Bakertan's Christmas Goodies - Cornflakes Raisins Chocolate Chip Cookies

For the entire week, I was holidaying in Bangkok. My itinerary was packed with tons of shopping expedittions and endless visits to tourist hotspots. Needless to say, I ended up with near to a dozen t-shirts. There isn't any baking stuff this time. Seems like baking is a rare sight in Bangkok and bakeries are almost nowhere to be found, except the high-end shopping centres.

It was a refreshing experience. Me and my friends navigated our way around taking various modes of transport like the skytrain, MRT, tuk-tuk, cabs, water taxis and not to forget the most basic - walking (lots of it). While roaming Bangkok, we were greeted with the many different faces of the city; street hawkers, thai massage parlours, MRT and skytrain stations, highways, traffic congested streets, night markets, pubs, railway slums, river life, buddhist temples, palaces etc.

Its feel good to be home. The air is clean and I am thankful for the amenitites we have here that make life so much more convenient and comfortable. Sometimes, it takes a short overseas trip to realise that the best place to be is still home - Singapore.

Since I was away for 6 days, it is a bakeless week. I miss my books and baking gadgets and am eager to get back to what I love most. For now, I shall share a bake that I have made previously for my 1st round of Xmas goodies - Cornflakes Raisins Chocolate Chip Cookies.

This is the second time I am making these cookies. After I first made them, I thought I won't be making them for awhile. The same thoughts re-surfaced after I baked them a second time. I have to admit that I love the results that the cookies offer, but dread going through the process of making them. Making 60 of these cookies took me more than 3 hours alone and most of the preparation goes into shaping the cookies.

The efforts are well worth it. The first time I made these, my elder brother and sister-in-law were full of praises for it. This time round, my mum and younger brother loved them to bits. The toasted cornflake exterior pairs off really well with the orange flavoured chocolate chip filled interior, giving a light yet refreshing taste. Do a favour for youself by saving some cookies after baking them, before you regret that the cookie jar is emptied in no time.

Cornflakes Raisins Chocolate Chip Cookies ( recipe adapted from Crazy for Chocolate by Periplus)

Serving size: 60 cookies
Taste and texture: Crunchy-chewy.
Equipment and materials:
1) Stand electric beater/ handheld electric beater or wooden spoon
2) Flour sieve
3) Measuring spoon set
4) Spatula
5) Mixing bowls
6) Wire rack
7) Grater
8) Baking trays/ cookie sheets
9) Baking / parchment paper

Ingredients:
2 tsp grated orange zest
200g unsalted butter, softened (I recommend reducing this to 160g)
160g castor sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
250g self-raising flour
100g semi sweet chocolate chips
100g sultanas
200g cornflakes, lightly crushed

Making the Cookies:
Preparing the zest: Finely grate the zest of a large orange or two small oranges over the sugar. This will allow the sugar to catch some of the orange oil. Rub the sugar with the zest well to infuse the flavour of the orange oil and the sugar. The sugar will become moist and will be tinted orange.

Creaming the  butter and adding eggs: In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed for 2 minutes until butter mixture is pale and fluffy. Add in eggs one after the other, beating the mixture well before the next is added.

Adding flour: Sift in self-raising flour and beat on low speed to combine butter-egg mixture and flour briefly. Stop once the dough starts to comes together. Scrape and fold in any stray flour with a spatula.

Folding in raisings and chocolate chips: Combine the raisins and chocolate chips and distribute them evenly.Gently fold them into the cookie dough.

Shaping the cookie dough: Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes to firm it up.  Scoop rounded teaspoons (slightly heaped) of dough and shape them into balls. Coat them with crushed cornflakes. Place coated cookie doughs on lined cookie trays/sheets and leave some space between each dough to allow for expansion. Bake the cookies at 180 degrees C for 15-20 mins, until the dough turns golden.

About 10 minutes into baking, the cookies would have expanded and will become sparse/bald as a result. Lightly cover the surface with crushed cornflakes and return them to the oven. Nevermind if they make a mess on the tray.

Cooling and storing baked cookies: Allow cookies to cool completely on a wire rack before storing them in airt-tight jars.

Notes:
1) If cookies soften after storage, bake/toast them for a couple of minutes to re-crisp them.
2) Vary baking time to get desired texture. A short baking time will result in a slightly cakey/chewy interior. Longer baking times will result in a full crispy interior.
3) Confirm the baking time by making a test batch of 2-3 cookie dough as the oven temperature and baking time varies from model to model. Once you are satisfied with the texture, use the same baking time for the rest of the cookie dough.
4) Half the recipe to get yield a smaller batch of cookies.
5) The dough is really soft. Refrigeration will make the dough easier to handle and shape.

Instagram link: http://instagram.com/bakertanbakes