One of the reasons I didn’t mind so much moving to London was that Paris was apparently so close by. Now I am yet to discover that nor see any cheap way of getting there, but I made an amazing discovery, there are not one, but two Ladurée stores in London. Ladurée and Pierre Herme may or may not have been two of my biggest driving factors to go to Paris…

image from http://www.laudree.fr

I’m really annoyed I missed seeing bodyworlds it closed just before we arrived here. There is an exhibition on at the welcome collection called “Exquisite Bodies” which is sort of not really similar, well, its wax models anyway and has the added bonus of being free.

I think I kind of have cabin fever after spending 2 days at home with food poisoning. So now that I can stand for more than a few minutes without puking I made these babies.

Traditional French Macarons are not easy at all, and I spent a lot of time researching the technique and everyone’s tips on egullet. I was so stoked when I checked after 10 minutes and they had the little frilly feet!! I know they are far from perfect, but after my last attempt which was just an EPIC failure – these are like perfect to me.

I left mine to rest before baking for approximately 30 minutes which I like to think helped the shells, however the consistency was just a tad too thick which means the tops arent quite as glossy as I would like. They taste divine like an amazing brownie though.

After a little snowboarding incident on the weekend (check out my sling – and yeah that is a fairy costume hehe)

I’m at home for a few days, and I’m not really supposed to be using my arm at all.. so I embarked on some easy one arm baking these are my new favourite oaty cookies, and you can swap out the dried fruit for any dried fruit of your choice, ditto for the nuts, so they are super adaptable.

180g / 1.5 sticks + 1 tblsp butter
1 1/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp mixed spice
2 2/3 cups rolled oats
180g dried apricots, chopped into approx 4 pieces each
1/2 cup sultanas
1/3 cup pecans or any nuts, very finely chopped

Preheat oven to 392°F (200°C).

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth and fluffy. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, spice and salt together. Stir this into the butter/sugar mixture. Stir in the dried fruit and nuts.

Put the mixing bowl in the fridge for about half an hour or for as long as you can stand (you can skip this step but your cookies may be a little flat and not as chewy).

Place on a COOL (very important) baking sheet with the same space between them as the width of each ball of cookie. Bake them for 10 to 12 minutes until golden at the edges but still a little undercooked-looking on top. Let them sit on the hot baking sheet for five minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool.

If you wanted to make these super super awesome times four, then you could add chunks of white chocolate, about 100grams or as much as you wanted really, cut into fairly large chunks so as to not affect the texture of the mix too much. I only had a tiny amount of white chocolate but its like a jackpot when you get a cookie with chocolate in it!! mmm.

These classic, iconic New Zealand biscuits are very yummy and very much loved by everyone. They are incredibly easy to make and failproof. I found this recipe in the gorgeous – “Ladies, a Plate” by Alexa Johnston. She has researched, baked and tested hundreds of classic “New Zealand” recipes.

This batch is going to my new work – hopefully they like them.

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup dessicated coconut
3/4 cup flour
1 cup sugar
40z/115g butter
2 tbsp golden syrup
1 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp boiling water

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celcius or 350 farenheight. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.

In a large bowl combine the oats, coconut, flour and sugar.

Place butter and golden syrup in a small saucepan and heat until melted together, stirring with a wooden spoon.

Place baking soda in a cup, and add the boiling water, stir if there is any baking soda not dissolved.

Pour into the melted butter in the saucepan (it will foam up, don’t be afraid!) and stir together.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix together until no dry ingredients can be seen.

Form into heaped teaspoonfulls and place on the baking tray with at least an inch (3 cm) around them or they will do what mine did and form a giant biscuit he he.

Bake for 10 minutes until lightly golden for chewy biscuits, and 15 minutes and dark golden for crisp ones.

Cool on a rack and store in an airtight tin. Makes about 36.

These cookies are really good. Very chocolatey, not much batter, but soft and chewy and just yum.

Recipe adapted from [Smitten Kitchen]

100 grams caster sugar
120 grams brown sugar
115 grams butter, cold, cubed
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
175 grams flour
200 grams chocolate, chopped
130 grams roasted almonds, chopped

Adjust the oven rack to the top third of the oven and preheat to 300F (150C). Line three baking sheets with baking paper.

Beat the sugars and butters together until smooth. Mix in the egg, vanilla, and baking soda.

Mix flour into the batter. Mix in the chocolate chips and nuts.

Scoop the cookie dough into 2-tablespoon (5cm) balls and place 8 balls, spaced 4 inches (10cm) apart, on each of the baking sheets.

Bake for 18 minutes, or until pale golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Well my blog layout is not done as you can see, I like to test things on my live site. Ill finish it soon I hope…

Made these a week ago twice and they were wolfed down by everyone at work. Definately worth a try…

180g butter
1 1/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp mixed spice
3 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups raisins

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, spice and salt together. Stir this into the butter/sugar mixture. Stir in the oats and raisins.

Put the mixing bowl in the fridge for about half an hour or for as long as you can stand.

Place on baking sheet with the same space between them as the width of each ball of cookie. Bake them for 10 to 12 minutes until golden at the edges but still a little undercooked-looking on top. Let them sit on the hot baking sheet for five minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool.

250g softend butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup caster sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 cups plain flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
400g any kind of chocolate chopped up.

preheat oven to 180 degrees and line oven trays with baking paper
beat butter/sugar/vanilla/egg with eletric mixer until light and fluffy.

stir in flour, cocoa, baking soda. stir in chocolate

roll tablespoons of dough into balls and place 5cm apart on trays, bake about 12 mins and cool on trays.

variations: add a handfull of sliced toasted almonds and 1/3 tsp almond extract.