Simple Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is a recipe that I've been using for years and it seems to produce fairly decent (i.e. 10 cookies usually last a day or two at most before they're all devoured) results every time. To be honest with you this recipe is a bit of a mystery to me, I've had it for years and it's hand written, in my hand writing, on an old piece of note paper, but I don't remember when I wrote it, where the recipe originally came from or why I've never transferred it to somewhere more permanent before.

You will need:
200g butter
200g brown sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
200g self raising flour
50g cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
200g chocolate chunks

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180° C
2. In a fairly large bowl mix together the butter and sugar until the mixture is light and airy.
3. Add in the egg and vanilla then beat the mixture until fully incorporated.
4. In a separate bowl mix the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder together.
5. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture a little at a time, ensuring it's well mixed before adding more of the flour mixture.
6. Fold the chocolate chunks into the mixture, until there's a fairly even distribution of chocolate.
7. Line a baking tray with parchment, or a silicone baking mat, and using a tablespoon spoon out dollops of the mixture, a few inches apart to allow for spreading, on the tray.
8. Once the tray is full, bake for 10 - 12 minutes in the oven. After removing from the oven allow the cookies to completely on the tray.

Notes:
This makes a fairly dry cookie mix, and the cookies sometimes come out a little cakey, so they're ideal served alongside a hot chocolate or milky coffee. I used this relatively low calorie hot cocoa recipe to attempt to offset (or at least con myself into feeling less guilty) the cookies.

You will need:
250ml almond milk
a cinnamon stick
1 rounded tbsp pure cocoa powder
2 sweeteners

Method:
1. Pour most of the milk into a small saucepan, drop in the cinnamon stick and warm the milk slowly, over a low heat.
2. Pour the remaining milk into a good sized mug, add in the cocoa powder and mix until the cocoa forms a paste and is thoroughly incorporated.
3. Continue to heat the milk for about 10 minutes, but don't allow it boil, until the cinnamon flavours the milk.
4. Drop your sweeteners into the mug before pouring over the hot milk and stirring thoroughly.

Nans Classic Crumpets

There's something deeply satisfying about crumpets with lashings of butter and a nice big mug of tea, they're even more satisfying if those crumpets are freshly made by your own hands. This is a recipe I found (and only recently reminded of its existence, thanks to a large pack of Mr Warburtons finest), hand written on a piece of paper, tucked in between the pages of one of my Nans old cook books. I've roughly converted it to grams and millilitres and attempted to interpret and re-write my Nans extremely basic notes into a fairly basic recipe. This recipe should make about 12 crumpets, mine mostly turned out to be very rustic looking but still tasted awesome.

You will need:
12 fl oz (340ml) warm whole milk
6 fl oz (170ml) warm water
1 tsp caster sugar
1 tbsp bakers yeast (I tend to use 2 sachets of instant yeast)
12 oz (340g) plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp vegetable oil (rapeseed oil) for greasing

Method:
1. In a bowl, dissolve the sugar and yeast in the warm milk and water. Once dissolved set the bowl aside, somewhere fairly warm, until the mixture starts to froth, this usually takes about 10 minutes.
2. Sift the flour, salt and bicarb into a large bowl and mix together.
3. Form a well in the middle of the flour mixture and pour the yeast mixture into the middle.
4. Pull the flour from around the outside of the bowl into the middle using a wooden spoon, continue to mix this way until the mixture is smooth and free of lumps.
5. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and set aside, somewhere fairly warm, until the mixture starts to form bubbles on the surface, this usually takes about 30 - 45 minutes.
6. Heat a cast iron pan or heavy based frying pan over a medium heat, lightly grease the inside of several metal rings (roughly 80mm internal diameter), grease the bottom of the pan and place the rings in the pan.
7. Spoon 2 tbsp of the mixture into each ring and cook for about 5 minutes, until bubbles have appeared and the surface is set.
8. Gently remove the crumpets from their rings, flip them over and cook on the other side for a further 2 minutes.

Notes:
Serve still warm with plenty of butter or allow them to cool for toasting later. This recipe can be modified slightly to make pyclets, simply add an extra 50g of flour to stiffen the mix and cook without the rings.

Tea and Crumpets

You really know that you're British when you sit and think to yourself "It feels like a tea and crumpets kind of evening" in the middle of summer.