Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
240 gms 8.5 ozs 2 ¼ Sticks Butter
150 gms 5.25 ozs 1 ½ Cups Brown Sugar
200 gms 7 ozs 1 ½ Cups Self Raising Flour
200 gms 7ozs 1 ¼ Cups Chocolate Chips (milk, dark white or combination)
Method
1. Set the oven to 180 oC/355 oF/Gas Mark 4.
2. Grease 2 baking sheets
3. Place the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until soft and creamy.
4. Sieve the flour into the bowl and fold it into the mixture with a wooden spoon.
5. Add the chocolate chips and mix until it forms a rough ball.
6. Divide the mixture into two. Chill one half.
7. Flour your hands
8. With the remaining mixture, using a dessert spoon to take spoonfuls of it and roll them into golf ball sizes.
9. Place the golf balls on the baking trays leaving plenty of room between them to spread.
10. Flatten the golf balls slightly.
11. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown.
12. Leave to stand for 5 minutes before placing them on a cooling rack.
13. Repeat with the second half of the mixture.
As I know many of you reading this are from the US, I’ve tried to convert the quantities to ounces and cups, so I hope I have the measurements right. I had to double the quantities to make this work, but do you know what’s so great about this recipe? You can make half and freeze the other until friends announce they’re popping round, when you defrost the mixture in the microwave and cook and serve freshly baked cookies.
Earl Grey Tea
The Earl Grey in my title, Earl Grey and Shallow Graves, refers to the flowery black tea favoured by many English tea drinkers, my mother included.
Earl Grey has a floral, citrus aroma because it is flavoured with oil from the rind of the bergamot orange. This fruit is thought to be a cultivated hybrid blending the bitter Seville orange of the Mediterranean, with the sweet lime/lemon of Southeast Asia. I can taste the bitter note, which is why I prefer sweeter teas like Darjeeling.
As with many teas, aficionados believe it should be drunk without milk, which dulls its flavour, and if anything has to be added, it should be a slice of lemon, to maintain its crisp, sharp flavour.
The origin of Earl Grey, as with all teas, lies with the Chinese. They’ve been flavouring water with leaves for over 4,000 years. Over time, Chinese tea masters have experimented with different flavours, from jasmine flowers to rosebuds to sweet lychee fruits.
Earl Grey is named after Charles, 2nd Earl Grey, who was the British Prime Minister between 1830 and 1834. Although several brands lay claim to marketing the first Earl Grey tea, exactly how the earl was involved in its conception is debated.
The official version is that he received some as a diplomatic present and asked British tea merchants to recreate it.
Another, more romantic story, is that a Chinese mandarin tea master blended the tea as a gift and used bergamot as flavouring to offset the taste of lime in the well water at the Earl’s estate, Howick Hall, in the Northeast of England.
It is said that Lady Grey loved the tea so much she used it exclusively when entertaining. London society followed her example, so she asked London tea merchants to recreate it.
During his tenure as Prime Minister, Lord Grey abolished slavery and reformed child labour laws, but what he is best remembered for is introducing Earl Grey tea to Great Britain.
There are variations on Earl Grey, perhaps the best known being Lady Grey, with added lemon and Seville orange peel. French Earl Grey contains rose petals and Russian Earl Grey has lemongrass added.
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II enjoyed a cup of Earl Grey.
