Customised cookies – pine ’n’ peel

Jo did some customised cookies a few weeks ago. Her ones had chocolate in them, but as she pointed out in her post, the recipe by Gill Meller (here on the Guardian site) specifically encourages you to vary the “extras”.

It’s a great, reliable recipe which is perfect for either making just the cookies you fancy… or making cookies based on what you’ve got a surfeit of.

A few weeks ago, I made a flaked almond and current batch as I seemed to have acquired a kilo of the former. Then this morning, in a 20-minute speed-bake sess before work, I made these – after discovering not one but two pots of, er, mixed peel at the back of the cupboard, left over from mincemeat making at Christmas. I’ve also got some big bags of pinenuts from the cash and carry – seemed like a combo worth experimenting with. I also had a spice mix I’d made for pickling in the summer, based on allspice, ginger, cinnamon and stuff, so that went in too.

Very nice they are too. Satisfyingly chewy. Great way to use up peel, which isn’t the most charismatic of ingredients.