LAZY COOKIES TWO WAYS

Lazy cookies are a godsend. A couple of years ago, when I was barely capable of cooking pasta (and I’m Italian! Such a dishonour to my own roots), the idea of baking something never even crossed my mind. Just the thought of buying ingredients I would never ever use again, plus finding bowls, cookie trays and all that and - god forbid - washing up afterwards, was just not very appealing. These cookies, however, are one of the first I made in my life. Not only do they require only one bowl (ok, two if you’re using flax eggs), they also take less than 10 minutes to prepare, less than 10 minutes to cook, and, if you ask me, less than 10 minutes to eat. Hooray for lazy cookies.

Notes: If you want to un-vegan-ise these cookies, just replace the flaxseed and water mixture with one egg. If you do so, leave out the milk, as the dough will be wet enough already.

CHOCOLATE SPREAD COOKIES

180g (scant 1 cup) vegan chocolate spread (I used this)

150g (scant 1 ¼ cup) plain flour

1 tablespoon ground flaxseed

3 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons almond milk or other non-dairy milk

1 teaspoon baking powder

BISCOFF SPREAD COOKIES

180g (scant 1 cup) Lotus biscuit spread

150g (scant 1 ¼ cup) plain flour

1 tablespoon ground flaxseed

3 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons almond milk or other non-dairy milk

1 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat the oven to 170°C (340 F) and line two cookie trays. Whisk together the ground flaxseed and water and leave aside to set. In a bowl, mix together the flour, spread and baking powder. Add the milk and mix with your hands until everything is combined into a nice dough. Divide the dough into balls and press each ball gently on the cookie trays. Bake for 8 minutes, until the tops are slightly cracked. Make sure you don’t overbake them as they should still be soft in the centre. Cool on the trays for at least 5 minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely. Once cool, dust the chocolate cookies with icing sugar, and the Biscoff cookies with a mix of cocoa powder and icing sugar if you like.