Toasted oat, cherry and hazelnut cookies, Michael Keaton again and the readers

I know I’ve told you several times already that I love having a food blog and I’ve given you lots of reasons for that, but what can I do if that is the absolute truth? My readers keep on giving me joy and I apologize for being sounding like a broken record. :)

Days ago I posted on the Facebook that I now that I have two baby nephews I started browsing baby clothes in department stores and got so mad because 90% of them are for girls – it was a matter of moments before many readers commented that they had boys, too, and agreed with me, and others even recommended websites in which I can find more options. How great is that? I mean, I have a food blog but I can write about anything I want and get a nice response from the readers.

Something else that I love is when they see something cool and think of me: today, for instance, a reader sent me this link because of my love for Birdman and I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes – I am now, more than ever, hoping that Michael Keaton takes the award home next Sunday. Thank you, Andreza! I loved the video!

I get such nice messages and they surely make me want to go on writing on this blog and bringing you good, delicious recipes – the cookies I bring you today are like a tasty version of granola bars and they can be adapted to your liking: the hazelnuts and dried cherries can be replaced by other nuts and dried fruit, such as almonds, Brazil nuts, dried apricots, raisins… I even think that rye flour could be used here – its nuttiness would go beautifully well with the flavor of the hazelnuts.

Toasted oat, cherry and hazelnut cookies
slightly adapted from the oh, so beautiful Scandilicious Baking

150g rolled oats
50g flaked hazelnuts
100g all purpose flour
50g whole wheat flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon table salt
125g unsalted butter, softened
100g light brown sugar
50g granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
100g sour cream*
75g dried cherries, halved if too large

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Place the oats and hazelnuts in a medium baking pan and roast for 10 minutes, stirring halfway through. Cool (turn off the oven).

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugars until light and creamy. Beat in the egg. Scrape the sides of the bowl. Beat in the vanilla. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the flour mixture, sour cream, oats and hazelnut and cherries and stir just until incorporated. Cover and refrigerate for 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
Using 2 leveled tablespoons of dough for each cookie, drop batter onto prepared sheets 5cm (2in) apart. Bake cookies until the edges are golden brown and the centers are still slightly soft, 12-14 minutes.
Let cookies cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then slide the paper with the cookies onto a wire rack and cool completely.

* homemade sour cream: to make 1 cup of sour cream, mix 1 cup (240ml) heavy cream with 2-3 teaspoons lemon juice in a bowl. Whisk until it starts to thicken. Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 1 hour or until thicker (I usually leave mine on the counter overnight – except on very warm nights – and it turns out thick and silky in the following morning; refrigerate for a creamier texture)

Makes 28

Cherry and white chocolate brownies

As a person who loves to feed other people, I offer to bring dessert whenever I’m invited to someone’s house for a meal. Brownies are always a good idea for everyone loves them, and if there are many mouths to feed I make a big batch using a 20x30cm (8x12in) pan, that way everyone can have seconds if they want to.

I have a big appetite for sweets and tend to believe that everyone else does, too. :D

I made these for a barbecue ages ago and they were a hit: very fudgy – I don’t think that calling them “creamy” would be wrong – with a nice balance between the sweet from the white chocolate and the sour from the cherries.

Cherry and white chocolate brownies
slightly adapted from the delicious Better Homes and Gardens Baking: More than 350 Recipes Plus Tips and Techniques

200g unsalted butter
170g dark chocolate, finely chopped – I used one with 53% cocoa solids
1 ½ cups (300g) granulated sugar
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups (185g) all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1 cup (170g) white chocolate chips
1 cup (145g) dried cherries, chopped if too large

Preheat the oven at 180°C/350°F. Lightly butter a 20x30cm (8x12in) baking pan and line with foil, leaving an overhand in two opposite sides. Butter the foil as well.

In a large saucepan, melt the butter and chocolate together over low heat. Cool slightly.
Whisk in the sugar, then the eggs, one at a time. Whisk in the vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking soda and salt. Stir in white chocolate and cherries. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.
Bake until a skewer inserted into the middle of the brownies comes out with a moist crumb, 25-30 minutes.
Cool completely in the pan over a wire rack. Cut into squares to serve.

Makes 24

Coconut and cherry banana bread and meeting Nigella

Something I never imagined possible happened a couple of days ago: I met Nigella Lawson! :) No, I wasn’t dreaming – she actually came to Brazil to promote her book "Nigella Kitchen" and I went to the book signing held in Sao Paulo. I had to stand in line for four hours – my legs hurt like hell up to this moment – but it was all worth it: the woman is a goddess. Beautiful beyond words, she greeted me with a kind smile and we talked for a couple of minutes before she signed my book – I was so smitten that I told her she was wonderful twice. :)

While leaving the bookshop I told my sister (who was with me the whole time, even though she did not quite know who Nigella was) that I felt really inspired to cook and bake after meeting Nigella. She told me that I should make one of Nigella’s recipes, and I did: a moist, perfumed banana loaf that lighten up my kitchen the same way Ms. Lawson lightened up my Friday. <3

Coconut and cherry banana bread
from the beautiful, always delicious and now autographed Nigella Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home

125g soft unsalted butter
4 small-medium bananas (450g/1 pound unpeeled), mashed
¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup + 2 tablespoons (160g) plain flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
2/3 cup dried cherries – mine were really big, so I coarsely chopped them
1 1/3 cups (133g) desiccated coconut – I used sweetened shredded coconut

Preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F*. Lightly butter a 900g (2lb) loaf pan, line it with baking paper and butter the paper as well – I used a 21x11xcm (8½x4½in) loaf pan.
Melt the butter in a large saucepan, and take it off the heat. Cool. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Beat the sugar into the cooled, melted butter, then beat in the mashed bananas, eggs and vanilla. Fold in the flour mixture. Finally, add the dried cherries and coconut. Fold well so that everything is incorporated, then pour into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
Bake for about 50 minutes, but start checking after 45 – a skewer inserted in the center of the cake should come out clean.
Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then carefully remove it from the pan and cool completely over a wire rack.

* out of distraction I ended up baking my bread at 180°C/350°F

Serves 8-10

Black forest cookies

Years ago, when I started using American recipes in my kitchen, one thing I really wanted to try making was chocolate chip cookies: they're not part of our food culture and there were two store-bought versions - one was nice, but very expensive, and the more affordable one was on the dry side. Now that I have made my share of chocolate chip cookies with great success - they're infinitely better than the store-bought ones - I love trying variatons like this, with the addition of dried cherries: they add a chewy tang to the classic cookies. Really, really good.

Black forest cookies
slightly adapted from the absolutely gorgeous Annie Bell's Baking Bible (I bought mine here)

1 cup + 1 tablespoon (150g) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
½ cup (113g/1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
¼ cup + 2 tablespoons (75g) granulated sugar
¼ cup (44g) light brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
50g dried cherries
150g dark chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
In the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugars together until light and creamy. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Scrape the sides of the bowl. At low speed, beat in the dry ingredients just until combined. Stir in the cherries and the chocolate.
Roll 2 leveled tablespoons of dough per cookie into balls and place 5cm (2in) apart onto prepared sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until pale gold all over, but slightly darker around the edges.
Loosen the cookies straight away, then leave to cool completely on the sheets.

Makes 25-30

Cherry brownie bites

I've just finished watching "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" (probably for then 15th time) and it's possible that I'll watch it a couple more times in the years to come: the movie is so much fun and an absolut classic. I love classic movies (most of them) and I love classic desserts like brownies, which are an American classic and nowadays are extremely popular here in Brasil, and this bite-sized version not only is delicious with the bits of dried cherry but also they're so cute! And they pop out of the molds so easily you don't have to worry about making perfect slices or squares.

Cherry brownie bites
from the delicious Rose's Heavenly Cakes

55g (2oz) dried cherries, roughly chopped
½ tablespoon dark rum
½ cup + 1 tablespoon (127g) unsalted butter
55g (2oz) dark chocolate, chopped – I used one with 53% cocoa solids
1/3 cup (33g) cocoa powder, preferably Dutch processed
¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
55g (2oz) cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup (47g) all purpose flour
pinch of salt

Place the cherries in a small bowl and mix in the rum. Let steep for 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 165°C/325°F. You’ll need fourteen lightly buttered ¼ cup capacity silicon molds or mini muffin pans – I used silicon molds and the brownies were easy to unmold; they’re very moist so I guess it would be difficult to unmold them from metal pans.
Place butter and chocolate in a small heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and stir occasionally until melted and smooth. Transfer to the large bowl of an electric mixer. Add the cocoa, beat in medium speed to incorporate, then beat in the sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. When incorporated, beat in the cream cheese until only small bits remain. Add the flour and salt and mix only until the flour is fully moistened. Drain the cherries and stir them into the batter.
Fill the molds about ¾ full and smooth the tops. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until the batter has set. The batter will puff and rise a little above the top of the cavities but sinks slightly on cooling - if pressed lightly with a finger tip they will spring back.

Makes 14 – I made the exact recipe above, used 3 tablespoon-capacity molds and got 19

Cinnamon and cherry biscotti

The Christmas biscotti I made last year were so delicious I decided that this year I needed Christmas biscotti again, but to change things up a bit I used one of Donna Hay's wonderful recipes, mixing cinnamon and dried cherries. You might think that when it comes to biscotti I'm biased (and you're right), so I'll let two very talented ladies convince you that biscotti is a delicious treat - and dead easy to make.

Cinnamon and cherry biscotti
slightly adapted from the always wonderful Donna Hay Magazine

2 cups + 2 tablespoons (300g) all purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
3 large eggs, lightly beaten with a fork
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2/3 cup (95g) dried cherries, chopped

Preheat the oven to 160°C/320°F. Line a large baking sheet with baking paper.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Stir in the sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until a dough forms. Incorporate the cherries.
Shape the dough into a log, approximately 30cm (12in) long. Place onto prepared sheet and bake for 30-35 minutes or until lightly golden and firm to touch. Remove from the oven and cool on the sheet over a wire rack for 30 minutes. Line another baking sheet with baking paper.
Carefully slice the logs into 3mm-thick slices and place onto prepared sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden and crisp. Cool on the sheets.

Makes about 25

Santa Lucia sour cherry and saffron buns

Usually it takes me some time to consider a cookbook a top favorite – I love beautiful books and they certainly get my instant attention, but I like to try some of the recipes first to be sure they actually work. However, Signe Johansen’s Scandilicious Baking is so pretty and everything in it sounds so delicious I came to the conclusion that it was the best cookbook I purchased in the last 11 months. Absolutely gorgeous.
Picking the first recipe to try was hard – I actually feel like making all the recipes in this book! – so I settled for one that reminded me of my mom: when I was little, she had a small statue of St. Lucy at home, and I was very intrigued and even a bit scared by the image of a woman holding a tray with two eyes in it. Later on in life, when I was 8 or so, I found out that my dad had had an accident in the late 70s and lost one of his eyes in it – that is why mom had St. Lucy around the house.
I don’t believe in God or in saints but could not resist making these buns just because of my mom.

Santa Lucia sour cherry and saffron buns
from the absolutely beautiful Scandilicious Baking

375ml whole milk
pinch of saffron threads
2¼ teaspoons (7g) dried yeast
¼ cup (56g) unsalted butter, melted and warm
350g all purpose flour
150g whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
24 dried cherries (double the amount if they’re too small)
1 egg, extra, lightly beaten with a fork, for brushing the buns

In a small saucepan, heat the milk with the saffron strands until it starts to come to a boil. Remove from the heat and set aside until lukewarm. Sprinkle the yeast in a large bowl, pour over the milk and mix with a fork. Stir through the melted butter. Add the flours, cardamom, sugar, salt, egg and vanilla to the milk mixture and mix with a spoon until a sticky dough forms. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes until the dough starts to feel smooth and elastic – the dough is quite wet so you may want to use a dough scraper during the early stages of kneading (I used the Kitchen Aid with the dough hook and added 1 tablespoon of all purpose flour to the dough because it was too liquid). Transfer the dough to a lightly buttered large bowl, cover with plastic wrap and put in a warm place to rise. Leave it for about 1-1½ hours until it has doubled in size.
Line a large baking sheet with foil. Punch the dough to remove the excess air then transfer it to a lightly floured surface. Knead it in to a log and then slice into 12 pieces of roughly equal size. Shape these into balls and then splay your hands to roll the bun into a sausage shape, then fold the ends into an S shape and carefully place them onto the prepared sheet. Cover with a clean tea towel and leave in a warm place to prove and double in size again. This should take 20-30 minutes – in the meantime, preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F.
Once the buns have risen, stuff each crevice of the S shaped bun with a dried cherry (two each if they’re too small). Poke them into the dough so they don’t pop up during proving or baking. Lightly glaze each bun with a little beaten egg and bake for 20-30 minutes or until they’re golden and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Makes 12

Double chocolate cherry cookies

If you’re looking for a good and quick cookie recipe, this is for you: the cookies
turned out delicious and take almost no time to bake – I had just mixed the dough (half the recipe below) when my sister called, asking if I wanted to go to the movies with her; the movie session was going to start in 40 minutes, and we would need at least 20 to arrive at the mall. Cookies baked and cooling, hair in a ponytail and off we went – there was even enough time to buy popcorn. :)

Double chocolate cherry cookies
from Australian Gourmet Traveller

1 cup + 2 ½ tablespoons (261g) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup + 1 ½ tablespoons (218g) caster sugar
¾ cup + 1 ½ tablespoons (150g) brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 vanilla bean, scraped seeds only, or 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
2 cups + 2 tablespoons (300g) all purpose flour
1 cup (90g) Dutch-process cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
140g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), coarsely chopped
1 cup (145g) dried cherries

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F; line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
Beat butter and sugars in an electric mixer until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes), add eggs and vanilla and beat well to combine. Sift over flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt, stir to combine, then stir in chocolate and sour cherries.
Roll heaped tablespoons of mixture into rough balls, flatten slightly and place on prepared sheets 5cm (2in) apart. Bake until puffed and starting to set (8-9 minutes). Cool slightly on sheets then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Cookies will puff while baking and flatten while cooling.
Cookies will keep in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Makes 3 dozen – I halved the recipe above, used ½ tablespoon (rounded) of dough per cookie and got 40

Cherry chocolate chippers

I always find it sad when a magazine stops being published – I think of all the people that might be out of work and that breaks my heart...

This recipe comes from Gourmet’s website – it’s a shame the magazine is gone, but at least there’s some really good online material for nostalgic days.

Cherry chocolate chippers
from here

2 cups (280g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
170g (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
¾ cup (132g) packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
336g (12oz) dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids) chunks
1 cup (145g) dried tart cherries

Preheat oven to 190°C/375°F; line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl. Beat together butter and sugars in a large bowl with an electric mixer until blended and add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, and vanilla. Beat in flour mixture on low speed until blended well, then mix in chocolate chips and cherries with a wooden spoon.

Put 1 leveled tablespoon of dough 3.75cm (1 ½ in) apart on prepared sheets and bake in batches in middle of oven until golden around edges, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on sheets 2 minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely.

Makes 5 dozen – I halved the recipe above and got 28 cookies

Mini meringues with boozy cherries and orange cream

Some people say – and several of them are from my family – that the best things in life are the simple ones. As much as I hate agreeing with my grandmother – and she knows that – this orange cream is a good example: ridiculously simple, but it has got to be one of the most delicious things I have ever tasted. In 31 years of existence. :)

The original recipe called for fresh cranberries, but I can’t get hold of them here in Brazil – the wonderful, plump dried cherries I got from a lovely friend replaced them beautifully.

Mini meringues with boozy cherries and orange cream
adapted from Delicious magazine

Meringues:
400g caster sugar
200g (about 5 large) free-range egg whites

Topping:
about ½ cup (72g) dried cherries*
3 tablespoons vodka
40g caster sugar
600ml heavy (whipping) cream
2 tablespoons icing sugar, sifted
1-2 tablespoons orange flower water, to taste
Handful unsalted shelled pistachios, chopped

Preheat the oven to 220°C/428°F. Spread the sugar evenly over a shallow baking tray, lined with baking paper, and place in the oven for about 10 minutes until really hot.

Place the egg whites in an electric mixer fitted with a whisk. Whisk on high speed until the whites begin to froth, then gradually pour in the hot sugar. Continue whisking on a high speed for 10 minutes until the meringue is beautifully silky and holds its shape.
Reduce the temperature to 110°C/230°F. Line two large baking sheets with baking paper - stick the baking paper to the baking sheets with a little meringue.
Fill a piping bag with the meringue and pipe golf ball-size rounds on to the baking sheet – I used two small spoons to shape the meringues and made them a little bigger. Have a bowl of water nearby; dip a teaspoon in the water and use the back of it to create a nest shape. Repeat, spaced apart – you should get about 60 mini meringues.
Bake the mini meringues for 1 hour, or until crisp to touch. Turn off the oven and leave inside to cool completely.
Gently heat the cherries, vodka and caster sugar in a small pan for 3-5 minutes until the sugar is dissolved and the cherries plump up a bit. Cool a little. In a bowl, whip the cream, icing sugar and orange flower water, to taste, to soft peaks.
To assemble: place the meringues on serving plates, and spoon a small dollop of orange cream onto each one. Spoon a boozy cherry and a little syrup over the top, then sprinkle with chopped pistachios.

* the amount of cherries will depend on the number of meringues you end up with, since there has to be one cherry to top each mini pavlova

Makes 60 – I made ¼ of the recipe above, used two spoons to shape the meringues (instead of a piping bag) and got 8 mini pavlovas

Back from vacation with white chocolate cherry cookies

Hello everyone!

I’m back after some wonderful days off and would like to thank you all for the lovely comments and emails – you are just too sweet!

I had loads of fun on my vacation, but must admit I missed blogging... Nothing better than cookies to get back to the kitchen. These are delicious - one of Nic’s great recipes.

White chocolate cherry cookies

1 ½ cups (210g) all purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup (113g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup (200g) sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup (116g) white chocolate chips or chunks
2/3 cup (97g) dried cherries (coarsely chopped, if cherries are very large)

Preheat oven to 180ºC/350ºF; line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract. Mix in the flour mixture, followed by the white chocolate chips and dried cherries.
Roll tablespoonfuls of dough into 2.5cm (1in) balls* and place onto prepared baking sheets.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, until cookies are just beginning to turn a light golden color around the edges. Cool for about 5 minutes on the baking sheet until cookies are completely set, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
Store in an airtight container.

Makes about 2 dozen – I used 1 leveled tablespoon of dough per cookie and got 34

Cherry, cashew and white chocolate chunk cookies

“I’m not sure this is gonna work, but I’ll try it anyway” – my thoughts exactly when I came across this recipe. The ingredients were very appealing to me, but would they go well mixed up in a cookie? There was only one way to find out. :D

Even though I wasn’t completely happy about the texture – the cookies turned out really thin and delicate, difficult to carry around without breaking – the flavor was spot on. Another mixture I had doubts about at first but proved me wrong later on.

Cherry, cashew and white chocolate chunk cookies
from Big Fat Cookies

1 ¼ cups (175g) unbleached all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
¾ cup (1 ½ sticks/170g) unsalted butter, room temperature
½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
½ cup (88g) packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup (4oz/112g) dried cherries, coarsely chopped
1 cup (5oz/140g) salted roasted cashew halves, coarsely chopped
4oz (112g) white chocolate, chopped into 0.6cm/1.25cm (¼-½-in) pieces

Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF; line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Sift the flour, baking soda and salt into a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until smoothly blended, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. Mix in the egg, lemon juice and vanilla until blended, about 1 minute. The mixture may look curdled. On low speed, add the flour mixture, mixing just until it is incorporated and the dough looks smooth. Mix in the cherries, cashews and white chocolate.

Using an ice cream scoop of measuring cup with a ¼-cup capacity, scoop mounds of the dough onto the prepared sheets, spacing the cookies 3 inches apart. Bake the cookies one sheet at a time until the edges are light brown, but the centers are light golden, about 14 minutes. Cool the cookies for 5 minutes on the baking sheets then use a wide metal spatula do transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

The cookies can be stored in a tightly covered container at room temperature for up to 4 days.

Makes 16 – I halved the recipe and started baking it using 1 round tablespoon of dough per cookie; I got 8 cookies but they turned out too large and too thin. I then went on using 1 rounded teaspoon of dough per cookie and got 23 (dough mounds 5cm apart, 11 minutes in the oven)

Very berry meringues

After so many batches of custard based ice creams – there are recipes I’ve made three or four times – I had several egg whites left. I did freeze some but there were a couple of whites still in the fridge – that seemed like the perfect excuse to make meringues.

I’d bookmarked this recipe ages ago – I just love Delicious. magazine’s website – and it called for only 5 ingredients, all of them in my pantry/fridge... The perfect treat for those moments when you are feeling much too lazy/tired for a trip to the grocery store.

Very berry meringues

4 large egg whites, room temperature
225g caster sugar
75g mixed dried berries, coarsely chopped – I used dried cherries and cranberries
20g shelled unsalted pistachios, chopped
140ml double cream, to serve

Preheat the oven to 140ºC/284ºF. In a large, grease-free bowl, using an electric mixer, whisk the egg whites to soft peaks. Gradually whisk in the caster sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, until you have a thick, glossy meringue. Using a large metal spoon, briefly fold in the mixed dried berries to evenly distribute through the meringue.

Line 2 baking trays with baking paper, fixing the paper in place with a tiny blob of meringue in each corner. Using 2 large metal spoons, take a spoonful of the meringue and scoop it from 1 spoon to the other to shape it into an oval ‘quenelle’ shape; alternatively, just dollop large, craggy spoonfuls of the meringue onto the baking sheets.
Drop onto the baking paper, then repeat to make 8 large meringues, spacing them 5cm (2in) apart as they will expand as they cook. Sprinkle with the chopped pistachios.
Bake the meringues in the oven for 1h15min for mallowy centers, or 1h30min for crisper meringues – swap the trays halfway to ensure even cooking. Turn off the oven and leave the meringues inside to dry out for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
To serve, transfer the meringues to serving plates. Whip the cream to soft peaks and serve a dollop with each berry meringue.

The cooked meringues will keep in an airtight box in a cool place for up to 4 days.

Serves 8 – I halved the recipe and got 5 large meringues

Cherry chocolate chip cookies

Last month I decided to spend one of my days off watching movies. Joao was at work, so I could rent all the wacky films I love so much without him giving me the “I-married-an-alien” look. :)

After staring at the store shelves for quite a while I came to the conclusion that none of those new movies appealed to me. I ended up renting older movies and what a great thing that was – Ryan Gosling saved my afternoon.

That trip to the video store inspired my following baking session – after going through recently saved/bookmarked recipes, I chose one I’d printed over a year prior to that day: Nemmie’s great cookies.

Cherry chocolate chip cookies

3 cups (420g) all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup (226g/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
¾ cup (132g) packed brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups (350g) semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup (130g) tart dried cherries, coarsely chopped

Preheat the oven to 190ºC/375ºF; line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until fluffy (about 2 minutes). Add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla extract. Blend until incorporated.

Add the sifted dry ingredients, the chocolate chunks, and cherries and mix in slow speed just until incorporated. Make balls with 1 ½ tablespoons of dough and place on prepared sheets, 5cm (2in) apart. Slightly flatten the balls and bake for 12-14 minutes, or until golden in the bottoms. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

I halved the recipe and got 24 cookies