Taking care of yourself

I haven't posted in a few weeks and I have been thinking about the blog and meaning to post each week but it has been so intensely busy with doctorate stuff that every time I came to write it seems that my attitude is mostly stressed or negative and honestly that's just not the side of me that I post on here. That's not to say that this is not the real me but TVandCookies is a place for the happier, more relaxed side of life and I guess doctoral stress is just about the antithesis of that, well for me anyway.

With all the increased stress around the place it's all to easy to fall into patterns of over-working, or more often-than-not underworking while over stressing. During all of this self-care seems to fall by the wayside. There are so many demands on us these days and far too often I find myself running around meeting everyone else's needs and completely ignoring my own.  Can you get these pages to me by....? We can meet on....? You will make that appointment, right? You know the demands, they come from every direction. Meanwhile the little voice that tells me what I need gets quiter and quieter until it's on mute.

Unfortunately it can't stay that way for long, without issues. So this week I have been trying to listen to that little voice and give myself what I need; rest, exercise, sleep, healthy food and most importantly nutritious treats. Balance my friends is the key to life and I believe this completely!

So these Oatmeal Raisin Cookies are my latest attempt at getting that delicious american bakery taste, and they are close, so close. They are morish, crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside and definitely a comfort food worth having. I have been enjoying them with a lovely cup of tea and a couple of minutes of me time (read watching Bake-off; Creme de la creme ;).

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

115g/ Half cup of Butter
146g/2/3 Cup pack brown sugar
67g/1/3 Cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1tsp baking soda +2 tsp hot water
128g/1 cup Bread Flour
85g/ 1 cup Old fashioned oats
85g/ 1 cup quick oats
75g/ 1/2 cup sultanas or raisins
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
1/2 tsp all spice
1 tsp black treacle (optional)

1. Beat together the butter and sugar until smooth

2. Add the eggs and vanilla and alternate in part of the flour

3. In a small bowl add the hot water to the baking soda, then add to the dough and beat

4. Add the spices and treacle and beat

5. Now add the oats and the sultanas or raisins and beat to combine.

6. Chill the dough for 30 minutes in the fridge

7. Preheat the oven to 180'.

8. Scoop out balls of dough and space well apart on a lined baking sheet.

9. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Allow to cool on the baking sheet.

10. Then enjoy a taste of home baked goodness and a few minutes of only listening to your needs.

I hope you enjoyed the post. This coming week I will be doing something a bit different. I will be trying a week without dairy. As part of this I will be tweeting daily and adding to a post each day that will go up next Monday. Wish me luck.....

The almost perfect oatmeal raisin cookies

I have been searching for years for the perfect oatmeal raisin cookie recipe. This search has been more of an endless adventure, the never-ending story of my baking life to date! I have made many many different and delicious oatmeal raisin cookies but none of them tasted like the bakery style that I became addicted to in the states. I dream about those cookies. I'm sure I have detailed the lengths I would go to eat more of these cookies and then hide the fact that I ate all the cookies.....heehee! They were the type of food that I love and hate and love to hate. In previous posts I had detailed my hopelessness and acceptance that these cookies could only be achieved without the use of additives and fake flavours. This did not stop me from constantly oogling other people's oatmeal raisin recipes for inspiration. So when I saw a little tip from Divascancook about using pureed raisin in the cookie dough and it hit me like a ten-foot truck - that-'s the taste. So I set about adjusting the recipe and came up with these, which are almost perfect. So try them for yourself and see if they are the perfect ones for you!

Almost perfect oatmeal raisin cookies (with tip from divascancook)

225g softened butter
330g dark brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
25 grams of sultanas (for puree)
2 tbsp boiling water
260g Plain flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
90g quick cook oats
90g large steel cut oats
150g sultanas or raisins

Beat together the butter and sugar

Add the eggs and vanilla with a small amount of the flour mixture to prevent breaking

Beat together the flours, baking powder, soda, spices and salt

Pour the boiling water over the sultanas for puree, let sit for a minute and then puree.

Add in the flour mixture and the pureed sultanas to the butter mixture and beat to combine

Add the oats and raisins.

Chill in the fridge for at least an hour, then scoop out even spoons of mixture onto a lined baking sheet, press to flatten and then bake for approx 10 minutes on 180'. Keep a very close eye on them though and remove from the oven as soon as the center starts to look remotely cooked.

Flatten with a spatula and then let them cool on the baking sheet. Then enjoy.

Cookies part 2: less healthy but very tasty oatmeal raisin

It's December!! The count-down begins to the baking and food extravaganza that is Christmas. I will of course be partaking, as usual, although with my new location to consider and traveling with food a less than appealing process I imagine that my baking will be condensed into about 24-48hrs when I return home before Christmas Day. I will inevitably share some of the spoils with you in perhaps a Christmas round-up type post.

However now we can return to the second of my cookie series. A less healthy attempt at the oatmeal raisin cookie. These cookies were fun to make, particularly so because I was making them in the dark. For some reason, while our electricity worked perfectly, our kitchen lights fell into darkness last week, which made for entertaining baking and actually quite interesting photography.