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Thursday, March 29, 2012

Chocolate Banana Cookies

  
When Banana meets Chocolate!

After my first series of oatmeal cookies I was looking for a new recipe and found one including my favorite combination : Banana & Chocolate. 

Since I am baking more regularly, my love for cookies has tripled. I have to admit that I've become a huge fan of oatmeal too, the reason why I am always happy to find new cookie recipes including those lovely oats. Those who know me a little better are not surprised to see that I was finally baking something including these two ingredients. From chocolate fondue to fruit snacks on the annual fairy in Luxembourg, I have always chosen the above mentioned combination.

From my local friends here in Serbia to my friends in Lebanon, all agreed that the soft but crunchy cookie is absolutely not to miss. Some were even ready to buy me an additional baking bowl to make some more for them. 





For 25-30 cookies:

210g flour
100g rolled oat
100g brown sugar
170g butter
1 big egg
1/2 ts Baking Powder
1/2 ts vanilla extract
1 banana
220g chocolate chips
60g crushed roasted almonds
1/4 ts salt


Preheat the oven to 180°

In a middle-sized bowl whisk the flour, baking powder and salt. In a separate large bowl put together the butter and the sugar and mix until you get a bright mixture. Then add the egg and the vanilla extract and mix again until you get a smooth mixture. Now add the banana which you cut into thin slices before. Then stir in the flour mix and the oats. Finally add the chocolate chips and the almonds.

Place the cookies onto your baking sheet and bake them for 12 minutes. 

Enjoy!!!

Are you planning on making this recipe? Or have you already tried it?
Then show me your creations on Instagram: @passionmeetscreativity  I'm looking forward to your comments & suggestions :)



Friday, March 2, 2012

Homemade Oreos




Milk's favorite cookie


Last week when I was shopping for fruits and vegetables on the green market with my visiting friend we discovered the stand of a chocolate seller. The man was selling the whole range of Milka chocolate bars. As a chocolate addict and not so much of a fan of the local chocolate brands I was the happiest person alive when I saw the one with a milk and cookie filling. But the cookie wasn't just any cookie, no, the guy was selling Milka Oreo! Just before flying back home, we went back to the market, and bought the chocolate. Each of us, not later than the next day, found out how delicious it is. From that moment on, I was craving Oreos, but it is impossible to find them over here. This is when I decided to create something that could compete with the deliciousness of the original Oreo.





























Oreo cookies are the best-selling cookies in the world, and according to me for a very good reason. But what makes this cookie so special? Well.. for me it is the combination of the bittersweet & chocolaty cookies and the milky vanilla filling. You can either enjoy them crunchy or dip them into a huge glass of cold milk and wait for them to get soft. This is actually my favorite way to savor them.


With this recipe you won't get the exact same result but the outcome is very close to the original one. The goal to have a chocolaty bittersweet cookie with a milky vanilla filling has been realized and the result is able to compete with the original version.


For the cookies :

125g butter
180-200g sugar
150g flour
1 egg
1 ts vanilla extract
50g unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 ts baking powder

For the filling:

60g butter
250g icing sugar
1 ts vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 180°

In a large bowl mix the butter and the sugar first until the mixture gets pale and fluffy . Then add the vanilla extract and the egg and mix again until you get an even dough. Now you can add the flour, the baking powder and the cocoa powder. Mix until the dough gets an even dark brown color.

Roll rounded teaspoons of dough into balls, and place onto a baking sheet. Try to flatten the cookies as much as possible. The cookies should have the same size as you will fill the vanilla cream in between.

 Bake for 9 minutes, rotating once for even baking. Set baking sheets on a rack to cool.

To make the cream put the softened butter into a mixing bowl. Gradually beat in the icing sugar and vanilla extract.

After the cookies cooled down fill the cream into a pastry bag (round tip) and pipe teaspoon-size blobs of cream into the center of one cookie. Now lightly press another cookie to the first in order to evenly work the filling to the outsides of the cookie.

























Enjoy!!!



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