This week’s baking for the builders consisted of chocolate chip cookies and pear and ginger cake. After making Dorie’s French pear tart I had the good part of half a can of pears left. So I decided to make a cake with them. While looking through the latest Donna Hay magazine I found a recipe for a lemon peach cake. I used the basis of that recipe to make my pear cake.
Instead of adding lemon zest to the cake batter, I added two teaspoons of ground ginger, as I think ginger and pears go really well together. This gave just a subtle hint of ginger – you could add crystallised or preserved ginger to get more flavour. I made the cake in a 23cm square tin which made it easy to cut into pieces for the builders. You could use any fruit and spice combination. The cake also has yoghurt in it – I like cakes with yoghurt as it gives them a lovely light but mosit texture.
On my quest for the ultimate chocolate chip cookie I stumbled across this recipe on Clara’s blog. I actually think that this is the best recipe I have tried yet. I think that the key to giving the cookies the right texture is melting the butter. I made these cookies with chocolate chips, but they would be even better with real chocolate chunks. The builders ate both the cake and the cookies the first day back!
Pear and Ginger Cake (adapted from Donna Hay magazine)
175g butter
¾ c sugar
3 eggs
1 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground ginger
¼ c natural yoghurt
drained canned pears
· Cream butter and sugar, then add eggs, one at a time
· Add the flour, baking powder, ginger and yoghurt and mix until just combined
Spoon into a lined 23cm square tin and top with slices of pear. Bake at 180c for 35-40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
8 comments:
wow what delicious cookies and cake . I like the addition of ginger to the pear cake . It really goes well together :) wish I was one of those builders :)
Tammy I've tried that choc chip recipe too and it is the best!!! I also melted the butter completely and it really makes a difference. yum yum i should make another batch soon!
The pear and ginger cake sounds delicious! And you can't go wrong with choc chip cookies.
that pear and ginger cake looks great! I love donna hay! can i come over and help build stuff?!
Those builders are sooooo lucky - can I come and build at your place?
Yum - pears and ginger make a great flavour combination. I'm definitely trying that choc chip recipe because I'm still on the hunt for the perfect cookie recipe.
Hi Tammy
I would like to bake these cookies tonight and i was wondering if you could answer a couple of questions for me. First, how many grams is 1 1/2 sticks of butter? Also, is regular brown sugar a sufficient sub for the dark brown sugar. Lastly, how many degrees C is 325 F? Hope you can help :) Thankyou so much. Danielle.
Hi danielle
A stick of butter is 120g, so 1 1/2 sticks is 180grams. I think 325F is about 170celsius. Light brown sugar will be fine - the flavour wont be quite as rich, but still fine. Hope that helps!!
Tammy
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