A New Cookie (free post)

Plus a sneak peek at Small Batch Cookies

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Hello Happy Thursday!

Today is the start of August which means just one thing, Small Batch Cookies is out later THIS MONTH (a little later for my friends in North America, you will need to wait until Sept 9th). It has been two years since the original Small Batch Bakes was released and I am so excited that the follow-up, and the final instalment of my ‘helpful’ baking books, is finally coming out.

For anyone new around these parts, who may not know anything about my books, my ‘helpful’ baking series is a loose collection of four books that are designed to be especially helpful, designed to eliminate specific barriers that home bakers often come across. The series started with the two ‘One Tin Bakes’ books and was then followed up by Small Batch Bakes, which I’m incredibly proud to say was a Sunday Times Bestseller. One Tin Bakes was designed to reduce the bakeware needed, with every recipe using the same 9x13 baking tin. Small Batch Bakes was designed to reduce the serving size of recipes, so that they fit into peoples lives, better than most baking recipes which generally only serve large groups of people. In my mind nothing suits the Small Batch treatment more than cookies.

Most cookie recipes seem to serve big groups of people from 12-24 people, but what about the times you’re just craving a single cookie but don’t want to make a huge batch? Sure, you can freeze uncooked cookie dough and bake as needed (I do this occasionally so there is always a cookie available within 20 minutes) but what if you like to bake frequently? Or maybe you like a variety of flavours? What if you don’t want to spend lots of money on ingredients to make a large batch? Enter Small Batch Cookies.

Small Batch Cookies actually has its origins in a singular recipe, for a singular cookie. In the original Small Batch Bakes I had a recipe which I dubbed the ‘Emergency Cookie’, a single cookie that could made in minutes, a single cookie that didn't sacrifice anything when it came to taste or texture, a recipe that just happened to make one cookie. To say that recipe became popular is an understatement, it still blows my mind that, two years later, I still see so many of you making that recipe, clearly it answered a need. Due to the popularity of that recipe and because cookies are not just my favourite thing to bake, but because they’re my comfort bake, I knew I wanted to write a book that was dedicated to this idea. Today I want to give you a little sneak peek at the book before it is released on the 27th.

The book is divided into 5 main chapters, with recipes divided by theme. There are cookies that are crisp and crunchy, cookies that are soft and sumptuous, cookies that are all about chocolate, cookies that give a satisfying chew and there are also cookies that are ooey gooey. Put simply, there is a cookie for every craving, for every person. All the recipes serve a maximum of 6 with some recipes just serving one.

One of the things I love about small batch baking is that it so obviously fits into our lives perfectly, whether you’ve had a bad day and a single cookie is what your mood calls for, maybe you’re cooking for a date and a dessert cookie for two is needed? Maybe you’ve got friends or family visiting and a batch of six is the perfect amount. But also, as I started baking more and more this way one major benefit jumped out, and it was the ability to use up awkward leftover ingredients. If you cook, or bake a lot, you're often left with a bit of tahini at the bottom of a jar, a spoonful or two of cream cheese left over from another recipe, the last handful of chocolate chips, you get the idea. On their own these ingredients might go to waste, too little to use in another recipe, but with small batch baking those small amounts of leftover ingredients suddenly become the basis of a tahini cookie, the filling for a red velvet cookie, the mix-in for a single chocolate chip cookie. Not only does it become a great way to use up leftover ingredients it also means you can bake without buying endless amounts of new ingredients, a win win.

Whilst I am not allowed to share any recipes with you, just yet, I can give you a bonus recipe, one that sadly didn’t make the cut for the book. This recipe, a oatmeal chocolate chip cookie with brown butter and pistachios is a great window onto the style of recipes you’ll find in the book. This recipe makes just four cookies and is incredibly easy to make, it needs no special ingredients or equipment and of course, in the end the most important element, the cookie is utterly delicious.

I know you likely hear this from every food writer you follow but, I am going to mention it again. If this book sounds like something you’re going to buy (no pressure) then pre-ordering it now, before its release, is a huge help. Pre-ordering tells retailers that the book has interest and can really help more people to see the book so, if you’re going to buy the book anyway, pre-ordering it would be a huge kindness to me, it also has the added benefit of meaning you’ll get your hands on the book the second it is released (and sometimes retailers actually send pre-orders out early). I would love it if you can support independent book shops but a pre-order anywhere is a massive help. Okay, sales pitch over, lets get to the recipe.

Dark Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies with Brown Butter and Pistachios
Makes 4

65g unsalted butter, diced

60g light brown sugar

2 tbsp whole milk

1/4 tsp vanilla bean paste

50g plain flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

large pinch flaked sea salt

40g porridge oats*

40g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

40g pistachios roughly chopped, plus extra for garnish

*dont use anything labelled jumbo or rolled, you want bog standard porridge oats (edit: firstly apologies for confusing any non-brits, bog standard is a turn of phrase that simply means, regular, everyday, the basic. Secondly for subscribers in the US the oats you’ll want to use will be labelled ‘quick cook’

To make the cookie dough, place the butter into a small saucepan and place over medium heat. Cook until the butter is browned. First the butter will melt and splutter (this is the water cooking out of the butter) and then it will start to foam, it is at this point you want to keep a close eye for brown flecks to appear in the butter, this is when the butter is browned. Pour the brown butter into a small bowl, along with the brown sugar, and mix to combine. Add the vanilla and the milk and mix until fully combined. Leave this mixture for a few minutes until room temperature (if the mixture stays too warm it will melt the chocolate when added). Add the flour, baking powder, salt and oats and stir into the batter to form a loose cookie dough. Because we are using melted butter the dough will resemble a cake batter but it will firm up as it sits. Add the chocolate and pistachios and stir to combine. Cover the bowl and set aside, at room temperature, for about 30 minutes. As the dough sits the flour will absorb some of the moisture and the cookie dough will thicken; the finished dough wont be thick enough to roll by hand but it will be able to hold its shape.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC (160ºC Fan) and line a baking tray with parchment paper. Using a 60g (1/4 cup) cookie scoop, portion the dough into 4 even sized cookies, you also simply portion with spoons. To add to the pistachio flavour, and also to the visual appeal, press a few extra chopped pistachios onto each cookie, add a couple pieces of chopped chocolate too, if you like.

Bake for about 15 minutes, rotating halfway through baking, until the edges of the cookie are golden. I love both pistachios and chocolate served with a pinch of salt so, when the cookies are fresh from the oven, I like to sprinkle them with a little flaked sea salt, but you can leave this off should you prefer. Allow the cookies to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Kept in a sealed container these cookies will keep for 2-3 days.

Note To American Bakers: this recipe (and the recipes in the book) are developed using British ‘plain flour’ which means you need to choose carefully when selecting the flour to use in the states. British plain flour is generally around 10% protein but some popular brands in the US are much stronger with around 12% protein which can make cookies spread less than they should. Look out for lower protein all-purpose flour, brands like Gold Medal have protein content more closely aligned with what I use here in the UK.