Brownie Cookies

Who doesn't love a great cookie? This one was certainly a big hit with everyone who tried it, from young children to adults. With a crunchy outer layer and a chewy, soft centre it's no surprise that they were snapped up and devoured quickly. You can find this Donna Hay recipe here. Ms Hay actually sandwiches two cookies together with peanut butter frosting and I had the same intention when I began to bake them. However, some misadventure in the kitchen resulted in burned fingers that day and I had to abandon that plan. Instead, I served the cookies on their own and discovered they were wonderful just as they were.

 

My recipe below gives instructions for making the cookies using a Thermomix. However, as always, you can follow the original recipe from the link above if you don't own a Thermomix.

 

 

Brownie Cookies

Makes approx. 24 cookies

350g dark chocolate
40g butter
2 eggs
150g caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
35g plain flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius fan forced.

2. Place 150g of the dark chocolate into Thermomix bowl, roughly broken up. Grate for 10 seconds/speed 9 and then set aside.

3. Place the remaining 200g of chocolate in the bowl, also roughly broken up and grate for 10 seconds/speed 9. Scrape down sides if necessary.

4. Add butter to chocolate in bowl and melt for 3 minutes/50 degrees/speed 3. Then set aside and clean bowl.

5. Place eggs, sugar and vanilla into cleaned Thermomix bowl and beat for 20 seconds/speed 5-6 or until mixture is pale and creamy.

6. Add flour, baking powder and both lots of chocolate previously set aside. Mix for 20 seconds/speed 5.

7. Let mixture stand for 10 minutes - it will be almost firm in its consistency. Then spoon onto a lined baking tray using a tablespoon for an approximate measurement of each cookie. I've included a photo of the raw dough below so that you can see how it is meant to look. As the cookies bake, they will spread out and rise.

8. Bake for about 10 minutes or until cookies are puffed and cracked. Then remove from oven and allow them to cool completely. As they cool, they will "collapse" so you get a rustic, cracked cookie - this is exactly what they are meant to do.

Orange Yoghurt Cake

This is a recipe adapted from Donna Hay's Lemon Yoghurt Cake and everyone who tastes it, falls in love with it. My eldest son who only likes a limited number of cake flavours and always defaults to chocolate when there's a choice, lists this cake as one of his absolute favourites! It melts in your mouth. It's very simple to make and doesn't differ much from the original. It just has a slightly more subtle citrus flavour. I even took my Thermomix away on holidays with me recently and whipped up this cake for house guests. It was lovely to have a homemade treat whilst away. Don't be fooled by the name - whilst the yoghurt and fruit combination makes it sound healthy, it does have a good dose of sugar in it. But hey, as long as you're not eating it every day, it's great as a treat. 

 

Note that I have included weight and cup measurements (as does Donna Hay) because I mix mine in the Thermomix which measures ingredients by weight. This recipe is written out as a Thermomix one but can be easily mixed without. I use a large bundt tin, however I have made it in other slightly smaller tins and it has still turned out okay. It's just prettier in the bundt tin.

 

Orange Yoghurt Cake

 

3/4 cup (180ml light olive oil)

2 eggs

1 tablespoon finely grated orange rind*

1/4 cup (60ml) orange juice, either freshly squeezed or store bought

1 cup (280g) plain Greek-style yoghurt

1 3/4 cups (385g) caster sugar

2 cups (300g) self-raising flour

 

Icing

1 cup (160g) sifted icing sugar

1 tablespoon orange juice, either freshly squeezed or store bought

1/2 tablespoon boiling water

 

* You can grate this by hand or simply cut the skin off an orange and grate it in thermomix (about 30 seconds/speed 7)

 

1. Pre-heat oven to 160 degrees Celsius fan forced.

 

2. Place the oil, eggs, orange rind, orange juice, yoghurt, sugar and flour in Thermomix bowl and mix for 15 seconds, speed 5. Scrape down sides and mix for a further 10 seconds at speed 5.

 

3. Pour into a greased cake tin and bake for approximately 50 minutes or until cooked.

 

4. Allow the cake to stand for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack. A handy tip if you want less cleaning up afterwards, is to place a piece of baking paper or foil on the bench/sink underneath the wire rack to catch the drippings of icing in the final step.

 

5. Whilst the cake is in the tin or immediately after turning it out onto wire rack, make the orange icing by mixing together the icing sugar, orange juice and boiling water. If it's too thick or you've made it a bit too early and it starts to harden, just add a touch more of the boiling water. I usually just mix this by hand in a small bowl.

 

6. Whilst cake is still hot, pour/drizzle the orange icing over the top, allowing it to trickle down the sides of the cake. This cake can be served almost immediately but tastes just as wonderful a few days later (if it lasts that long)!