11th December 2013

Christmas feels like the best time of year to top up your good karma, and reinforce those feelings of positivity towards others.  I stumbled across The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap by chance, and immediately fell for the concept.

Here’s what happens: you donate $4 to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer, who are a non-profit organisation raising funds for paediatric cancer research.  Then, the lovely hosts of the scheme (Love and Olive Oil and The Little Kitchen) send you 3 participating food bloggers for you to post cookies to.  You send each of your matches a dozen cookies, and you in turn will receive a dozen cookies from 3 different people.  Then everybody blogs…!

What I like about the idea is – firstly, you’re supporting a fantastic cause, secondly, there’s cookies involved, and thirdly – it works because everybody does their part.  Which is how I come to the karma thing… it feels kind of great to send off fresh cookies into the unknown, for others to enjoy.  And it also feels great when you start getting them back.

Cookie Karma…see?

So, with a mouthful of crumbs (because I’m still making my way through the ones I received), here is my recipe.

White Chocolate and Raspberry Cookies

To make a dozen, you will need:

• 170g plain flour
• 110g unsalted, melted butter
• 100g dark brown soft sugar
• 65g caster sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon vanilla essence
• a pinch of salt
• a dash of bicarbonate of soda
• 1 large egg
• a generous handful of raspberries
• white chocolate chips, or chopped up white chocolate

I spent a Sunday afternoon happily baking away my batches of this recipe, with some mulled wine and the SATC box set keeping A and I company in the house.

Here’s how you do it:

• Get your oven preheated to about 180°C, and then weigh out and sieve together the flour, bicarb and salt
• Cream together the 2 types of sugar and the melted butter

• Beat in the vanilla essence and egg

• Mix in the dry ingredients

• And then stir in the chocolate and raspberries slowly, by hand

• Line a baking tray with parchment, and then drop the cookie dough on to it in blobs about the size of golf balls.  Leave lots of room between the blobs, because they’ll grow (more than in this photo I think!)

• Bake them in the oven for 12-14 minutes, before removing and allowing to cool on a wire tray

Don’t cook them for too long, as good cookies need to have a bit of chew and a bit of crunch.  Actually, I felt that some of mine were a bit ‘cakey’, and needed to be slightly smaller.

I packaged the cookies up into Paperchase boxes, with sparkly tissue paper, and sent them on their way.  Because they’re sweet, I think they taste best with a nice old fashioned cuppa tea.

My cookies went to Emma, Mehrunnisa and Pat – and I’ve enjoyed reading their blogs since.

So, I hear you ask, what was I lucky enough to be sent?

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woollen mittens, brown paper packages tied up with string… YES.  What could be better in this technological day and age than a package tied up with string?  

Chocolate Chip Truffle cookies from Nazia at This Baker Girl Blogs – have a look at her recipe – genius!  I am definitely making these bad boys soon.

Beautifully packaged and scrummy Cardamom and Cinnamon Spiced Shortbread from Gill at Tales of Pigling Bland.

Dark Chocolate, Orange and Hazlenut cookies from Sophie at The Cake Hunter.  The smell of these cookies alone… wow.  They were delicious.  (And she’s just had a baby, so must be the most efficient lady on the planet).

I’ve been having a slightly hectic time at work recently, and discovering the blogs I hadn’t read before and reading the friendly notes (and eating the cookies) really cheered me up.  I’ll definitely be joining in again next year!

P.S. Daddy I told you it wasn’t a cookie Ponzi scheme :)