The owls go

Baking and overcast days go hand in hand like love-struck schoolkids.

Is there any better way to spend a gloomy day? The not-quite-halloween-themed-cookies didn't turn out quite as well as I had hoped (and the recipe had to be slightly adjusted) but the once-full cookie tin seems to be suitably diminishing.


Ingredients:

200 g brown sugar (the recipe calls for white sugar but I so prefer brown, if you use white you may need less flour)
170 g butter
1 egg
5 ml vanilla extract
380 g plain flour
9 g baking powder
3 g salt
25 g unsweetened cocoa powder
170 g semisweet chocolate chips
100 g cashew halves

Directions:

1. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Add baking powder and salt. Beat well. Add flour and mix until blended. Depending on consistency of the dough, more flour may be needed. Remove 3/4 of dough. Roll or pat dough out to form two 10 x 4 inch rectangles. Add cocoa (amount depending on personal colour preference) to remaining 1/4 of dough. Mix until blended. Shape chocolate dough into two 10 inch long rolls. Place on rectangle and roll plain dough to cover chocolate dough completely, not including ends. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill at least 2 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
3. Cut dough into 1 centimetre slices with a sharp knife. Place two slices side by side on a cookie sheet to resemble an owl's face. Blend them together just a tad to make sure they stay together when baked. Pinch upper "corners" to resemble ears. Put chocolate chips in each dark circle for eyes and two cashew halves in the centre for the beak.
4. Bake for 8 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly browned

The original recipe can be found here. As each owl has it's own personality, I also recommend naming them (which might also discourage you to eat them, which is good, because they last forever).

Very simply, it was a hoot (pun fully intended).