raspberries, chocolate, cookies...

I honestly believe my sanity depends on a patch of good cookies. In times when I am upset for some reason, baking always brings me back to peace. And the two-hour journey in the world of chocolate chip cookies brought me so much joy. Yesterday was the first day when the weather in Sofia was kinda autumn-ish, reminding me of what am I about to experience in the upcoming months in Prague, so my plan is never ever to detach myself from the spot next to the oven :) The cookies I prepared are just a reflection of my addiction to chocolate and red fruits and they turned out full of aroma and flavour and most importantly in the end I had 52 cookies (don't ask how many are there left today!).

Raspberry chocolate chip cookies

(adapted from chewy raspberry choc chip cookies)

Ingredients:

(makes about 52 cookies)

100g fresh raspberries

1 tablespoon thick cream

1 tablespoon plain yoghurt

2 - 2 1/3 sifted all purpose flour

1/2 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 tablespoon salt

3/4 cup white sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 pack (8g vanilla sugar)

2/3 cup melted butter

1 large egg

100g milk chocolate chips/chopped chocolate

(or more, you know, the more chocolate the better)

topping:

100g white chocolate

80g chopped almonds/hazelnuts

1.   Preparation starts with the raspberry puree. The raspberries + 1 tbsp cream + 1 tbsp yoghurt are pureed in a blender till smooth. Then it would be better to run the puree through a sieve (although I did not do it and they were still edible, but you know for the better taste). 

2.    In a large bowl the flour, baking powder and salt are mixed. In another bowl the sugar is beaten together with the butter to a smooth cream texture, the egg is added. The flour is slowly added, together with the raspberry puree until the dough is smooth and smiley pink.

3.     Chocolate chips is added in the end and the dough is once again well stirred.

4.    Baking trays are lined up with baking paper and with a teaspoon the cookies are rounded onto the trays. Oven is preheated at 190C and the cookies are baked 13-16 mins until brown at the edges and slightly pink in the centre.

While baking you have to find the time to melt one bar of white chocolate. A note for total beginners - chocolate is melted in a procedure called water-bath, meaning water is being warmed in a pot and above it there is another pot where you put the chopped pieces of chocolate (water should never get to boil or chocolate will get spoiled). Right after baking, the cookies are put onto a cooling rack and with a small spoon chocolate is sprinkled on them. While the chocolate is still warm, the nuts (in my case almonds) are also sprinkled, so that they could stick to the cookies.

I believe these cookies could also be prepared with strawberries, blueberries or any other forest fruit. I would love to try to enjoy the aroma (which is quite intense in the process of baking). I hope someone will enjoy these as much as I did.