Dotty Chocolate Smarties Cookies

I've been eating a lot of junk food recently. Smarties are my current favourite.

The switch from "healthy greens with every meal" to "Pocky sticks and coffee for breakfast" wasn't intentional. I believe it to be a symptom of the overall unstructured nature of my life recently. Without the structure of university lectures, hospital rounds, and group study sessions, my research year has quickly degenerated into a seemingly endless and timeless continuum of number-crunching, data-manipulating, and journal article-perusing. Most of the time I walk around in a semi-asleep state. It doesn't help that I only interact with other human beings (who are not family) maybe once or twice a week. That's the thing - I miss people. I miss social interactions. I miss the hustle and bustle of the hospital environment, the beeping of machines, the charts, talking with patients, listening to hearts and lungs...all those things about my clinical placement which overwhelmed me last year, I miss with an almost painful intensity now.

Not that I dislike research. A few days ago I realised that I had recoded the variables in my dataset with the wrong values, and that was why the results weren't making any sense. I corrected the values, and suddenly, there were trends and correlations and associations. Not just any associations, but significant ones. As in, 'p < 0.05' significance. I got a massive high out of the findings. If research was all about ground-breaking discoveries, then I may very well consider it as a long-term career. However, the reality is that most of it is number-crunching, data-manipulating, and journal article-perusing. But when you do make that discovery, it's all the more rewarding.

Anyway, the fact that I don't have to see my peers on a regular basis has meant that I've kinda...let myself go. Not in the sense of gaining huge amounts of weight. Just...very out of shape. Compared to last year, where I was eating a lot of protein and fibre and exercising almost every day, my current lifestyle is ridiculously unhealthy. I feel breathless walking uphill to the shops, where as last year I could have sprinted the entire distance and not broken a sweat. I can't even run 2km anymore, let alone the 14km that I did for City2Surf last year.

Moreover, I've found myself getting quite moody around noon, and quite predictably so. I suspect it has a lot to do with crashing from the refined sugar highs induced by my junk food breakfasts. My cognition has also suffered a lot. I had such brain fog one day that I couldn't remember how I got from one place to the other. It felt like I'd suddenly materialised at the shopping center, and I had very little recollection of the actual trip. What mode of transport had I taken? How long did my journey take? It was a very disturbing sensation indeed.

Therefore, I've made a pledge to myself to go back to eating proper, wholesome foods from now on. These cookies are my way of using up the last of my Smarties stash, while also acting as a remind that there is nothing inherently wrong with refined carbohydrates and these so-called "empty" calories. I admit it - while I was actively trying to lose weight, and for the first few months of maintenance, I was very neurotic about food. I could eat this, but not that. Some foods were "bad" and should never be consumed. Protein bars were okay, but chocolate bars were not (even though the former was probably just as lacking in real nutrition). I didn't allow myself to have any junk food, and as a result of that I went nutso and ate EVERYTHING once I couldn't stand my restrictive, "healthy" diet anymore.

Since then, I've learnt moderation, and that junk food doesn't make you gain weight as long as you don't overeat in calories. It's how it makes you feel that should make you think twice about consuming it in excess. I want a good-looking, healthy body, but a healthy mind also. I don't want to have a depressive slump every afternoon. I don't want my brain to be so fogged over by high blood sugar levels that I can't interpret lab results, or fall asleep over my textbook. The point is, by all means eat junk food, but don't use it as a replacement for real nutrition. It's common sense to most people probably, but it's taken my own experiences to make me actually believe it.

Healthy or no, these cookies are delicious, and oh-so-adorable. I love multi-coloured dots, whether it be in fashion or food. They are super-easy to make. Just combine the ingredients for the cookie dough, pop it in the fridge to firm up a little (so that the cookie doesn't spread too much while baking), shape it into small discs, then press on the smarties. They take around 8-10 minutes to bake. The texture is a little harder than cakey, but not quite crunchy, I suspect that if you bake it for an extra minute, you'll end up with a crisp, chocolatey cookie.

Dotty Chocolate Smarties Cookies
Makes 32 palm-sized cookies

Ingredients

200g unsalted butter, softened
300g white granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
350g plain flour, sifted
50g cocoa powder, sifted
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Smarties to decorate (enough for 5 per cookie)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit). Place baking rack at the bottom 1/3 of the oven.

2. In a dry bowl, stir together the sifted flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

3. In another bowl, cream together the butter and sugar with an electric or hand mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla extract, and continue to mix until fully incorporated.

4. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed butter mixture, and mix at low speed until just combined. Do not overmix or your cookies will be tough. If necessary, use hands or a wooden spoon to finish mixing together the dough.

5. Wrap the dough in cling wrap, and chill in fridge for 30 minutes.

6. Line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper. Grab a ball of dough slightly smaller than the size of a golf ball. Roll it into smooth ball, then flatten into a disc. Place onto baking paper, and press 5 Smarties on top of each disc.

7. Bake in oven for 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven, and allow to cool slightly and harden before transferring onto a wire rack to cool completely. But, by all means, eat them while they're still warm and soft! :D

Dorie Greenspan's Carrot Cake

Salutations! Once again, I've somehow allowed months to lapse in between posts. It's not like I've been super busy or anything. Despite being back at uni for almost a month now, I'm still getting my full 8-hours of sleep each night, and taking the time to go for walks, and baking two-layered carrot cakes. Isn't that just disgusting? I should be ashamed to call myself a student.

Photo courtesy of the UNSW Baking Society

I've posted a recipe for carrot cake before, but that particular one has nothing, NOTHING on the one I share with you today. THIS is the mother of all carrot cakes. Once I had my first bite, I knew for certain that this would be the start of a beautiful and complex relationship - between myself, and the most perfect, most gorgeous, most sublime carrot cake on earth. I know that bakers (especially ones who blog about their handiwork) have a tendency to throw in superlatives like they're going out of fashion, but merely calling this the "best" carrot cake recipe would be to do it a supreme injustice (and there I go again...)

I made this cake for a very special occasion indeed. Did you know that the University of New South Wales, my residence away from home for the past three-going-on-four years, has it's own baking society? It's mind-blowing, isn't it. A baking society, dedicated to all things cake and baked, right there on my doorstep. Well, BakeSoc, as it is known, had it's first event of the year a few days ago; a Welcome Brunch for the members. We were invited to bring something (preferably home-baked, of course!) to share with one another. Dorie Greenspan's recipes are always a safe bet when it comes to taste and presentation, and so it was her "Bill's Big Carrot Cake" that I offered up to my fellow cake-lovers.

And the rest is history. This cake features toasted nuts and dried coconut slivers in the batter, which makes for an exciting mouthful. I used mixed nuts - a combination of walnuts, macadamias, cashews, brazil nuts, hazelnuts and almonds. By all means, stick with one type, but that was what I had lying around. 

Photo courtesy of the UNSW Baking Society

If you compare the inside of this cake with that of my previous carrot cake recipe, you'll immediately be able to tell that this one is a lot fluffier and less dense. The reason for that, I believe, is the fact that I grated the carrots more coarsely this time round. I suspect that I grated the carrots too finely for the other cake, resulting in a dense, pudding-like texture. Don't be alarmed by the size of the carrot pieces when you use a coarse grater on them! Yes, they'll show up quite visibly in the baked cake and yes, people will be able to tell there are carrots in there (a potentially alarming concept for the uninitiated). But for those who have experienced the wonder that is a well-made carrot cake in the past, cutting into this cake will prompt all those fond memories (of tea at Grandma's, of cafe brunches, of chillaxed afternoons sipping tea at a girlfriend's place) to re-enter into their consciousness and, awash in the waves of nostalgia, the will turn to you with shining eyes and whisper "what a marvelous, marvelous thing it is you have done."

Photo courtesy of UNSW BakeSoc

Okay, so maybe I've been indulging in one too many Jodi Picoult novels. But bringing the cake to a dinner party or afternoon tea will guarantee you a dramatic entrance. Double-layered and generously covered with thick, cream cheese frosting, it's home-baked charm at it's best. Dorie's version consists of three cake layers, but I chose to go with two because my cake pans are slightly larger and there wasn't even batter for three. I also halved the amount of icing sugar that went into the frosting. Dorie, you've made me a fan for life with this recipe, but a whole pound of icing sugar?! Trust me on this, guys - go with half a pound (250g) lest your teeth fall out :D

Bill's Big Carrot Cake 2.0

Adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: from my home to yours

Ingredients

(Makes a 2-layered 23cm cake)

For the cakes:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon salt

3 cups coarsely grated carrots

1 cup coarsely chopped toasted/roasted mixed nuts (unsalted)

1 cup shredded coconut

1/2 cup dried cranberries

2 cups white granulated sugar

1 cup vegetable oil (anything mild-flavoured is fine; I used olive but canola or safflower is also okay)

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the frosting:

250g cream cheese, at room temperature

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

250g confectioners' or icing sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For decoration:

8 walnut halves

Method

To make the cakes:

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius (or 325 degrees Fahrenheit). Place the baking rack towards the lower one-third of the oven. Prepare two round cake pans (23cm in diameter) by lining with baking paper or aluminium foil.

2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon and salt. In another bowl, stir together the grated carrots, chopped nuts, coconut and dried cranberries.

3. Cream together the oil and sugar until smooth with a hand electric beater, or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix in the vanilla extract. Add the eggs one by one, and continue to beat until the batter is smooth and thick. Add the flour mixture, and stir into the egg mixture by hand until just combined. Add the carrot, chopped nuts etc., and stir in until everything is combined.

4. Divide the batter between the two cake pans. Place into oven, and bake for 50-60 minutes. Cake is done baking when a skewer or cake tester inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Allow cakes to cool in pans for 5 minutes, before inverting onto cooling racks. Allow cakes to cool completely before frosting

To make the frosting:

5. Using a hand electric beater or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the softened cream cheese and butter together until smooth and creamy. Beat in the vanilla extract. Gradually add in the sifted icing sugar and continue to beat until the frosting is smooth and aerated.

To assemble and serve the cake:

6. Put one cake layer on a cardboard cake round or plate. Dollop on half the cream cheese frosting, and smooth over the cake evenly with a spatula. Put the second cake layer on top, and on top of that dollop on the rest of the frosting. Smooth evenly with a spatula. Decorate with the walnut halves.

7. Chill the cake in the fridge for at least 30 minutes (preferably overnight) to firm up the icing. Take the cake out of the fridge 15 minutes prior to serving. The frosted cake will last for 5 days in the fridge, and the oil in the batter means that it won't dry out if covered. Cake tastes the best 1-2 days after it's made!