Lemon and Blueberry Cookies

Finished cookies

These are a delicious Spring snack; lighter and fresher than their chocolate counterparts, but still a sweet and satisfying treat!

Try serving with greek yoghurt or creme fraiche as a ligher dessert alternative.

Lemon and Blueberry Cookies

Makes 30 cookies

Creamed butter and sugar

Ingredients

250g butter/marg

200g dark brown sugar

250g caster sugar

2 egg

550g self raising flour

small pinch of salt

300g fresh blueberries

zest of 3 lemons
juice of 1 lemon

170oC fan oven/180oC other ovens

With  eggs

Method

1. Cream the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy - once you think you've done give it another minute or so of beating to make your cookies as light as possible!

2. Beat in the eggs in two goes until it's all combined. If it curdles don't worry, it'll come back together when you add the flour.

3. Add the salt, lemon zest and lemon juice and beat until combined. Add the flour, mix thoroughly, and then add the blueberries. Mix gently so as not to pop too many of the blueberries; mix until just combined.

With blueberries

4. Put the mix in the freezer for 10 minutes or fridge for an hour just to make it easier to work with - it will be a very very sticky dough!

5. Once the dough is chilled, using two dessert spoons, put a walnut size ball of dough onto a greased or lined baking sheet. (I roll each dough ball quickly between my hands if I want my cookies to have a more uniform finish). Make sure the dough balls have at least 3 inches between them as they will spread whilst baking.

6. Bake in the middle of a preheated oven for 10-12 minutes; they may look raw in the middle still but they'll continue to cook as they cool and you'll end up with a gorgeous, chewy cookie once they've cooled on a wire rack.

Ready for the oven

These can be stored in an airtight container for 4/5 days, and they're equally delicious whether enjoyed with a cup of tea, or a glass of homemade lemonade.

Happy Baking!

The Baking Ginger xx

Lemon Marmalade and Poppy Seed Cookies

I made these on a whim as I had some leftover lemon marmalade that I needed to use up, so adapted a recipe for orange marmalade cookies, and added poppy seeds too. The batter is very easy to work with, and these cookies make a nice change to rich chocolate cookies, you could even pretend they're healthy...

I used oil as an egg substitute, as it only acts as a binding agent, but you could easily sub an egg back into the recipe - or use dairy free butter and make them vegan.

Lemon Marmalade and Poppy Seed Cookies

Makes 36

Ingredients

Wet ingredients

80g butter

140g granulated sugar

0.25 cup vegetable or sunflower oil

350g plain flour

1.5tsp baking powder

4tsp poppy seeds

6tbsp marmalade (of any variety), plus 1tbsp to glaze

190oC oven, 180oC fan

Method

1. Cream butter and sugar together until it’s pale and fluffy

Pre-oven mix

2. Beat in the oil and marmalade

3. Fold in the flour, baking powder and poppy seeds

4. Use two teaspoons to place small piles of dough onto a lined baking sheet, leaving spreading room between them (approx. 3 inches) 

5. Bake in the middle of a preheated oven for 8-10 minutes, or until light brown, then remove to a wire rack 

6. Put the 1tbsp marmalade for the glaze in a bowl, microwave for 30 second intervals until it becomes spreadable 

Before glazing

7. Apply to the cookies as soon as they come out of the oven using a pastry brush and leave to cool

These cookies are lovely and chewy in the middle, with a nice lemony tang - they go well with a cup of coffee. They will keep in an air tight container for 3-4 days.

Happy Baking!

The Baking Ginger xx

Chewy Chocolate and Nut Cookies

Baked and ready to be eaten!

I made these at the same time as the Salted Nutella Cookies and I've got to admit, I think I prefer these; I'm a big fan of nuts in anything...

The trick to making them really chewy is the light muscovado sugar, if you've only got white sugar that'll work too, your cookies just won't be so chewy and gooey!

They'd work really nicely for elevenses, as part of a spread for afternoon tea, or hot from the oven with loads of vanilla ice cream - yum!

Chewy Chocolate and Nut Cookies

Makes 20 large cookies

Ingredients

Mixture with nuts and chocolate

125g butter/marg

100g light muscovado sugar

125g caster sugar

1 egg

2tsp vanilla essence

225g self raising flour

small pinch of salt

100g chocolate pieces (I used white and milk chocolate)

100g nuts (I used chunks of almonds and hazelnuts)

170oC fan oven/180oC other ovens

Method

1. Cream the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy - once you think you've done give it another minute or so of beating to make your cookies as light as possible!

2. Beat in the egg and vanilla essence in two goes until it's all combined. If it curdles don't worry, it'll come back together when you add the flour.

Ready for the oven

3. Add the flour and salt, and mix until just combined then mix in the nuts and chocolate.

4. Put the mix in the freezer for 10 minutes or fridge for an hour just to make it easier to work with - it will be a very very sticky dough!

5. Once the dough is chilled, using two dessert spoons, put a walnut size ball of dough onto a lined baking sheet. Make sure the dough balls have at least 3 inches between them as they will spread massively whilst baking.

6. Bake in the middle of a preheated oven for 9 minutes; they may look raw in the middle still but they'll continue to cook as they cool and you'll end up with a gorgeous, chewy cookie once they've cooled on a wire rack - although as usual they're best when still warm from the oven!

Finished article!

I used the chocolate and nut combinations that I like, but the basic dough recipe can be adapted to suit your tastes, they're really flexible and once you've made one combination you'll really want to try others! You could add lemon zest to mixture to make the cookies fresh and bring out the flavour of the nuts, it really works, and would be great with other citrus fruits too!

They'll keep for 4-5 days in an airtight container.

Happy Baking!

The Baking Ginger xx