White Chocolate and Cranberry Cookies

We gave these cookies a whirl at our Christmas baking class.  They look quite festive with the red cranberries and white chocolate bits.  You could always add in some nuts if you want – perhaps pistachios for a touch of green?

Makes approximately 36 cookies.

250g butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup caster sugar
¾ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 egg
2 ¼ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¾ cup white chocolate bits
¾ cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 180˚C. Grease a couple of oven trays.
Beat butter, vanilla extract, sugars and egg in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Stir in the sifted flour and baking soda in two batches. Stir in the chocolate and cranberries.
Roll tablespoons of mixture into balls; place about 5cm apart on the trays. Bake for about 7 to 15 minutes depending how crispy you want your cookies. Leave to cool slightly on the tray before transferring to a wire rack.

*The cookies will keep in an airtight container for up to a week.
*You could try adding half a cup of your favourite chopped nuts to the mix.

Plate c/o The Vintage Table.

Our Christmas Baking Class!

Last Saturday (8/12/12) we had an amazing group of 22 ladies join us at Alfriston College where we baked and decorated four Christmas themed treats as part of our first ever baking class! We made cupcakes decorated to look like Christmas trees, Mini Cupcakes with Strawberry Santa Hats, Christmas Cookies (which we will share the recipe for tomorrow) and Marshmallow Christmas Puddings.

We had a fantastic time teaching the class and getting to know the attendees who all seemed to have a great time and enjoy the hands on nature of the session. At the end of the day they all left with containers filled to the brim with delicious goodness. We have had some great feedback and have been bouncing ideas off each other for potential future classes.

We would like to thank our fantastic sponsors who all helped to make the class a success; Lewis Road Creamery whose butter makes the best butter cream frosting (and is now available at Countdown stores, Nestle who provided us with the chocolate that went in to the biscuits and was used to decorate the Christmas puddings, The Pretty Baker who gave us the gorgeous cupcake cases and sprinkles as well as providing all attendees with a discount code so they can continue make pretty and delicious baking in their own kitchens, The Vintage Table who provided us with the gorgeous trios and cake stands you've seen in the photos and Fab Meringues who gave us some beautiful meringues to serve as part of the refreshments. We would also like to thank Michelle (Simon's Mum and a fellow blogger) for coming along to take photos and help with the clean up, the Food Technology department at Alfriston College for letting us use their rooms and equipment and of course all the lovely ladies who came along to the class!
If you have any feedback or ideas for future classes we would love to hear them; leave us a comment below.

Christmas Baking Class

 

We are VERY EXCITED to announce we will be holding a Christmas Baking Class at the beginning of December!  This is our very first baking class and we are really looking forward to it.

The class will be hands on - we will step you though making a couple of different Christmas cupcakes, some cookies and a sweet treat which you will personally get to make and take home after the class.  You don’t have to be a baking whizz, we are there to help.

We will be providing everything you need during the class as well as some light refreshments, so if you have ever wanted to try some of our baking made by us, now is your chance!

We would love to meet some of our Auckland readers (and if you are out of town and feel like travelling then we would super love that too!) so if you are keen to join us and take part in the fun, please flick us an email to bmtbblog@gmail.com and we will send you out some more details.

We look forward to seeing you there!