BKD Cookbook Club......Nigella Christmas

I'm so excited to have found Jo Tracey's BKD (Brookford Kitchen Diaries) Cookbook Club. I've followed Jo for awhile and have read several of her books, including one of her most recent which features a group of ladies who have a cookbook club. They get together monthly to cook together out of a chosen book. LOVE this idea. Her books are such fun reads!

I love cookbooks and joke that I love reading them as much as cooking from them. I  especially love when they have photos to go along with them. I do tend to find many recipes online. It's possible that I may hunt for recipes this way for the assigned books rather than purchasing them, especially if they may be hard to find in the U.S, or might be ones I might not cook out of often. 

I wasn't sure if I'd be able to participate this month but decided to bite the bullet and go for it. Cooking and baking relaxes me and I just felt a need to do this. I've decided to put off posting to other link parties til after the new year. 

This month the cookbook that was featured is Nigellas Christmas. I have watched a few of her cooking shows in the past. I remember one time she was sharing a recipe for cookies that required peanut butter chips and she had to order them online because they don't have those where she lives. I chuckled because here in the states you can find every flavor out there. When we visited Switzerland in 2019 and went to a grocery store I realized how much we have here compared to other countries. 

I didn't have time to buy the cookbook, but did find recipes from the book on her website. The site showed what cookbook the recipes were from so I was able to look through several from that book. I found several recipes I thought would be fun to make, like her Chocolate Pudding for Christmas Pudding haters....I don't think I've had Christmas pudding...but I didn't have the right mold and didn't want to buy it right now. I also thought of making her Christmas Rocky Road which also looked good (minus the cherries), but in the end chose (drum roll please) Christmas Chocolate Cookies. They seemed easy enough and this time of year, especially this year, I needed easy. 

I was not disappointed. I made them in no time at all before I had to go to work. They are more of a shortbread type cookie and not very sweet, which actually was nice! I may just add it to my Christmas baking list. I do try to bake every year, but didn't get to it this year. You could search holiday recipes or cookies on the "from my kitchen" page on the blog to find some good ones. 

On the website you could toggle for US measurements which I did. I also cut the recipe in half because I didn't want to make 2 dozen, especially if I wasn't sure how they'd turn out. 

The recipe called for:

For the Biscuits

• 2¼ sticks soft butter
• ¾ cup superfine sugar
• ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

For the Festive Topping

• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
• 1½ cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• christmas sprinkles

I didn't have superfine sugar so I simply put my regular sugar in a coffee grinder and processed til it was "fine". 

Get the full recipe on the site or in her book. 

I have been feeling a wee bit "overwhelmed" this holiday season and so to set the mood this morning I turned the fire on, made sure the tree was on and just enjoyed baking something. I love my cozy space and being in my kitchen. It is my happy place (most of the time). 

The recipe said to roll them in balls but I just used a cookie scoop. 

I just got these Christmas sprinkles for the grandkids and used a few of those on the tops. They look messy and the glaze soaked in. Maybe next time I'd make a thicker glaze. 

Okay, here are my thoughts: 

🎄 Super easy and a great, quick recipe.

🎄 In her description of them "cracking" when done she says "and it's this cosy homespun look I love". LOVED that. 

🎄I cooked mine a tad over 15 minutes because the pan I was using was stone and thicker than normal baking pans. I wondered if I needed to cook them longer because they kind of fell apart when I picked them up, however upon coming home from work, they had firmed up nicely.

🎄The "glaze" basically soaked into the cookie instead of sitting on top of it like glaze usually does, or how I hoped it would. So I might do it differently next time. 

🎄I also think I flattened mine a bit too much, but they don't look too bad. 

🎄Definitely a recipe I will save and make again! 

With Joy Unquenchable,

Kirstin