Triple Chocolate & Orange Cookies

My god, these cookies are amazing. Without sounding cocky, I don't think I will ever need another cookie recipe again.

Eat them warm out the oven and enjoy the lovely melted lovelyness of the chocolate chunks.

Want to make them? Sure you do. Here's how:

Ingredients:

280g plain flour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
170g unsalted butter
100g brown soft sugar
200g caster sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 orange
200g white chocolate
150g milk chocolate

Preheat your oven to 180C. Sift your flour, cocoa, bicarb and salt into a large bowl. In a separate bowl, melt your butter and add in both sugars and eggs. Pour this mixture into the flour bowl.

Stir like crazy, and finely grate in the zest of a whole orange, and add a little juice too (not too much, you don't want a watery mixture!) Chop up your chocolate, and stir that in as well.

Spoon up your mixture, roll them out into little balls with your hands, and gently press them down onto a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. Makes sure they have plenty of space to spread out.

Bake for around 10 minutes (I like them gooey in the middle, but they do harden up when cool anyway)

Enjoy with a nice cold glass of milk.

Now excuse me, while I grab another...

Ginger Squares

It might suprise you to know that I love cake.

And one of my favourites are these Ginger Squares.

Delicously soft and fluffy, they stay nice and moist for a several days when kept in an air tight container. I had a huge tin of these that were a god send when I was a fresher! They're also ridiculously easy and relatively cheap to make (if you regularly bake the only thing you will probably have to buy is the ginger). No larking about with separating eggs or folding, just bung all the ingredients into a bowl and mix. Let's go!

You will need:

6 ounces (175g) soft margarine
6 ounces Light brown sugar
6 ounces self raising flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
3 eggs
2 tablespoons milk


For the topping:

1 1/2 ounces (40g) finely chopped stem ginger
6 ounces (175g) icing sugar (sieved)
2-3 tablespoons ginger syrup (from your jar of stem ginger)

Preheat your oven to 180°C/ Gas mark 4. Grease and line your cake tin with some greaseproof paper.

Combine all your ingredients into a large bowl and beat well. Use a whisk if you're lazy like me, life's too short!

Spead your mixture evenly round your tin and bake for 20 minutes

Sprinkle over some of your finely chopped ginger, and bake for another 15 minutes. Take it out when it's a nice golden brown colour. Leave to cool in the tin.

Blend your icing sugar with the ginger syrup and the rest of the chopped ginger. Once the cake is cool you can drizzle it over the top. It's up to you how you want to do it, I'm not a particularly neat person and was in a bit of a rush so i just flicked it all over the cake with a spoon.

Stack 'em up on a plate and enjoy with a big mug of tea.

Apricot and Coconut Flapjack

I totally forgot about this little beauty.

Flapjack is one of those snacks that we like to think of as healthy, just because its got oats in. In reality, that's not the case. But that doesn't stop me loving them! And this is not just any flapjack, oh no. This is a tastier, more exciting take on the traditional flapjack. And its got fruit in, so lets kid ourselves that it's a superfood. I love making this during revision time, as it's easy to whip up, makes a LOT to keep aside and is great for when you have the munchies and need something substantial and comforting. Here's how you make it...

Ingredients:

85g soft brown sugar
85g butter
170g oats
4 tbsp golden syrup
50g dessicated coconut
1 handful dried apricots

Melt your butter, sugar and golden syrup in a large saucepan

Take off the heat and stir in the oats

Add in your coconut and chopped apricots.

Spread the mixture into a greased baking tray and bake for 15-20 minutes at 170°C until golden brown

Once cooked, score out the squares whilst soft before they set. This makes it easier to separate when they harden, without making a big old mess.

And there you have it! One of the easiest snacks you can make, perfect for revision time. If you don't want to share them (why would you, they're friggin' amazing!) they will keep for a few days if stored in an airtight container.

Enjoy!