Picnic Recipes- Strawberry Cookies

Strawberries help to sum the the summer for me, so what better way to enjoy the sun than with a strawberry cookie or two...Or three...Or four...

These cookies are really versatile, and although I've put freeze dried raspberries in these, you can easily add chocolate chips :)

These cookies are lovely and soft and would be perfect with a glass of pimms on a sunny afternoon! It helps that they're really easy to make too!

  

Makes 10 Cookies

Ingredients-
100g Unsalted Butter- Softened
60g Soft Brown Sugar
60g Caster Sugar
1/2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
1 Egg
180g Plain Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda
Generous Pinch of Salt
7g Freeze-dried Strawberries (I bought mine in Waitrose- They come in a little tube, conveniently 7g!)

Method-
1) Preheat your oven to 180C and line a baking tray with baking parchment.
2) Cream your butter and both sugars together in a bowl until they are lighter in colour and look "fluffy"
3) Add the vanilla extract and egg to the bowl and mix them well into the creamed mixture.
4) Sieve the flour, bicarbonate of soda and the salt over the creamed mixture and carefully mix together.
5) Add the freeze dried strawberries and mix through.
6) Take a tablespoon of the mixture and either using your hand or two spoons shape the dough into a ball, place this on the lined baking tray and flatten down slightly- Repeat this with all of your dough
7) Bake your cookies for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges are just starting to turn golden.
8) Remove from the oven, and let them cool on the tray for a couple of minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool fully.
9) Tuck in!

Picnic Recipes- Raspberry and Almond Loaf Cake

The suns out, and it looks like it's staying for a while, which brings with it a good excuse to go for a picnic and eat some lovely cake. (Not that I need any extra reasons to eat cake!)

I love picnics, and they're even more fun with my beautiful picnic basket! (Thanks Sam!) This recipe I've written is a perfect picnic cake as it's easy to wrap up and because it isn't covered in icing won't end up as a gooey mess by the afternoon!...Enjoy :)

Makes 1 loaf cake (The size of the one I use is 21cm x 8cm and is 6cm deep)

Ingredients-

175g Soft brown Sugar

175g Unsalted Butter- Softened

3 Eggs- Beaten

1 Tablespoon of Milk

100g Plain Flour

75g Ground Almonds

2.5 teaspoons Baking Powder

150g Raspberries (I personally don't like it overloaded with fruit, however you can add more if you want a fruitier cake, I would suggest an extra 50g-100g)

30g Flaked Almonds

Method-
1) Preheat your oven to 170C and grease a loaf tin with butter- Or line with greaseproof paper.
2) Cream the sugar and butter together until creamy and lighter in colour- This will take a few minutes.
3) Beat the eggs together in a bowl and add gradually to the sugar and butter mixture and making sure you mix thoroughly after each addition.
4) Add the milk and mix again.
5) Sift the flour, ground almonds and baking powder over the egg mixture and carefully mix in- Be careful not to over mix, when all the dry ingredients are incorporated stop.
6) Add the raspberries and fold into the mixture carefully.
7) Spoon the mixture into the tin and smooth down, so it's the same thickness throughout.
8) Scatter the flaked almonds over the top and bake for 50-60 minutes. Or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean and the top is a golden brown. (Depending on your oven you might need to cover the top of the cake with foil half way through baking to make sure that the top doesn't burn.- Make sure you don't open the oven door until at least 30 minutes into the baking time.)

It's lovely post picnic too- Serve with some nice yoghurt and some more raspberry's :)