Bikkies of Doom

It’s time i posted something, and recipes just don’t fit Twitter…

My Bikkies of Doom (US people read Cookies for Bikkies) are legendary. They’re also illegal. But here is the base recipe. This is for @auntie_abc who asked.

Choc Chip Bikkies (Sweet Biscuits or Cookies)

Note: Australian cup measurements

• 1 egg
• 125 g butter
• 160g (1 AU cup) brown sugar
• 218g (3C) plain flour
• 3 tsp baking powder (or just use 218g SR flour, no baking powder)
• pinch salt
• your choice white/dark/milk choc bits  – total 75g  – i use mix of dark and white chips.
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

Before you start ‘cooking’ – some prep

• Put baking paper on a baking sheet.
• Preheat oven to 180C
• Melt butter.
• Sift together flour, baking powder, salt.  Mix with fork again just before adding, get some air in there.

1. Beat sugar and egg until frothy. Add vanilla, stir.
2. Add melted butter to egg mix. Will possibly go into clotted horrible mess. Don’t panic. Keep stirring.
3. When smooth, add flour mix and chocolate.  Again, the clotted mess thing. Don’t panic. Keep stirring.
4. Take two spoons and use to drop walnut sized balls onto baking tray. Allow spread-space. I can fit a dozen on my cookie slide.
5. 10-12 minutes or so in my  (crap) oven. If yours is fan-forced, be careful.
6. Take out when just cracking on top, leave on tray to cool (will still be soft in middle) for five minutes. (Will be just darkening at edges, don’t brown all over, too dry.)
7. Cool on wire rack. Or just eat them raw.
8. They crisp up if you’re not in Sydney humidity. Will keep for up to a week in a airtight container, better in first 4 days.

Very forgiving recipe – i have on occasion completely mixed it up and added butter after flour – it still works if you just keep mixing.

For rich chocolatey variant, add tablespoon of cocoa to flour.

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Consider this the obligatory New Year Post because otherwise you’re not getting one.

Chinese New Year is later in the month, and i’ll be paying attention again, with some giveaways of Book 1 to mark the beginning of the Year of the Dragon.

Polo Shawcross wishes for a new life, but the Birthday Dragon brings a ghost who says he’s not one, a best friend who thinks he’s gay, and a very bad reputation. Polo’s crazy extended family keep trying to kill him, and he becomes an unwilling party to treason. Adventure with more than one twist, set in a vivid new world where Men might be Dragons. (Free sample to read)

Book Two is coming along, nearly ready for beta reading – hoorah!

copyright 2012 http://stinginthetail.wordpress.com

argh, my house is trying to kill me

A couple of years ago, we were flooded, thigh-high downstairs. I’d noted to a bunch of people, including stupid doctors who didn’t deserve the title five medical professionals, that my extreme allergy problems and other weird symptoms started right after those floods. The medical professionals all just nodded, said yes, you’re definitely ill, and drew no conclusions.

A total of 3 general practitioner doctors (the first two reached a point where they just said, sorry, I don’t know what’s wrong with you, can I give you more pills for the symptoms?), and at least no.3 is still trying. The 2 specialists were likewise stumped (rafts of tests showed nothing wrong with my heart or my eyes). I was about to hit another specialist, this time for allergy testing (I’ve been waiting since last August for the appointment, which they promise to let me know4 weeks in advance, but haven’t yet).

I was sure (despite the battery of tests for everything from cancer to MS to diabetes to congestive heart failure), that i had SOMETHING. Either that or it was all psychosomatic, and I had, at last, gone completely nuts - either way, lol, it was crushing me.

I have disabilities – my spine and knees haven’t forgiven me for all the car accidents, and  I also have Post Viral Syndrome  from 15 years ago -right after my last car accident i got a doozy of a sore throat, and tried to keep working. It was so bad, i even went to the doc, something i rarely did in those days. Let me be a warning to you – don’t soldier on.

On a practical level, the PVS means my immune system works overtime (I don’t get colds badly most of the time, but when i get one, it means my immune system’s been trashed, and i’m in trouble), and i tend to get overtired- i’ve learned to live with it, but then the floods hit.

We cleaned up at the time, and our prompt action stopped the carpets from going mouldy and there from being much visible mould.

I’d been working hard to get healthier, but despite losing over 20kg (45lbs) and giving up smoking cigarettes, i was still sick as a bloody dog.  I was even thinking pity i don’t like tobacco, seeing giving up has done bugger all for my health. (Yeah, after 16 months the nicotine still speaks to me, lol, but i don’t listen to that bitch-mistress any more.)

I was thinking I’d rewash the worst places for the mould, and went to look up online the best way. I use a wash of lemon oil (10 drops) and 200ml vinegar (about a cup) in half a bucket of water, which works well and doesn’t set off my allergies the way Exit Mould does. Then  I saw this piece on mould (mold), and then this .pdf file on Flooding, how you always get massive amounts of mould after only 2 days of floods (we had 4).

A woman and her family in the piece on mould had all my symptoms, and my partner’s – symptoms that look like asthma, heart problems, allergies, sinus, lungs, and so on. OMIGOD, i have a mould sensitivity, and so does the man in the house.