double chocolate cashew cookies (brownie cookies)

100g butter, softened at room temperature
100g coconut sugar
1 egg
150g flour
5g sachet baking powder
2 tbsp cocoa powder
¼ tsp salt (a bit more if butter is unsalted)
100g dark chocolate, chopped into chunks
50g cashews, chopped
75g cashew butter

heat oven to 150c fan.
beat butter with sugar until fluffy. add the egg, mix well.
add the flour, baking powder and salt, mixing together before beating into the mixture.
fold in the cashews, chocolate, cashew butter, mix to combine.

form small heaps/domes from 1tbsp batter each. it will melt a bit, but not too high, it won't melt that much.
bake for 10 mins.
leave to cool before transferring to airtight containers.

original from goodfood
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/double-choc-peanut-butter-cookies

orange macaroons

for me the recipe needed a few alterations (and was way too much), this is how I'll try next time.

almond paste:
200g ground/whole almonds
20g coconut sugar

put it into the blender (the chopper part, the smoothie maker will not work for this), make a paste.
add a few tablespoons water, if needed, to form a paste, but one tbsp at a time, it's easy to overdo.

1 large egg white
25g coconut sugar
1/4 tsp pure almond extract
freshly grated zest of one orange (about 2 flat tsp)
2 tbsp grand marnier
1/4 tsp fine grain sea salt (twist 10)

beat the egg white with a mixer. add almond paste, sugar, almond extract, mix.
add orange zest, grand marnier and salt, mix again.

transfer dough to a clean surface sprinkled with sugar.
using fine grain sugar as flour make 2cm wide logs.
cut cubes from the logs, coat in sugar, add to baking sheet. (won't rise, so can be packed close)

leave for 30 mins
heat oven to 160c fan
pinch macaroons in the diagonals to form pyramids

bake for 15 mins

recipe inspo from here:
http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/limoncello-macaroons-recipe.html

chai

5cm piece fresh ginger, thinly sliced
2 cinnamon sticks
2 teaspoons black peppercorns
10 whole cloves
6 big/12 small cardamom pods
6 cups cold water
6 bags of black tea (preferably Darjeeling) - optional
2 cups whole milk
3 teaspoons of coconut sugar

Lightly crush the spices with a knife or mortar.
Add into a pot with the ginger and 6 cups of water, bring to boil, simmer for 10 minutes.
If adding tea, infuse bags for 5 minutes.
Add milk and sugar, bring gently to boil, cook until sugar dissolves.

Recipe from http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/homemade-chai-201226

soft boiled eggs

Put the eggs in cold water. 

Bring to boil.

Cook them for 90 seconds.

Cool them with cold water immediately to stop cooking.