With term almost over it’s time to head back to the land of stocked fridge and rolling fields. Whilst I’m looking forward to having a (bit) of a break, this has been the most amazing 8 weeks. From the people I’ve met to the things I’ve learnt, it’s been a total blast and I can’t wait to come back and so it all over again (after a long rest that is!). Some of the best times I’ve had this term have been our group baking sessions in our college kitchen. Trying to fit more people than can physically fit into a lil’ kitchen, jumping over people to get from the sink to the oven and then everyone eating whatever’s made in minutes.
Of course the down side of cooking at uni is the lack of equipment, ingredients and space. For example these were made with only half the ingredients we probably needed and when freezing the pinwheel log before cutting it into slices I had to wedge it into the jam-packed freezer, hence the slightly squashed shape. However, even with the set backs these turned out super tasty and were so fun to make, so I guess the main thing I’ve learnt from student cooking so far is just to make use of what you’ve got to hand and it’ll most likely turn out fine!
You can also play around with the two flavours in these as much as you like which is fun. I went for chocolate and peanut butter as they’re relatively cheap and taste hella good together. But you could try other combos like chocolate and vanilla, lemon and strawberry, or orange and almond. The key to get these looking good is to make sure that the two doughs have different enough colours to stand out against each other and to make sure you get a tight roll when you roll the wheels up. After that all you’ve got to worry about is getting them to the tin before everyone eats them.
Ingredients
For peanut butter dough
- 125g Caster sugar
- 113g Smooth peanut butter
- A large pinch of Salt
- 1 tbsp Water
- 215g Plain flour
For the chocolate dough
- 125g Caster sugar
- 113g Smooth peanut butter
- A large pinch of salt
- 1 tbsp Water
- 170g Plain flour
- 45g Cocoa powder
Method
- First make the peanut dough. Put the peanut butter and sugar into a large bowl with the vanilla and a pinch of salt and beat with a wooden spoon until smooth and creamy.
- Add the water to the mixture and beat in to loosen the mixture a little. Then add the flour and mix everything together until a smooth dough forms.
- Use your hands to make the dough into a ball and then wrap it in cling film and leave it in the fridge until needed.
- Now make the chocolate dough. Repeat step 1 with the butter, sugar and so on.
- Add the water to the mix and beat to loosen the mixture as you did before. Then add the flour and the cocoa powder to the bowl and mix everything together until a smooth dough forms.
- Again, form the dough into a ball and wrap in clingfilm. Leave the two doughs in the fridge for 1-2 hours to harden up slightly.
- When ready take the peanut dough out of the fridge. Lay down a sheet of cling film on the work top and then place the dough on top. Lay out another sheet of cling film over the dough. Then take a rolling pin and roll the dough out into a oblong about 20cm x 40cm.
- Repeat with the chocolate dough so you have two rectangles of a similar shape.
- Take the top layer of the clingfilm off the two doughs. Then turn the chocolate dough over onto the peanut dough and take off the clingfilm sheet which will now be on the top.
- Carefully roll the sheet up into a pinwheel, working from short edge to short edge. It can help here to roll over a 1cm bit at the start to begin your spiral and then work from there.
- Wrap the log in clingfilm and then freeze for 1-2 hours to make it easier to cut later.
- Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C. Line two baking trays with baking paper.
- Take the pinwheel log out of the freezer and place it on a chopping board. Take a sharp knife and cut the log into 1cm discs. Place each cookie on the lined baking trays.
- Bake the biscuits for 15-20 minutes until slightly golden brown and crispy. Leave to cool before eating!
Thanks for reading!
Emma x
