Winter Solstice - a perfect day to bake.

And when I thought I was finished, we went for a coffee. 

I commented I had been baking, and the waitress replied she could cook 

but not bake as all her baking was lumpy...... 

So I thought why not? Let's share a recipe!

No Fail - Lumps are OK - Pretty Easy Cookies*

1. Gather your ingredients

125 g Butter
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1/4 Cup Caster (or White) Sugar
1 Egg
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
1 Cup Self Raising Flour
3/4 Cup Plain Flour

1 tsp Baking powder
1 Cup Chocolate Chips

2. Preheat your oven to 160 deg. C

3. Melt butter in a saucepan over a medium (not full blast) heat - or in the microwave.
When it is almost fully melted turn off the heat - it will continue to melt.
Allow it to cool slightly.

4. Put your Brown and White Sugars into a bowl.
Pour melted butter over.

Add Vanilla Essence
(here or in step 6 - it really doesn't matter)

5. The recipe says ...
Stir until sugar is mostly dissolved.

6. Lightly beat the Egg with a fork
Then Stir into the Sugar mixture.

Note: The sugar won't actually 'dissolve' in a warm butter mix.
So - it should look like this . >>>

7. A strainer makes the Best Sieve ever..

And in the interest of not having too much to wash up afterwards....
I just sift straight into the mix...

But the recipe says...

8. Sift Flours and Baking Powder together in a small bowl and then gradually mix into the Sugar mixture until combined.

Either way works!

9.  Stir through Chocolate Chips.
But, I have run out of this ingredient - so a quick check in the pantry found lots that I could substitute.

Maybe not EVERYTHING! ...
How did those cat treats end up on my bench?.....   SPIKE?

*I did actually sneak a sachet of extra fibre in at this stage as an afterthought (shhh... - don't tell them!...) but in future I would take out a spoonful of flour and add it at point 8.

10. Here is my "Secret Weapon" - My Grandmother used to call it a Penny Scoop and so that is what I call it!

It is a very small Ice-cream scoop which is just the right size to measure Cookie dough.

But if you don't have one of those-
Do your own thing - Any method of portioning dough is OK

And I also never "line" my cookie trays -
Just grease with a little smear of butter and we are good to go!

11.  Bake in the pre-heated Oven for 12 minutes or until golden.
Make sure you don't forget them (one batch I left in too long were almost burnt!)

You can pat them down with a slide while they are still hot if you don't want them too 'puffy'.

12. Remove from oven and allow to stay on the trays for 3 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
(IF they last that long!)

Place in a brown paper bag and give to anyone who knocks on the door while you are baking!

 Seriously! It actually did happen TWICE yesterday!!

* I didn't 'invent' this recipe - The original recipe can be found HERE at allrecipes.com.au