Waste Not Want Not Cookies!!

Like most women I know when it comes to food I am either very good or very bold. On a good week my weekly grocery shop consists of more fruit, vegetables and protein than I can shake a fist at and enough jersey creams to stop my husband from complaining. He loves them and I hate them so always makes for a good purchase!! This week I was having a bad week, a culmination of Halles first birthday party, my aunts funeral and a weekend of leisure all combined to make my grocery shopping a little naughty, throw in three kids on the shopping trip so basically we are talking about an episode of supermarket sweep! My eldest son Blake is like me and loves to try new things so when he spotted maple frosted cashew nuts, peanuts and dark chocolate all together in a packet he decided that his life would not be complete without this purchase!Of course when he actually tasted them he was not a bit impressed and they were thrown to one side. I absolutely hate food waste and I can never understand when I read reports of the amount of tonnes of food waste that each family creates each year. In my house I buy what fresh food we need for the week and no more, I like to feed my family well and would much rather spend my money on what is required than have an overflowing fridge. When I spotted these nuts in the press I knew that unless I baked something with them that they would end up in the compost bin so the first thing that came to mind was my foolhardy cookie dough mixture courtesy of Rachel Allen. This is such a versatile recipe as you can literally throw anything into the dough mixture to make it unique, three ingredients plus one make it easy peasy too so always handy to have some ready made in your fridge! 

Ingredients

• 225g butter, softened
• 110g caster sugar
• 275g plain flour
• 150g nut mixture

Preheat oven to 170 degrees
Cream butter until soft then add sugar and beat till light and fluffy
Sift in flour and combine to form dough
Add in nut mixture and combine
Roll the dough into walnut size balls and flatten on baking tray with fork
Bake for 15 mins approx until lightly golden
Place on wire rack to cool
Try not to burn tongue while sampling

Thankfully we were going to our friends house for dinner today so I was able to offload a full batch of the cookies minus one!! The one I tried was delicious, salty yet sweet with just the right amount of crunch! Thank heavens for friends and grateful recipients of baked goodies!!!