I’m hugely admiring of Edd Kimber, aka The Boy Who Bakes, as you can see from the number of his books I’ve already written about on CookbookCorner. And I’ve been longing for his latest, the second of his titles to address small-batch baking, as although I do a fair bit of it myself, I don’t have Kimber’s expertise or specialist knowledge and I just knew that Small Batch Cookies would tell me everything I needed to know on the subject.
Now, if you live in a many-peopled household, you may well feel fine about recipes that yield 12 or 18 cookies a time but, for the lone-dweller in particular, a book dedicated to recipes that make just 4 or 6 cookies is heaven-sent, and I’m duly divinely grateful! He catalogues his collection of cookies captivatingly: Soft & Sumptuous; Crisp & Crunchy; Ooey Gooey; Sandwich Cookies; Chocolate Heaven; and Chewy. There may be more instantly entrancing chapter titles out there somewhere, but I wouldn’t like to put money on it. And the recipes themselves are no less inviting: indeed, I find it hard to decide exactly which ones to bring to your attention; it seems mean to leave any of them out. But let me just say to you: Malted Black and White Cookies; Toasted Sesame and Honey Cookies; Apple Cider Doughnut Cookies; Triple Ginger Molasses Cookies; Crisp Lemon and Cardamom Cookies, one of the many vegan offerings, incidentally; Swedish Lace Cookies, a favourite of mine, though I’ve never managed to get such exquisite rounds (and this is gluten-free, by the way); Double Chocolate Viennese Fingers; Salted Malt Shortbread Rounds; Speculoos-Stuffed Dark Chocolate Cookies (another Vegan number); Tiramisu Cookies; Sticky Toffee Sandwich Cookies; Chocolate and Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies; Toasty Malty Milk Chocolate Chunk Cookies; Granola Breakfast Cookies; Grasmere Gingerbread; and Birthday Cake Ice Cream Sandwiches. That might seem like a long shortlist, but I’ve hardly skimmed the surface!
The recipe I’m sharing with you today is less flamboyant than some I’ve already mentioned, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles in my house: so I gladly bring you the Knobbly Chocolate Oat Cookies. I do love a Hobnob, and these are a homemade version of deep delight.
