Sparkly Ginger Cookies

Loving these ‘sparkling’ginger cookies. Crunchy outer, gooey, spicy middles…YUM!!
I made these lovlies to compliment the whisky, white chocolate ice cream and to make it into a dessert, they went down pretty well.
You may be suprised at how much spice i’ve put into the dough, but you really need something other than ginger to make a rounder flavour. With hardly any fat either they are practically health food! 🙂
Perfect for anyone with a dairy problem- no butter!
I’ll stop trying to talk them up, as it’s not really needed, and give yo the recipe.

Ginger Cookies

2 1/4 cup plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp ground clove
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1/4 cup rapeseed oil, or any vegetable oil
1/3 cup molasses
1 cup dark brown muscuvado sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 cup chopped crystalised ginger, mixed with 1 tbsp flour
About 1/4 cup granulated sugar (for the sparkle :))

Preheat the oven to 180’C and line 2 baking trays.
In a large bowl whisk together the oil, molasses and brown muscuvado sugar for about 5 mins. I used an electric mixer.
Add the egg and whic=sk for another min. Make sure you scrape down the sides, as theres always a bit at the bottom that never gets mixed in.
Mix in all the dry ingredients, i don’t bother sifting if im using the mixer as any lumps will dissipate, and mix to combine. Lastly add the ginger mixed with flour (this will keep the ginger pieces elevated in the mix evenly)
Roll into 16 even sized balls and roll in the granulated sugar. Place onto the baking tray about an 1inch apart and press down to flatten the cookies slightly.
Bake for 13 mins until crackly and firm to the touch, but still soft in the centre.
Put the kettle on and enjoy with a cuppa 🙂 xx

Messy Meringue Pie

This is a sort of mash up of a cheesecake and eton mess…yum!!
There are a few steps, but, like all my recipes, are they pretty simple. It’s definetly worth the effort and (don’t tell anyone i said this) but you can cheat and buy good quality meringues instead of making your own ;).
My messy meringue pie went down quite well with my family so hopefully you’ll give it a go and get some great feedback!!
As always enjoy and let me know how it goes 🙂

Messy Meringue Pie

For the meringue:
4 egg whites
225g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
2 tsp each of cornflour and rice vinegar

For the filling:
200g cream cheese
150g milk chocolate
150g dark chocolate
100ml sour cream
150ml double cream
zest 1/2 an orange
1tsp vanilla bean paste
pinch sea salt
1 packet Oreo biscuits

To make the meringue:
Preheat your oven to 140’C and line a baking tray.
Seperate foe eggs and put the yolks into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. (Unless your training to be a body builder i would advise using electic aid!) Make sure the bowl is incredibly clean, any sign of grease or yolk and the whites won’t whip up.
Whisk on high for a couple of mins until throthy, then add the sugar a tbsp at a time and whisk to stiff peaks. You should be able to tip the bowl over your head without getting a meringue hat 🙂
Lastly add the cornflour, vinegar and vanilla and fold through gently. Tip this mix into the tray in a single layer. Lower the heat of the oven to 120’C and cook on the middle shelf for 1 hour. When the hour is up turn the oven off but don’t open the door. Leave like this for at least 2 hours or overnight. Set aside for later.
To make the filling:
Using the same bowl (to save washing up) with the whisk attachment again, whisk the cream cheese on it’s own first, to prevent any small lumps. Add the cooled melted chocolate, zest of the orange, sour cream, double cream, vanilla and salt and whisk till thickened and smooth. Refridgerate for 2 hours.
To assemble:
Crush the oreo biscuits in a sandwich bag with a rolling pin but leave some bits chunky. Press this into a 7inch round glass dish. (It won’t be like a cheesecake base as it won’t compact together like that, but you don’t want it to. You want a textural, crunchy.pebbely base :))
Crush the meringue and mix most of it through the cold mousse mix and tumble this on the base spreading out very carefully trying not to disturb the base.
Sprinkle the rest of the meringue over the top and put in the fridge until needed!