The Guernsey Press Bake Off - Round 3

This week’s challenge is chocolate chip cookies. And here’s how to take part:

1. Have a go at recreating Tim’s New York choc chip cookie recipe (below), or use your own cookie recipe if you’d rather. Feel free to channel your creativity to find a way to make them stand out.

2. Send in pictures of your cookie creations to features@guernseypress.com by 9am on Thursday 11 March. You can also post on social media with the tag #GSYBAKEOFF.

3. Tim will select the best cookies out of all the entries and the winner will receive a £50 voucher to spend at Le Friquet Garden Centre.

All your culinary delights will be featured in print and online next week.

Good luck!

Tim’s New York choc chip cookies

• 190g cold cubed unsalted butter

• 415g plain flour

• 10g baking powder

• 135g caster sugar

• 135g light brown sugar

• 300g chocolate chunks or chips (200g milk, 100g dark)

• 2 tsp salt

• 2 eggs

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

1. First of all put the cubed cold butter and sugar into a mixing bowl and on a low speed combine the ingredients until you have little lumps of sugary butter (don’t go too far, we do not need to cream them). Once you have nice clumps of butter, add in all of your chocolate chunks until they are nicely mixed and combined into the butter mix.

2. Next we need to add in the salt, baking powder and plain flour. You will then need to mix these again on a low speed until your mixture becomes a floury breadcrumb consistency. In another bowl beat the two eggs and vanilla extract and then add them into your dough mixture. Now again on a low speed combine all the mixture until it comes away nicely from the sides in a dough-like consistency (don’t over-beat, remember we are not trying to cream the mixture).

3. Now with a set of scales divide the dough into 12 even balls that are all 100g each in weight. Lightly mould them into ball shapes but don’t squeeze too hard. Now pop them into a plastic container and put them all in the freezer for a minimum of 90 minutes (they will last up to three months in the freezer).

4. At the end of the 90 minutes preheat your oven to 180C. Once the oven has reached temperature, pop a baking sheet into the oven to warm for about five minutes (this will help the cookies have a nice crisp bottom). Take out the baking sheet and cover in greaseproof paper, get the dough out of the freezer and place six balls of dough at a time onto the tray and bake for 14 minutes till you see the top is nicely bronzed. Now take out and leave to cool for at least five minutes. Then break in half while warm and enjoy the gooey chocolatey cookie dough inside with that crunchy outside.

Note: You can be adventurous and add in nuts, marshmallows, peanut butter or anything else you want to make them exciting. When you send in your entries, show us how gooey the centres are in your photos.

Happy baking!

Brownie points

THIS week’s chocolate brownie challenge proved a hit with Guernsey’s budding bakers.

The second round of our Bake Off competition attracted a total of 49 entries.

Tim Langlois of Cobo Bakes had the tough task of judging the best brownies.

‘It was so hard to choose from all the amazing bakes this week,’ he said. ‘They all just looked so moreish and all of them have made me dream of coffee shops again and cake. The three winners this week were chosen because of creativity and also because when I looked at them I just wanted to eat them.’

Tim chose Lila and Calla Cole’s beautiful chocolate brownie stars as the overall winner, scooping a £50 prize. ‘They look like the perfect treat to sit down and have with afternoon coffee and look so delicious,’ he said. ‘The bake looks lovely and gooey with the perfect colouring on top and the effort in making the stars and decoration just added to the desirability factor.’

Lila, age 4, and Calla, age 2, created the brownies with a little help from mum Eleanor Cole.

‘The girls are absolutely delighted,’ said Eleanor. ‘They have always loved helping in the kitchen and during lockdown baking has become one of our regular activities. They seem to get so much out of it – learning about the different ingredients, exploring the different textures, practising basic kitchen skills, and they always enjoy a sweet treat.

‘Brownies are a favourite in our house so the girls were excited to try out the recipe. They wanted to add in some white chocolate chunks to make them extra chocolatey. They had some help measuring their ingredients – and help scooping up the flour they tipped all over the table – but did the sieving, pouring and mixing themselves. To avoid burnt little fingers, I helped with melting and putting things in and taking them out of the oven.

‘The girls thought that making the brownies star-shaped would make them a bit more fun and they enjoyed cutting them out with the cutter.’

She said Lila loved the smell of the brownies while they were baking and thought they tasted ‘super yummy’.

Calla said they tasted nice and added ‘I like chocolate’.

‘Their favourite bit of baking is licking the spoons and bowl after,’ laughed Eleanor.

Tim also chose two runners up, Vicki Merrien and Sharon Fraser, who will each receive a voucher for a free box of cupcakes from Cobo Bakes.

‘Vicki Merrien’s brownie wedges were beautifully decorated and would be exactly what I would like to have for a pudding in a restaurant. I can almost taste them,’ he said.

‘And Sharon Fraser’s brownies look so gooey and the little pockets of chocolate in them are a real treat. The bake looks really good with a gooey centre and slight crunch on top. I can smell them through the image, they look delicious.’