Salted Milk and White Chocolate Chip Biscuits

All week I have been getting so excited for our trip to Perth and we are finally here! This city has impressed so far with its beautiful parks and friendly people, they even put on a fabulous fireworks display for Australia Day. In the days leading up to our departure I made about a zillion lists of things to remember to do or pack before we leave and I am proud to say my organisational OCD paid off. I managed to find time to make these deliciously sweet and salty biscuits, with the intention to keep some for the trip, but the reality that they were devoured within a few days.

The wonderful thing about these cookies is that you can really taste the salt but it only brings out the sweetness of the chocolate and makes it so much more delicious. I used to omit the salt from my chocolate chip biscuits out of pure ignorance thinking "why would anyone add such a savoury ingredient to a sweet treat?" I am a lot wiser now (but only slightly less ignorant). Try these biscuits and you will never leave the salt out of a sweet dish ever again!

Salted Milk and White Chocolate Chip Biscuits

(Recipe adapted from the Brown Eyed Baker)

What you will need

2 cups flour minus 2 tbsp
2 tbsp corn flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp salt
170g unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup milk chocolate chips
200g white chocolate cut into chunks

What you will need to do

Preheat oven to 180*C and line 2 baking trays with baking paper. Sift flours, baking soda and salt into a bowl and set aside. Beat together melted butter and sugars. Add eggs and beat until creamy. Add vanilla and flours and beat until just combined. Stir in chocolate. Take out dough and place on a large piece of plastic wrap. Wrap dough up in a log shape and place in freezer to firm up.

Once firm, remove from freezer and slice into biscuits about 2cm thick. Place on trays and bake for about 15 minutes or until slightly browned on the edges. Remove from oven and cool on trays.

Trifecta Chocolate Cheesecake Slice

I've never made cheesecake using condensed milk. Some of you are probably thinking 'WAHHH??' others are probably like 'yeah so?'. Well I wanted to know what I was missing out on, so this weekend I made a white chocolate cheesecake on a milk chocolate filling on a dark chocolate base, the trifecta of chocolates!

I wasn't completely overwhelmed by the result of the condensed milk cheesecake, i've made better, but it still turned out nice and tasted great. It was a bit softer and runnier than other cheesecakes i've made which can be a bit frustrating when getting it out of the tin, but hey it's still delicious!

I altered a recipe for Rum n Raisin slice from my Nestle cookbook for the base and chocolate layer and a recipe for cookies and cream cheesecake for the cheesecake layer. The white chocolate cheesecake layer is so versatile you can add just about anything to it to create a completely new cheesecake. 

Trifecta Chocolate Cheesecake Slice

What you will need

For the base

1/2 cup plain flour

1 tbsp cocoa

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup desicated coconut

115g butter, melted

1/2 cup dark choc chips

For the chocolate filling

3/4 cup milk choc melts

115ml thickened cream

1 egg, lightly beaten

For the white chocolate cheesecake

1 tsp gelatine

2 tbsp hot water

190g cream cheese

95ml condensed milk

150ml thickened cream

1/2 cup white chocolate, melted

Extra choc-chips, milk, dark and white

What you will need to do

Pre heat oven to 180*C. Line a loaf tin with baking paper. For the base, place all ingredients into a bowl and mix until combined. Press mixture into prepared loaf tin and bake in oven for 15 minutes or until browned. Leave out to cool.

For the chocolate filling, place chocolate and cream in a bowl. Melt over pan of simmering water until smooth. Put aside to cool slightly. Mix in egg then pour onto base. Bake for a further 20 mins or until set. Take out and cool.

For the white chocolate cheesecake, place gelatin and hot water in a small bowl and mix until dissolved. In a separate bowl beat the cream cheese and condensed milk until smooth. Add cream, gelatin mix, melted white chocolate and beat until combined. Pour on top of chocolate mix. Sprinkle extra choc-chips on top and put into fridge to set.

Chocolate Brownies

I used to make brownies a lot. I mean A LOT! Every time I went to a gathering I would take a plate of brownies and they would disappear instantly. I had a fail proof recipe that was not only quick and easy, but also economical. It didn't use any chocolate only cocoa powder so you were bound to have the ingredients on hand.

The only issue I had with this recipe was that it didn't exactly tick all the boxes for the perfect brownie. My guidelines for a great brownie include:

• Crispy thin crust on the top
• Dense middle

My brownies were fairly dense, but they were more cake like and didn't have a crust :(. It will always be my go to recipe though for last minute brownies when I have no chocolate :).

I am always searching for the perfect brownie recipe...and I think I found it! I tried a recipe from the Nestle cookbook but it wasn't quite right. They did taste a lot nicer after I froze them though, a tip I picked up from David Lebovitz. But then I tried a recipe I found on this wonderful blog 'I eat therefore I am' and what do you know, pretty awesome brownies!

I tried two variations, one with milk and white choc-chips and another with cookie dough (as seen on Bakerella). My choc-chips sunk to the bottom :( I think I should have added them at the end once the mixture was already in the pan. The cookie dough brownies turned out pretty spot on.

Chocolate Brownies

Adapted from I eat therefore I am

What you will need

300g dark chocolate
125g unsalted butter
3 large eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp coffee powder dissolved in 1 tbsp hot water
1/2 cup plain flour sifted

For choc-chip variation

1/2 cup white choc-chips

1/2 cup milk choc-chips

For cookie dough variation

1 packet cookie dough mix, made up

What you will need to do

Preheat oven to 180*C. Line a baking tin with baking paper (I used a loaf tin and a small round cake tin and found the cake tin worked better). In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the chocolate and butter. Put aside to cool slightly. In a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until thick and creamy. Fold in coffee, flour and chocolate mixture. Pour mixture into pan. 

For choc-chip variation, sprinkle white and milk choc-chips over mixture and swirl through once gently with a knife.

For cookie dough variation, drop spoonfuls of cookie dough over mixture and press down into mixture gently.

Cook for approximately 30 -35 minutes. Brownies should still be gooey in the middle when you take them out of the oven. Leave to cool in the tin until room temperature. I put mine in the fridge for an hour before I cut it but it isn't completely necessary.

Double Choc-Chip Cookies

Choc-chip cookies are the best. Double choc-chip cookies are even BETTER. These are the perfect cookie to accompany a cuppa after a long day. I had some left over choc-chips which I melted and dipped some of the cookies into, best idea ever!

I rate Mrs Fields cookies as the most delicious I've ever had, followed by Subway cookies (cooked soft of course). These cookies are more dry and aren't chewy like the previously mentioned cookies, but they are still delicious. They have a crumbly texture and aren't overly sweet, but I find that just makes the choc-chips stand out a lot more.

I have come across many different recipes for choc-chip cookies but when I was growing up my favourite recipe was from the Women's Weekly Biscuit Cookbook. This recipe is from the CadburyKitchen.com.au, adapted ever so slightly by yours truly. Ok I didn't actually adapt the ingredients however I changed the process from placing spoonfuls of mixture onto trays to rolling out the dough and using cookie cutters to cut them out. I like that you get a more uniform shape in the cookies this way.

 Double Choc-Chip Cookies

What you need

125g butter
1/3 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2 cup self raising flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1 cup white choc-chips
1/2 cup white choc-chips extra

What you need to do

Preheat oven to 160*C. Cream butter and sugars in a bowl until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and beat until well combined. Sift in flour and cocoa. Add choc-chips and mix until combined.

Lightly flour your work bench and place dough on it. Lightly flour the dough and roll out to about 2cm thick. If the dough is sticky just add more flour. Using a cookie cutter, cut out as many cookies as you can and place them on baking trays lined with baking paper. With the scraps of dough, mould together and roll out again to cut out more cookies. Repeat this process until there is no more dough left.

Bake cookies for approximately 12-16 minutes. Take out of oven and leave to cool on the tray. Melt the  extra choc-chips in the microwave until smooth. Dip cookies one at a time into the white chocolate to cover half the cookie. Place on a tray lined with baking paper and put into the fridge to set.