Very berry "cookies"

Not really cookies, but tasty and a pretty colour! And yes that is an oven shelf as an improvised cooling rack

Tonight I attempted to make cookies... And they turned out like no cookie I have ever made before. I'm going to say this was probably my fault and not the recipe, as it was one I had made before which has previously turned out well.

So what happened tonight? For starters I measured out the wrong amount of flour and didn't realise until after the first trays of cookies were in the oven... Secondly I added the filling and the flour at the same time. Normally this would be ok, but when your filling is frozen you don't really get a feel for how solid your dough is as the butter rehardens. The final 12 mini cookies appear to have turned out ok as I had added a helluva lot more flour by that point.

I say these were a bit of a disaster but only in terms of consistency. The taste was exactly what I was going for, fruity, fresh and a little bit naughty. I would definitely make these again, only I would do it properly and carefully....

Very berry cookies

200g butter
200g sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp golden syrup
300g flour (though you may well need a bit more)
1 small bag frozen summer fruits (or anything else you fancy, like smarties, or chocolate etc)

Start by creaming the butter and sugar together until smooth. Add the vanilla, flour and syrup and mix well until it starts to form a dough. At this point add your filling in, and using your hands distribute through the dough. If your filling is frozen, beware! The dough will go very stiff and so add more flour, even if you don't think you need it.

Divide the dough into even sized balls and place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Flatten the balls slightly.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180C for about 15 mins until the edges start to firm up (if like me you didn't use enough flour be prepared to increase your baking time a lot...)

The smaller ones worked better. And tasted good!