Saturday, March 17, 2012

Rainy Days and Cookies


I think I live in Queensland's rain capital.  Northern Queensland would like to say that it has the state's greatest rainfall, but I believe where I live on the Sunshine Coast trumps what falls out of the sky up North. 

It is Saturday and I had so many plans for the weekend.  It is early Autumn and I have been re-acquainting myself with my garden again, after a summer of neglect, making myself busy moving around the garden furniture, mulching my fruit trees and adding a few pops of colour with some potted flowers.  For the afternoons after work where I have had the opportunity to be outside, I have been enjoying pottering about and loving my space again.

And then the rain came tumbling down...

Well it has been raining for weeks, with a day of respite here and there, well enough to get the sheets almost dry or make you wish you hadn't washed at all. 

Good weather for baking!  Which is exactly what I did today.  I baked and I watched the rain fall outside and it was lovely.  As much as I enjoyed myself, it is now evening and the rain is still heavily falling, tomorrow is Sunday and I think I may develop morbid obesity if this weather keeps up, plus a scorching case of cabin fever.


Chewy Chocolate Cheesecake Cookies (Recipe from Real Living Magazine, March 2012)

180g dark chocolate
140g butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar, firmly packed
2 eggs whisked
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups plain flour
pinch salt

140g cream cheese @ room temperature
1/2 cup icing sugar, sifted

Preheat oven to 180C.  Line two baking trays with baking paper.

Place chocolate, butter and sugar into a saucepan over low heat, stirring regularly until chocolate and butter have melted.  Remove the pan from heat and add vanilla and eggs.  Stir to combine, making sure the eggs are well mixed into the chocolate mixture to ensure they do not scramble.  Sift in cocoa, flour and salt and mix well to combine.

Place dough in the fridge for about 10 mins, this will firm it up a little and make it easier to work with.

In a separate bowl, place cream cheese and icing sugar and mix with a hand held mixer or by hand until smooth.

Remove dough from fridge and roll tblsps of dough into balls.  Place on lined trays, ensuring you leave space for spreading (I put about 8 per tray but this will depend on the size of your tray).  Make an indent in each cookie with your thumb and fill centre with a dollop (about a teaspoon) of the cream cheese mixture.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until you notice the cookies are cracked on the outside but soft in the centre.  Swap trays after 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

The cookies should keep for about 5 days in an airtight container if they don't get eaten beforehand!  Makes approximately 24.


I will say this, I did manage to get up very early this morning and go for a jog before it started raining, so I believe eating one or two cookies on a rainy day like today is perfectly acceptable.  (That's my story and I am sticking to it!)

Until next time...

Kitty xx

1 comment:

  1. OMG These sound scrumptious!

    I gotta find a way to get you permanently married to Matt and permanently here in The States just so I can visit you both nd have you cook for me! LOL

    ReplyDelete