Pin it Forward UK and the 1-minute chocolate chip cookie (in a mug)

I'm assuming most of you know about Pinterest already? For those of you who don't, its this amazing platform for collecting and organising the things you love, or are interested in by "pinning" them. I first came across Pinterest on one of my random blog stats check where I saw a lot of traffic form the site. Suspicious and a bit worried really, I checked out the site and couldn't make head or tail of it at one look. Spent a couple of hours reading up and doing some research and I was hooked. Got myself an account and was soon spending hours on the site pinning the things I love. 

Now its become such a part of my research that I have this tendency to search for anything on Pinterest first, rather than Google. I mostly pin recipes, both from my blog and otherwise, and fabulous food photography from where I derive a lot of my inspiration from. Other than these boards, I totally love the DIY, fashion & beauty and home décor information and inspiration I find from all the fabulous pinners. The advantage here is that these pins are linked back to the original source and so you don't need to worry about stuff being copied. 

Pinterest has officially launched in UK and they had this fabulous party to celebrate that. We all got to meet fellow pinners and it was a fun night with loads of food and drinks. If you are already on Pinterest then do follow me here or if you aren't hooked on as yet, then register on Pinterest here. Just a warning, its frikking addictive, but you'd love, love, love it :)

I would also like to introduce two amazing fellow pinners and food bloggers, Michelle of Greedy Gourmet who has an amazing array of recipes, reviews and giveaways on her blog, not to mention her beautiful food photography, and Emma of Poires au Chocolat who completely got me hooked on her beautiful cakes and treats.

The recipe below is one I got from Pinterest. Its been pinned some 3000 odd times (yes, there is every reason to trust this recipe) and its as easy as it can get to make a cookie. When the whole mug cake recipe was a rage in the blog world, I didn't fall prey to it because, truth be told, I hate microwave cakes.  This happened out of desperation, on a day I was sugar starved and HAD to have a cookie, yes just one would have made me happy. As usual Pinterest came to my rescue and I had a chewy chocolate chip cookie in under a minute. In fact, if it wasnt for the egg yolk, I would have had the batter on its own :)

You will most certainly have all these ingredients in your pantry at any given time and so there is no excuse to not make it. So immediately after reading this, please do yourself a favour and check if it works, if not for the cookie craving (which usually for me is after mid night) :)

1-minute chocolate chip cookie (in a mug). Recipe adapted from here

Butter- 1 tbsp

Granulated white sugar- 1 tbsp

Dark brown sugar- 1 tbsp, firmly packed

Vanilla extract- 3 splashes

Salt- a pinch

Egg yolk- 1

Plain flour- 3 tbsp

Chocolate chips- 2 tbsp ( I used dark choc. chips)

Melt butter in the microwave, preferably in the same cup you are planning to make the cookie in (to make it mess free and simpler). The butter should not boil, it should be just melted.

Add the white and brown sugars, vanilla and salt and mix well to combine, using a spoon.

In goes the egg yolk. Mix it in properly till no traces of the yolk is seen.

Mix in the flour properly and then fold the chocolate chips.

Cook on high in the microwave for 40 seconds, or a maximum of 50 seconds.

Serve warm (maybe even with a dollop of ice cream).

Note: If you over cook it, the cookie starts drying and is awful (yes it has happened). So reduce cooking time if that happens to you

Like most cookies, this once will continue to cook as it cools.

Feel free to double it, in case your partner longingly looks at you gobbling it all up :)
I used a small espresso cup which was about 3/4th full. The dough rises a bit so make sure you dont fill it to the brim.
Feel free to use a ramekin, coffee cup or any small dish.

I was invited to be part of the Pin it Forward campaign by Pinterest, but was not compensated in any way for the same. All thoughts on Pinterest are my own.

Almond crinkle cookies

After a really long time I took my camera out to take some pics only to realise there was absolutely no motivation. But since it was a sunny day (for a change) and since I didn't have anything in my drafts to post, I decided to bake and make use of the lighting to take some pics.

I had bookmarked a recipe for almond crinkle cookies, but then the measurements seemed a bit confusing and so I ended up doing my own thing. I was 90 percent sure it wouldn't work out, but was pleasantly surprised at the end result. I made chocolate crinkle cookies a long time back and it is one of my most popular posts on the blog. They are an absolute crowd pleaser and perfect gifts- especially Christmas, because those powdered sugar tops make them look like snow mountains.

 

Anyways, we are not here to talk about the chocolate crinkles are we? The star here are the almond crinkles which are not bad at all, in fact I like them better than the choc crinkles and hot out of the oven, they are delish. I also thought they were easier to put together compared to the choc ones- the entire process was done in half an hour. Its a one-bowl, no-fuss recipe which I'm sure I'll be making again.

The pictures however, are horrible. Once I was done with baking, my mind just went blank. I just didn't know how to style them and make them look great. Even the perfect lighting couldn't inspire me. So I just chucked them all in a bowl and did the easiest possible thing...used a white background and back lighting to take boring pics. That said, I took 125 pics of the same damn thing in different angles. Transferred them on to the computer only to realise most of them were out of focus and the harsh lighting was hurting my eyes. So I had to re-do the whole setting with diffused lighting and then cleaning up the mess just made it so exhausting, I stayed away from pictures and editing and writing for two days. Hence the delay in posting the recipe after teasing you all with the picture on fb. Apologies!

Makes 20 small cookies

Egg- 1 medium

Granulated sugar- 63 grams

Lime juice- 1/2 tsp (optional)

Vanilla extract- 1/2 tsp (optional)

Ground almonds- 150 gms

Fine semolina- 40 gms

Baking powder- 1/2 tsp

Vegetable oil- 1 tbsp 

Powdered sugar- to roll the cookies

Beat the egg and sugar together in a mixing bowl till pale yellow. I used my hand whisk to do this, but feel free to use a hand blender if you please.

Add the lime juice and vanilla extract to it and continue whisking till well mixed.

Throw in the ground almonds, semolina and baking powder one after the other and fold it all in using a spatula. The mix would be slightly coarse, but that's ok. Just make sure you mix it well.

Pour the vegetable oil and give a thorough mix till they all come together.

You can either chuck the bowl into the refrigerator for a couple of minutes for the dough to set which would make it easier to roll, but I didnt need to do this as the dough was of perfect consistency.

Even after you have refrigerated, if your mix still is a little too loose, just add more semolina, or if its too thick, loosen it up with a few drops of milk.

In the mean time, preheat your oven to 160C and get the baking tray ready with baking paper.

Put a couple of spoons of powdered sugar on a plate and start rolling the dough.

Wet you hands lightly and make small balls with the dough (about half tbsp per ball) and roll in icing sugar. The ball should be completely covered with icing sugar.

place them about an inch apart on the baking sheet. The cookies expand when baking and the icing sugar cracks giving it that crinkly top effect.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Take out of the oven and cool for about 5 minutes after which you can (eat them non stop or) transfer on to a wire rack and cool completely before storing in air tight containers or zip lock bags.

Notes: Feel free to double the recipe for a larger batch
I used gluten free baking powder.

The cookies are not really crunchy, but more cakey in consistency (in a nice sort of way, I promise). bake them a little longer if you want them crunchy