Experimental

With less pain in my hands today, I decided to cheer up both myself and the boys by baking an experimental cookie, something I have had in mind for some time and which I hope, if successful, would make an acceptable addition to the Christmas cookie jar.

12 oz. Butter

12 oz. Plain Flour

6 oz. Caster Sugar

4 oz. Cinder Toffee

Cream the butter and the sugar together, then add the flour and mix well. Put the cinder toffee into a stout freezer bag and bash with a cutlet bat until you have a bag full of small pieces, add this to the mix and blend thoroughly. Shape into walnut-sized pieces and place on a baking tray, leaving room for the cookies to spread a little, press down gently with a fork dripped in hot water, then bake for 12-15 minutes at 360 F. When they are cooked, remove from the tray carefully and cool on a wire rack.

The first batch left the over golden-brown, and speckled with melted cinder toffee; as they cooled they became very crisp. The second batch were, after a slight adjustment to the temperature, even better. Having tried a couple of three I have to say that I like them very much indeed, and although they may not be the prettiest cookie in the jar, they are certainly one of the tastiest. The quaintly rustic appearance is charming, and I shall certainly make them the next time we have a fund-raising event.

I shall try them on my expert cookie-tasting panel, my son's work colleagues, and if they pass that test they will be made quite often, I suspect. One thing worth mentioning is that it is much better to buy a bag of cinder toffee, or even make some yourself, than it is to purchase the small tubes of crushed cinder toffee you get in the supermarkets; you would need lots of tubes, one of which costs as much as the cinder toffee costs to buy – and for a good deal more of the product.