The Cookie Jar

So what goes with a nice brew?? .......that's right a biscuit, but when does a biscuit become a cookie or a cookie become a biscuit?

Apparently if its soft and chewy its a cookie and if baked until crisp, that's when it becomes a biscuit. Now I've only taken rough advice from Wikipedia so it's an open debate, I am in no means a cookie cooking expert. I am however an expert in eating them. I have successfully made gluten free cookies but the king of cookie tasting goes to my youngest son. He knows the perfect cookie and he likes then soft and doughy, if it snaps in two with a crispy feel, that's it! It's back to cookie school for you sunshine.

It's got to be a chocolate chip cookie as well, all chocolate is acceptable, plain, milk and white. I'm sorry but putting fruit in cookies is a failed attempt to make them healthy. It's like saying I can't have a calorie filled cookie but oh hang on a minute it's got fruit in so it's all ok and healthy. I'm getting my five a day, yeah your five a day wrapped in sugar. If you're going to have the sugar than go to the max and add the chocolate chips for goodness sake. 

Is it dunkable? 

By dunkable we mean 'can we place the cookie in our brew and then eat it? 

Well yes you can but I wouldn't class it as a dunking option, it just doesn't absorb the brew in the correct way for me. Digestives are the best, followed by Rich Teas, and Malted Milk. Oh my gluten days, I do miss them sometimes. Gluten free biscuits do not hold well in the dunking process, they lack elasticity anyway so adding liquid, well it's a disaster from the start. I used to dunk all sorts in my brew, just to see if it worked. There's no right or wrong, be free and open with your dunking. The real test though is how long can you dunk before it falls in your brew? This is where I think digestives rule as they hold the liquid quite well but you have to time it to perfection. When you get that 'splosh' and your biscuit has fallen, it's just sooooo annoying isn't it? You just had to wait those few more seconds!! Now you have to decide whether you try and fish it out straight away or just leave it to sink to the bottom, finish your brew and then eat it with a teaspoon after. Yeah go on, admit it, you've done it too, you can't waste biscuits like that.

So what is the nations favourite biscuit?

According to most of the information on the world wide web it's the following:

1. Chocolate Digestive
2. Chocolate Hob Nob
3. Custard Cream
4. Bourbon
5. Rich Tea
6. Chocolate Chip
7. Malted Milk
8. Ginger Nut
9. Shortbread
10. Jammie Dodgers 

What do we think? I'm happy with that. I tell you what though I could happily throw out the ginger nut for those Hovis Digestives, oh they were heaven and perfectly dunkable. Jammie dodgers, I've always loved but find them a lot more chewy nowadays but that might be my old persons teeth talking. 

Back to the classic cookie though, there are great varieties in all the major supermarkets, we picked these babies up (from the photo) at 'Millies Cookies' in the Intu Centre, Derby. They passed the seal of approval here for texture. My mum was with me today and asked the lady behind the counter if they were soft cookies. We had not experienced her cookies before and she was a little stunned as if she was now serving people who had never tasted a cookie in their life and she looked as if we should know that all cookies should be soft in the middle. I felt her pain. Lovely fresh cookies though in all sorts of flavours, yes with fruit as well. They can even write a message on a big cookie for you as well. I'm thinking of one for my boy, that says ' to the fussy cookie monster'. He's just a young man who knows what he wants and won't settle for less, he'll go far, I hope, otherwise we'll just be here eating cookies for the rest of our days.
You can also buy Millies lovely cookies online at www.milliescookies.com

I hope that's made you all very hungry now as it has me and I do quite fancy a snack.....happy cookie munching and biscuit dunking.

Catch you for more fun tomorrow.......