentally and physically. I never thought I could last that long (trust me, when I was 18 I could but I'm VERY far from that age right now!).
In addition, I'm now busy playing hide and seek with my dissertation supervisor…my fear in stepping in the school of law is so immense I’ve really been avoiding that area of the building. I’m even avoiding that escalator that lead to the school…argggh…pathetic~~ So I've ended up writing an email to him and ask to take leave for an extra semester so I can squeeze out this painful labour of dissertation. I've yet to wait for his favourable response and really, it better be favourable!
So – question for today is “what does a girl do when she’s under so much stress and with so little time in her hand?” The answer is “bake some cookies!!” yes, that’s right! I’m a poor student who can’t afford for holidays and retail therapy so let’s just bring on some baking therapy!
This time, what will be in our cookies? Oatmeal, pecan AND CHOCOLATE CHIPSSSSSSS!!! No offence to raisin, but I’ll take the chocolate chips instead please! Again, I’ve reduced the amount of sugar because my lovely mother loves complaining about my cookies / dessert being too sweet! So if you like your cookies sweeter, by all means add more sugar in it.
I must say that usually I’m not a fan of cinnamon but I quite liked the taste of it, if you eat it fresh the scent doesn’t really come out as strong as when it’s cooled. My mother, my meanest critic (yet) has “ordered” me not to put in cinnamon and reduce the amount of orange zest next time. So I’m thinking to halve the cinnamon and orange zest by half next time. This little monster if you want on the crispier side, then you can flatten it slightly at around 6 minutes with a spatula, and bake it for a little longer (but watch out for burnt cookies!). I did two batches, one at 11 minutes and the other at 13 minutes to test the texture. I like the 11 minutes one better at fresh but preferred the 13 minutes one when cooled. Cooking it’s all about trial and error…let’s get baking.
Ingredients:
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ½ cup sugar (white / caster)
- ¾ cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
- 1 teaspoon salt1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large eggs, 1 egg yolk
- ½ cup bread flour
- 1 cup multi-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg1 cup quick-cooking oats
- 1 ½ cups chopped pecans
- 2 teaspoons freshly grated orange zest
- 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
Instruction:
- Using an electric mixer to beat the butter in a bowl until light and fluffy.
- Add both sugars, salt, and vanilla, and beat until well mixed, about 3 minutes.
- Stir in egg and yolk.
- Then sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a separate bowl.
- Add half of the flour mixture to the butter with the mixer on low speed. Once the flour has been incorporated, add the second half.
- Stir in the oats, pecans, orange zest, and chocolate chips
- Put the mix in the fridge for an hour (can be kept overnight) – I did not bake this fresh so I can’t compare the result but I’d experiment next time when I have more time.
- Preheat oven to 170˚C
- Line a baking paper onto the baking tray. Drop the dough, by the tablespoon, onto the cookie sheet and bake for 10-13 minutes or until golden. (the cooking time really depends on your oven!!!)
- Remove from the oven and cool the cookies on a rack.
- Cookies can be store at room temperature in a cookie jar or any airtight container.