In collaboration with Brixton Windmill and using their organic wholemeal flour
Plus orange, oats and wholemeal flour, but the title would have been too long.
Cookies are notoriously easy to make and notoriously good to eat. I particularly like those who are crisp edged but a little chewy in the middle and there are a couple of flavour combinations that I would always go for when I see them in a shop.
It goes without saying, I am a big fan of rum and raisins. That’s a classic. Not only do they go really well together, but they give the buttery and sugary cookie dough that sweet but lightly spiced touch that is simply perfect and can make pretty much everyone smile when they bite into it.
Now, there are millions of rum and raisin cookie recipes out there, but this one is a little special to me.
Not many know that it’s currently carnival season in Italy. And Venice is quite famous all around the world for its carnival celebrations. During carnival in Venice, some amazing seasonal confectionery, sweets and pastries appear on the shelves, and amongst them another one of my favourites: frittelle. Now, we are here to talk about cookies and not about frittelle (sneaky link to Wikipedia), and so I am going to make this long story short.
I practised my frittelle recipe. I was not happy. But I was still craving those simple flavours – raisins and pine nuts stirred into the dough, sometimes with a little addition of grappa and a hint of orange – and there you go.
The simplest way to make it happen and be equally satisfied: cookies. Many cookies. A couple of batches to get the right texture and flavour, with the addition of some always-amazing-wholemeal flour for some extra wintery-comfort and that’s it. Happy. Many happy neighbours too.
Make yourself some and smile (perhaps whilst looking at some amazing pictures of carnival masks).
Baking tips:
- This is a simple recipe, but if you really want to enhance the rum and raisin flavour, make sure that you soak them overnight to get the best out of both.
- Make sure that the butter is at room temperature, not too cold, not too soft, or the consistency may affect your dough and make it split. Ideally, leave it out of the fridge at around 20C for about one to two hours before beginning your recipe.
- You can omit the pine nuts if you want, but they give the recipe an extra layer of texture which makes them even better.
- There is a trick to make these cookies bake even better once they are in the oven, which I learnt from the insuperable cookie queen Sarah Kieffer (always thankful for that). Don’t skip it and you will really get the perfectly shaped cookie.
Fancy giving it a go at some other we-are-so-simple-and-we-will-make-you-smile cookie recipes? Try my soft amaretti biscuits, with a little booze in there, or go super plain but super tasty with some canestrelli biscuits.
Makes 14 cookies
Ingredients
- 100ml rum
- 100g raisins
- 100g plain flour
- 100g wholemeal flour, I used Brixton Windmill
- 100g rolled oats
- 170g butter at room temperature
- 100g soft brown sugar
- 150g granulated sugar
- 1 large egg (50-55g)
- 75g pine nuts
- 1tsp vanilla extract
- 1tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Zest of 1 orange
Method
- Put the raisins into a small bowl and pour the rum all over them. Mix well and leave to soak for at least one hour, or ideally overnight.
- Toast the pine nuts in a frying pan (don’t add any oil) by cooking them on a medium heat until fragrant and golden brown, stirring frequently. When they’re golden brown, immediately transfer them to a plate to stop the cooking and prevent burning.
- Preheat the oven to 180C and line three baking trays with aluminium foil, dull side up. Drain the raisins but reserve the liquid. In a bowl, combine the plain flour, wholemeal flour, oats, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- Using a stand mixer with the leaf attachment, beat the butter on medium speed for one minute, until just creamy. Next, add both the sugars and beat again for 2 minutes until the mix is light and fluffy. Add the egg, vanilla extract and orange zest and mix again on a low speed just until combined. Last but not least, add the flour mixture and mix one last time until almost combined. Take the bowl out of the stand mixer, add the raisins and one tablespoon of the reserved rum, and stir well until combined using a spatula.
- Using a spoon and with the help of a scale, form the dough into 65g balls and put four or five on each baking tray, leaving quite a lot of space between them (they will expand quite a lot so you don’t want them to touch).
- Bake one tray at a time for 8 minutes. Now, the trick. When the edges of the cookies are light golden brown (don’t worry if the middle still looks uncooked), lift the tray slightly and let it drop against the oven rack (this way the edges will firm up and the centre will knock down to set). Continue baking for an extra 2 minutes. Repeat lifting and dropping for another 2 times. The total baking time should be around 14 to 15 minutes.
- Transfer the baking tray to a wire rack and let the cookies cool on the tray for 15 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.