Creme Brulee Choc Chip Cookies

The best thing about working in a tea shop is constantly playing around, blending different teas together and finding the perfect garnishes for iced teas. Lately, however, I've been playing around with the teas at home, and incorporating the different flavours into different types of food. Here's a recipe I came up with for choc chips cookies, using creme brulee (a flavoured black) tea.

INGREDIENTS:

- 250g butter

- 5 - 10 tablespoons of T2 creme brulee tea

- 1/3 cup caster sugar

- 125mL sweetened condensed milk

- 1 1/2 cups self-raising flour

- 200g choc chips

METHOD:

Melt the butter in a saucepan on the stove, then add the tea and steep for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat, and continue to steep for 5 more minutes. Drain through a sieve into a separate bowl, taking care to press down on the leaves to release as much butter as possible, and then set aside until it has hardened at room temperature

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. 

Beat the butter and sugar together until light and creamy, and then beat in the condensed milk. Add the flour and mix. Once the mixture is smooth, mix in the choc chips.

Roll into balls and place on baking trays, taking care to leave room for the biscuits to spread. Cook for 12-15mins or until golden, and transfer onto a wire rack to cool.

3 things

Having a mother who is a cooking teacher has been useful for many reasons, some of which include having the best lunches in the classroom and the most impressive birthday cakes at parties. It's only just occurred to me, however, just how many little tips and tricks I have learnt from her. It seems I spent my childhood assuming that everyone knew the difference between caster sugar and A1 sugar, or that unsalted butter is best for baking.

After having a little think about all the tricks she has taught me, I decided that the following three are my favourite and most used:
1 - Zap any citrus fruit in the microwave for around 15 seconds before juicing it (it helps to get the most juice out of the fruit)
2 - Spray a measuring cup or spoon with a non-stick cooking spray before measuring out golden syrup (prevents the syrup from sticking and therefore gives you an accurate measure)
3 - Cook books can be read like novels

Thanks mum! xx