It’s been a while.
That’s maybe an understatement. Okay, it is an understatement. The last recipe I blogged was a Christmas recipe last year. That’s…a long break. Plenty has happened – we moved to a new city, I’ve been busy with university…I guess I just didn’t get round to blogging any of it.
But now I am. I really want to get back ready for Vegan MoFo which is coming in September and I don’t want to slack off anymore.
So I’m back, with a recipe just perfect for summer.
Now I don’t know about you, but here, right now, the weather is certainly not summery. It’s raining. It’s grey. It’s a bit chilly. But that doesn’t mean I can’t at least pretend it’s summer weather. So, strawberries it is!
I used frozen strawberries in this recipe because I feel like they are easier to bake with. Fresh can get a little mushed up with all the stirring – and as you can see from my photos, these still didn’t hold their shape so well. You want to cut them fairly small – quarter them if they’re average size berries. I then do something that may seem slightly strange – I toss them with a couple tbsp of cornmeal. I think that cornmeal works really well in these cookies as it provides a texture and a slightly savoury flavour to the very sweet strawberries and white chocolate. Tossing the strawberries in it also helps them not stick together!
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Cut them about this size |
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Then add cornmeal |
The white chocolate I use is one that is sold quite widely here in the UK – you can buy it in most health food shops, and Tesco sell their own version in the free from section. However, if you have your own favourite type of vegan white chocolate you are welcome to use it, just break it up into “chunk” sized pieces (top tip, pulse it in a food processor for lazy chunks!). With the buttons, I just smashed them a few times with a rolling pin to get them a good size. Don’t worry about even sizing – who checks whether their chocolate chunks are even?!
These cookies do spread in the oven so make sure you don’t place them too close together. Use a tablespoon of mixture and not more – you don’t want them becoming too big.
Once cooked, you should leave to cool completely before putting them away as they are pretty fragile when warm. Keep in the fridge and eat quickly – the fresh strawberries mean these won’t last too long. But they taste good enough that that is never a problem!
Strawberry & White Chocolate Cookies
Ingredients
- 300g plain flour
- 180g sugar
- 200g butter substitute
- 1 tbsp golden syrup (or agave/maple syrup)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 50g white chocolate, broken into chunks
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 100ml almond milk (or whatever milk you use)
- 2 tbsp cornmeal
- Pinch salt
– 350g frozen strawberries, quartered
Directions
- Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy.
- Stir through the syrup and the vanilla extract.
- Add the flour and baking powder, and salt and mix well.
- Gradually stir through the milk.
- Add the white chocolate chunks and mix to evenly disperse.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the strawberries and the cornmeal until the strawberries are well coated.
- Add the strawberries to the cookie mixture and fold through. Be careful not to mix too much, or the strawberries will break apart.
- Place the mixture, 1 tbsp at a time, onto a lined baking tray. Make sure to leave space for the cookies to spread.
- Put in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until cookies are golden brown.
- Leave to cool completely on the tray, and then store in the fridge.
PREHEAT THE OVEN TO 185C/356F
Walks, Talks & Eats 