Loss of My Love - A Muffintopcookiecake Hybrid

Although Valentine’s day was roughly a week ago, I have a story to tell you which I should have told you on that day. It is the story of a girl and a berry. And the true love they found in each other and the tragic consequences that followed. I believe Shakespeare has jinxed love forever with his Romeo and Juliet. A pox on you!

But let me go back to this tale. Girl was at a supermarket. She looked through a hole-y plastic bag which she accidentally (I call it fate really) picked up and through it, saw a little box. And that box had some cranberries in it. Big, fat, juicy dried cranberries. It called to her from beyond its plastic packaging and while the girl was a little apprehensive, she bought it.

Cranberries, lots of cranberries!

She got home and prised open the little plastic box. And when she truly met the dried cranberry, a little part of her heart she never knew she had opened up and started singing. And the love affair began. She kept it secret though – didn’t want anyone taking advantage of her weakness to the cranberry. And the cranberries remained sealed for everyone but her.

Girl decided it was time to honour their relationship – she created a recipe just to showcase the cranberry and to show how deeply she felt this bond, she made it red and white, colours of love.

The ultimate hybrid of love

Cranberry was thrilled and readily accepted, popped into the recipe without a hitch. But then the omens of bad luck had already begun. Girl’s recipe was for a cookie. But what came out was a cake-cookie hybrid distinctly tasting like a muffin top. Their relationship was so deep they managed to evade an unsuccessful recipe, many-a-burnt cranberries and continue on.

A splash of red, an omen...

She sat in the sunshine with her berries, gazing lovingly at her hybrid concoction muffintopcookiecake and ate one, letting the taste of cranberry hit her harder with every bite. But then one cannot stay with the other forever, and she had to pack the hybrids. The box was sealed. Their fate was set. Girl went to grab a bite from a chocolate whitie and didn’t think anything of it but cranberry did. Oh it did so much.

Through the see through plastic box of its cookies, it stared at the girl savouring another treat, another ingredient, something besides itself and in a fit of rage it flung itself out of her hands just as she picked up the box. The lid flipped, the cookies fell and the cranberries scattered across the tiles. She only had the three second rule and there were so many as she frantically attempted to gather crumbs and berries from everywhere… but it was no use.

What used to be whole...

In its final breaths, the cranberry cookies saw the love in her eyes and knew their mistake. Giving one last second, they went limp. And she started to gather up the remains, trying not to cry as the burial rubbish bin awaited them. All she got was a taste of them, those are the only memories of her love. And now it was gone. She was lost.

For never was a story of more woe, than this of… this girl and her… cranberry?

What the heck Shakespeare! What food rhymes with Romeo? Oreo? Oh come on…

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Yes, based on my life, this is a sad little tale of my lack of freshly baked cookies. I will never forget them or their soft,  buttery taste and beautiful pink-white complexion.

I’m sorry, could I just have a minute, I get a little bit emotional – please enjoy this recipe and don’t lose your love like me…

In honour of the love I lost today, I give you:

Marbled Valentine’s Day Coconut Cranberry  Cookies  Cake-Muffintop-Cookie-Hybrid
Source: Original recipe, marbling idea and loosely adapted from Bakergirl

White Dough

• 1 cup butter, room temp
• 1 1/4 cup caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbs full cream milk (if necessary to smooth out dough)
• 2 tsp vanilla essence
• 1/2 tsp rose water
• 1/2 cup desiccated coconut
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 3/4 cup plain flour

Delicious coconut white batter

Red Dough

• 1 cup butter, room temp
• 1 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp strawberry essence (or vanilla if not available)
• 1/2 tsp rose water
• 2 – 2 1/4 cups plain flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Red food colouring
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries

Cranberry Starwberry Red Batter

Method

1. White Dough

• Cream butter and caster sugar until soft, fluffy and pale
• Add eggs one at a time, combining well after each add in
• Beat in vanilla essence
• In a separate large bowl, combine all dry ingredients (sifting the flour and baking soda together)
• Stir into creamed mixture until well combined. Stir through white chocolate chunks. Refrigerate covered for 30 minutes to overnight.

1. Red Dough

• Cream butter and caster sugar until soft, fluffy and pale
• Add eggs, one at a time, combining well after each add in
• Beat in strawberry essence
• In a separate bowl, sift together all dry ingredients
• Mix into creamed mixture until well combined
• Drop in red food colouring until red colour achieved (*remember, it loses a bit of colour when baking!)
• Stir in dried cranberries
• Refrigerate covered for 30 minutes to overnight

Don't forget how easily things slip away!

1. Assembly

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
• Depending on how big you wish your cookies to be, take 1 tsp from each dough and roll into a small ball together
• Place on a tray lined with a baking paper, leaving around 3-4 cm between each cookie – maybe even a little more since these babies have serious spread
• Bake 10-12 minutes or until the edges are firm and set (the inside will continue cooking post-baking)
• Let cool 5 minutes before setting on a wire rack to cool completely
• Devour!

Notes:

• I found it became a hybrid between a cookie, cake and muffin top – it was crumby but crisp around the edges so I think if you made these in muffin top pans that would be the best – simply grease the muffin top tin and place the ball inside – it will spread on its own
• You should grease your hands when rolling (lightly) so the dough doesn’t mix together too much and lose effect
• Refrigerate the dough between batches since there it softens very quickly!

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Enjoy and devour my friends before it is too late – do not drop the box llike I did!

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