I comfort eat. Now I know psychologists and nutritionists and every healthcare professional reading this will be gasping and tutting and shaking their head right now. Comfort eating is a terrible coping mechanism and will have far reaching consequences. Ha! How highfalluting and technical-sounding is that sentence, eh? Mind you, I am very aware my comfort eating has allowed me to balloon and gain a whole child in terms of weight since I moved to the UK.
Apart from the comfort eating, I’ve been comfort cooking and comfort baking. I’ve been trying to recreate in my kitchen the food that was readily available to me in the Philippines. My favourite English proverb (which helps me justify my kitchen sessions) is: “Necessity is the mother of invention.” Mind you, the food that I produce in my kitchen aren’t necessarily my own inventions. Sometimes it’s a result of me trawling the internet for tips on how to cook Filipino food. Since Filipino food isn’t readily available to take away or to buy at the nearest convenience store, I’ve got to learn how to make things myself if I miss eating them. I’m quite pleased that I’m able to make things that I would normally just go out and buy if I was in the Philippines.
I finally gave in to a long-standing baking to-do: making chocolate crinkles. Chocolate crinkles will feature in most Filipinos’ top 10 list of their favourite cookies. I’m not entirely certain whether it is a Filipino invention but it is certainly readily available in the Philippines, everywhere. Say the phrase “chocolate crinkles” to a Filipino and you more often than not will hear them say “Awww chocolate crinkles!”
For those of you who don’t know, chocolate crinkles are soft, fudgy chocolate cookies that are slightly firm, almost crispy, on the outside and moist and cakey on the inside. It’s covered with a generous coating of icing sugar outside and when you bite into the cookie, it’s rich and indulgent.
I’m going to share the recipe here once I’ve tried another test run, just to make sure that the recipe works properly. Any taste testers available?
Yellywelly 