A few months ago, gripped by baking fever, I purchased Mary Berry's Baking Bible. I quickly decided to embark upon a mission to bake everything in the book, and turn myself from an occasional baker into a bit of an expert. My Grandad Ern was a Master Baker by trade; the man responsible for introducing Danish Pastries to England in fact, and I wish it had occurred to me to spend more time learning from him, rather than simply enjoying the fruits of his effortless labours. This project is almost a way of making amends for that; I'd like to follow in his footsteps (if not in my career, at least as a hobby) and continue the proud heritage of baking in my family.
I credit my friend Rachel with the idea to write a blog about my baking exploits, hoping that there will be more successes than failures as I attempt all 213 of the Queen of Baking's recipes.
So as not to bore the husband with a monotonous diet of sponges, followed by weeks of biscuits, I've decided to tackle the recipes by selecting the first bake from each chapter, followed by the second recipe and so on. I'm not going to pick and choose; I'm determined to face my baking demons and learn how to do everything baking-related, even if the consequences are disastrous!
Everything will be photographed, with comment about how I found baking it, and a husband rating (to be taken with a pinch of salt as he has a very selective cake-tooth).


Saturday, 26 January 2013

32. Chocolate Chip Cookies

I skipped ahead a few pages to bake these as I wanted to make some biscuits for afternoon tea with friends, accompanied by one of my now classic Victoria Sandwiches. I'm finding biscuits very pleasurable and very easy to make. They can be knocked together quickly, and now I have faith that mixtures will eventually hold together, I feel much more confident about making them. These actually formed quite a wet mixture as opposed to the 'short' biscuits I've made up to this point, probably because of the inclusion of an egg. They were intended to be 'slightly chewy' once baked as well.

They only needed 8-10 minutes in the oven; another reason why biscuit-making is so satisfying, and I took them out just as they were starting to go a bit golden around the edges. I did actually bake them in shifts: I needed to allow room for spreading, and only have 2 baking sheets! Because the recipe said they needed to go on the top shelf, I couldn't really put two trays in at the same time. We don't have a massive oven! Anyway, they smelt lovely and when nibbled warm they definitely had a bit of a chew about them. However, I might have cooked them for a bit longer than needed, as they certainly couldn't be described as 'chewy' once they'd cooled.
Baker's verdict: perfectly good biscuits, but I like gooey cookies, and I'm not convinced it was my execution that made these more biscuit than cookie.
Husband rating: 7/10 - very tasty, very moreish, but the texture was a bit like soft biscuits rather than chewy.
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