Crisp little cookies packed with milk & white chocolate chunks
One of the things that makes me happiest is a big baking project. Whether it’s a birthday, researching recipes for this blog, a celebration cake or a big family party (for recipes from our recent engagement do, click here and here), I love everything about the process from planning it all in and thinking up new ideas through experimenting in the kitchen to the look on peoples’ faces when they taste my food.
When people ask about our upcoming wedding, one of the first things they always want to know is whether I’ll be baking my own cake. Although it’s something I did initially consider, I’ve since explained my reasons against the idea so many times that I’m pretty positive that I’ve made the right decision not to.
Keep your chunks of chocolate large for extra texture
First up, I’m not a professional. My methods of transportation tend to include oversized cardboard boxes, balancing acts with mismatching dishes and a roll or two of cling film. Size is a second factor: with 150 people expected at the wedding I’d be attempting something bigger than I’ve ever baked before. We’re absolutely unanimous in our choice of chocolate over a traditional fruit cake which means no baking well in advance of the actual date and, although I’m currently feeling extremely serene, I’ve been warned that those last few days before the wedding can be busy at best, seriously stressful at worst. I don’t really want to add to that.
Bake longer at a lower temperature for thinner, crispier cookies
I do, however, want to make my baking mark on the wedding in some way. Celebration equals baking in my book and it would feel weird for such a momentous occasion to be completely lacking in anything I’d made. After considering one of the incredible dessert tables I’ve seen on countless gorgeous wedding blogs (want to lose a few hours to wedding cake porn, vintage dresses, miles of hessian and candy-striped baker’s twine? Head over to Rock My Wedding or Style Me Pretty), I realized that we wouldn’t really want one in addition to the showstopping centerpiece of a cake we’re planning to commission.
Chocolate chunk cookies & cold milk – the perfect partners
What we really want is something small and simple, something that can be eaten as dance floor fuel, munched on in a taxi home or taken away and treasured as a tiny gesture of our gratitude to all the amazing friends and family who’ll be joining us to celebrate this special day. Call it a favour, a thank you or just an excuse to be a tiny bit greedier that you normally would, this is what I want my contribution to the big day to be.
Crispy edges but still slightly soft in the middle & lots of chocolate running through
All of which is a very roundabout way of saying I’m going to be making chocolate chip cookies as favours for my wedding. Suffice to say you’ll be seeing a lot of cookie recipes here over the next 10 months as I search for the perfect one. And while I may well end up making the most basic of cookies – large chunks of chocolate, crispy edges, chewy middle, no nuts – I hope you’ll indulge me and join in my experiments, let me know your favourites and help me pick the perfect one. Starting with this rather lovely (but possibly slightly too unorthodox) crispy oat, milk and white chocolate chunk version.
Crispy Oat, Milk & White Chocolate Chunk Cookies
(makes about 25)
Ingredients:
80g unsalted butter, room temperature
60g golden caster sugar
60g brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large free range egg, beaten
110g plain flour
Pinch salt
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
25g oats
100g milk chocolate chunks
100g white chocolate chunks
Method:
Beat together the butter, sugars and vanilla extract until light and creamy. Beat in the egg, a little at time.
Sift together the flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda then stir in the oats. Add to the butter and sugar mixture, stirring until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chunks then refrigerate the mixture – one hour minimum but ideally overnight (if in desperate need of cookies, I’ve been known to pop it in the freezer before).
Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C. Line two trays with baking parchment.
Scoop heaped tablespoons of cookie dough, shape them into a rough ball with your hand then place on the prepared trays, spacing well apart. Squash the cookie dough balls slightly flatter then bake for 10 – 15 minutes. I’ve left this slightly vague as everyone’s oven seems to bake at a slightly different temperature. Your cookies should look crispy and golden round the edges – the longer you bake them the crispier they will be.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly on a wire rack. Once firm to the touch, but still warm, eat with a large, cold glass of milk or a big scoop of cold vanilla ice cream.
These cookies should keep in an airtight container for several days. The longer you keep them, the softer they will be.
Very exciting planning your wedding, I really miss the wedding planning to be honest 🙂 I think it’s best to relieve yourself from the stress of baking your own wedding cake! And indeed you don’t have the best way to transport it etc. I baked all the scones and tarts for our wedding, I din’t bake my own cake (as you know) But I regret doing all the wedding food all bu myself. On the morning of our wedding party I was juicing lemons for home made lemonade and slicing cucumbers for the sandwhiches in our aternoon tea… It was such a big stress factor! I’m not good at asking for help so I was in over my head 🙂
It’s nice people can take your cookies home as favours!
If you like vintage style dresses, my friend makes these gorgeous dresses by hand, let me know if you like to see her website 🙂
Good luck planning and enjoy every minute of it xxx
What a lovely idea; it’s very hard to beat a good chocolate chip cookie and I imagine your guests will really appreciate the nibbles after a night on the dance floor!
Drawn here by the ‘ultimate’ chocolate chip cookies question.
This may be too ‘claggy’ for the sort of soft crumbly cookie you’re going for, but they are delicious and more-ish: http://foodbloglondon.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/chocolate-chip-and-oatmeal-cookies.html
Also, get a set of cake tins. (Or nick the biscuit tin after Christmas). You won’t regret it. They save so much hassle!
Oh WOW. These look beautiful!
There is no unorthodox if it is good in my book!
I’m an American so chocolate chip cookies are my back up recipe (you know, the one you can pull together in 20 minutes if necessary? Everyone has one!) and I make the basic Tollhouse. That said, always good to see chocolate chip cookies making it over here!
Regula – wow, that sounds like some serious involvement! I love the idea of doing all the cooking and baking but when it comes down to it, I think I’ll be more than happy to let the caterers do their thing on our day and float around drinking champagne and enjoying the moment! Thanks so much for the cake tips and offer of info about vintage dresses – I think I’ve got it covered but if not I’ll let you know 🙂
Kathryn – hope so! 🙂
Thunderstorm Bun – heading over to check out the recipe now!
The Hungry Mum – ahh, thank you.
Nuts About Food – well said!
Baking Beardy – I’m more of a fan of big chunks than chocolate chips but I know that Toll House recipe is a classic!
You go girl…woot woot! I love that you plan to bake cookies for your own wedding. 10 months to experiment? How well organised you are Little Loaf! You make me happy!
I think you made the right/sane choice in not making your wedding cake! I did not bake anything for my wedding day, but I did bake cookies for the wedding weekend brunch that we hosted the day before. I will be totally honest and tell you that I had a meltdown over those cookies–I was under so much stress at that point. That being said, I don’t have regrets about it. Baking something for your own wedding (as a baker) is probably one of the more thoughtful and personal things you can do. I think the cookies are a great idea and definitely go for it! (But be okay with the chance that things will not go perfectly.)
Anyways, I made these cookies from Ambitious Kitchen (http://bit.ly/PlKQTU) the other day and they may be a little too involved for the wedding, but I think they are definitely one of the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve had. Take a look! Also, these oat and chocolate chunk cookies look great. I’m a big fan of oats in chocolate chip cookies!
Lovely looking cookies, loaf – you always make ’em good. I adore oats in cookies (I have a recipe for more cookies coming soon) 😀
These look amazing! I am such a big cookie fan. My favourite cookie recipe is the $250 Neiman Marcus one (secret ingredient: a teaspoon of coffee powder). See my blog angelcakegirl.wordpress.com for the recipe 😉
I’ve heard very, very good things about the New York Times Cookie- the dough is half bread flour and is refrigerated for 24 hours before baking which apparently makes all the difference. I heard about the recipe last week and can’t wait to try it. Good luck with your cookie quest!
What a great idea for your wedding! These look like exceedingly good cookies…I love the great big chunks of chocolate in them! I wish the weddings I went to gave out cookies at the end of the night! 😉
I can only agree with you. Yes you are a fantastic baker, but I think you wil have enough to think about without adding to the crazinees of the day! From experience, I went to pick up my cake from Choccywooccydoodah in a rented van to take to the wedding venue and let me tell you, the language that day was pretty bad. Anyway the cake was fine and it was the right choice. I think the perfect chocolate chip cookie must be out there. Good luck finding it!
Deeba – well, maybe I’ll stop 8 months into experiments to give me time to fit into my wedding dress… 😉
Connie – the cookies on that link look a-mazing! Definitely need to try them, even if they’re possibly a bit too involved for big batch baking for the wedding 🙂
Frugal Feeding – looking forward to reading your recipes!
Angel Cake Girl – I’ve made the NY Times cookies and they’re pretty good. Resting the dough definitely helps with texture.
Laura Loves Cakes – it should be compulsory! 🙂
Laura – thank you and totally agreed. Am hoping we can get our cake delivered on the day!
That sounds like a wonderful wedding favour to me! I would love to receive homemade cookies at a wedding to munch on! 🙂
That’s so cool. I loved reading how Molly, in her book A Homemade Life, made her dense chocolate cake for the cake at her party. I don’t remember how many cakes she had to bake up, but my god is it admirable! I’m sure it’s going to be awesome though (I wish I were a guest!) and I’m excited to see all the cookies you try out and make until your wedding. 🙂
I think the cookies are a great idea. They look so good too. I love your photography. I wish I had baked something for our wedding (back in 2001!) but I was really busy with a new job and not as into regular baking as I am now. Also, I hadn’t even heard of a ‘dessert table’ then; I think it is a US tradition that is starting to become popular here, perhaps because of food blogs! Have you seen the NZ blog ‘Mrs Cake’ (current post – Oct 12th) and the Amy Atlas site she got her inspiration from? More wedding dessert table porn!! Enjoy the rest of the plans! So exciting, but do be careful not too take too much on Little Bridal Loaf. My favourite cookies of the moment (I seem to find a new favourite every time I bake a different one) are fudge and pecan. Yum! See the post on My Dish by ‘Love Baking’. I think I will have to try yours next.
Amy – glad to hear it!
Amy – I promise to post lots of recipes and photos leading up to the big day 🙂
Amy – dessert tables are definitely a new thing. I love the idea of them but think I just want a really amazing tiered cake 🙂 Love the idea of fudge and pecan cookies, yum!
I definitely think it’s a good idea not to make your own cake in the days before the wedding, especially for 150 people! While I ended up making my wedding cake, it felt, just the way you do, odd not to be sharing some baking on our special day. Thankfully I only had 15 people to cater for 😀
I managed to feel serene and stress free right up to my wedding, so I really hope you feel the same way.
I can’t wait to see all of the cookie recipes you share, although these ones look fantastic.
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Normally I hate making cookies because they are too labour-intensive. But these look so dee-lish I might have to revise my policy.
Jennifer – I feel very relaxed and happy about it all at the moment, am hoping the feeling will last! 🙂
Silver Screenings – they’re super simple to make, well worth giving them a go.
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ooo gotta love a good cookie and these look terrific! 🙂
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They really don’t look like they are made of oats! I’m so Impressed x
Love cookies with oats. These look very nice. look forward to some more .
Best. Cookies. Ever.
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