Cookies - a bit of explanation and some recipe ideas

In England, a cookie and a biscuit are two very different things. Cookies are soft, while biscuits are crisp – think Digestive or Rich Tea (made for dunking in that afternoon cup of tea!). In North America, however, the term ‘cookie’ has become the universal name for biscuit, whether it’s crisp or soft. I am going to stick with the English explanation here.

The word cookie is derived from the Dutch word koekje, meaning ‘small cake’ while biscuit comes from the Latin bis coctum meaning ‘twice baked’.

So, cookies are softer, chewier, and can be made with a variety of ingredients – arguably the most popular being chocolate chip. They are traditionally made from a soft dough which is rolled into balls and placed onto a baking sheet. An easier way of making them is a tray bake, which can then be cut into squares once cooked. Flapjacks or cookie bars are the obvious example of this.

Making cookies is easy. Once you’ve got the basic recipe, you can adapt it to suit, adding chocolate, spices, dried fruit, nuts or oats.

Check out my soft and chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe with the option of added nuts

For Halloween, chocolate chunk pumpkin cookies, a combination of dark chocolate, oats and golden syrup with a hint of pumpkin.

And for Christmas, white chocolate and dried cranberries make the perfect festive cookie for an afternoon treat.

Spicy tomato and red pepper chutney

A taste of Spain in a jar! This is one of my own chutneys - the chilli pepper gives it a slight kick but it's the flavours of the red peppers and the paprika that shine through.

2 onions, finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, grated

2 red peppers, seeded and finely chopped

1 red chilli, seeded and finely chopped

(or 1 tsp dried chilli)

1 kg ripe tomatoes, quartered

450ml white wine vinegar

350g soft light brown sugar

100g raisins (optional)

1 tsp mustard seeds

2 tsp smoked paprika

¼ tsp ground cloves

1 cinnamon stick

First of all wash and sterilise your jars - if you're not sure how to do this, learn how on 'all you need to know about making chutney'.

Put all the ingredients into a large pan and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for about 1-1½ hours until thick, stirring towards the end of the time to make sure it doesn’t catch on the bottom of the pan. Once it’s ready, remove the cinnamon stick and allow to cool slightly before spooning into your sterilised jars and putting the lids on.

This makes 2 large or 5 small jars

Dorset Apple Cake

My grandmother lived in Dorset after the war. Apples were, and still are, abundant in the autumn and this was a quick and easy way to use up some of the windfalls from the garden. This is from my mother's book and below you will see the cryptic instructions she passed on to me!

It is best made with firm eating apples - Bramley apples tend to fall apart when cooked - and can either be made as a cake or is equally good as a pudding served with custard.

100g self raising flour, sieved

50g butter, softened

pinch of salt

1 egg, beaten

75g caster sugar

2 apples, peeled, cored and chopped small

splash of milk to loosen the mixture

Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Line the bottom of a 20cm tin with greaseproof paper or, if you prefer, simply grease a pie dish with butter.

Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, beat in the egg and then add the flour and a pinch of salt. If the mix needs loosening, add a splash of milk. Stir in the chopped apples and put the mixture into your tin or pie dish. Bake for 45 minutes.

When it is ready and while still warm, sprinkle with caster sugar.

This makes one cake, but I usually double the quantities as one cake doesn't last long in our house!