Polka Dot Cookies

This cookies are from Rachel Allen's Food for Living. They are remarkably straightforward to make. They are crunchy on the outside and chewy in the middle . Cookies would absolutely be one of my favourite treats.

Rachel Allen's Polka Dot Cookies

Ingredients
225g (8 oz) Butter
375g (15 oz) Soft Brown Sugar (or light muscovado sugar)
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Eggs, beaten
350g (14 oz) Plain flour
½ tsp Salt
1 Level tsp Baking Powder
1 Level tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
150g (5 oz) Smarties / Chocolate Chips

Method
1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 ̊C / 350 ̊F / Gas Mark 4 /
2. Cream butter and sugar together. Add in the vanilla extract and eggs.
3. Mix the flour and salt into a bowl. Sift in the Bicarbonate of soda and Baking Powder and mix well.
4. Add the dry ingredients into the wet.
5. Add the smarties last.
6. Roll into little balls (walnut size if you want small ones or golf ball size if you want larger ones. I pressed in a smarty on the smaller ones so that there would definitely be a smarty on the top of each cookie.
7. Bake for 12 – 16 mins. If you want chewy cookies, bake until the edges are turning brown but the middle is still pale. If you want crunchy all the way through then bake until golden all over.
8. Cool on a wire rack.

Pan-Fried Ham and Cheese Toastie

This recipe is adapted from one of my Mam’s cookery school recipes - Killachonna Cookery School. This makes a perfect supper on a cold winter’s night. It’s as simple as a toasted sandwich but it tastes better! In this recipe you don’t need to put in the ham or chives but you can add extra ingredients (onions, salami etc.). My Mam loves brie (I love it too!!!) and my Mam always puts it in her pan-fried sandwich.

Pan-Fried Ham and Cheese Toastie

Ingredients

25g (2oz) butter

4 slices wholemeal bread

100g (3oz) cheddar cheese, grated

1 teaspoon snipped fresh chives

100g (3oz) ham, chopped

Method

1. Butter the bread and arrange the cheese and ham over half of the slices, buttered side down.

2. Sprinkle over the chives and cover with the remaining slices, buttered side up.

3. Preheat a frying pan and cook the sandwiches for 2 mins on each side, until golden brown and the cheese has melted.

4. Cut into triangles and serve.