Berry-White Chocolate Soft-Baked Cookies

What do you call a dessert that’s too soft to be called a scone, yet too firm to be called cake? I’m going with delicious!

The backstory: I was craving a scone, and found Barry C. Parsons’ raspberry-white chocolate scone recipe on the Rock Recipes website. While I have no doubt that this recipe is fabulous as is, I wanted something with a little less butter. I swapped out half the butter with strawberry greek yogurt, the other half with coconut oil, decreased the amount of sugar, increased the amount of berries and chocolate, and used a four-berry blend instead of just raspberries. I was very disappointed before I had my first taste – the mixture was too wet & runny, spread too much while baking and was not as firm as your regular scone, with the texture somewhat resembling a soft-baked cookie (hence the title of this post) or even (almost) a cake. Here’s what they looked like going into the oven (i.e. nothing like a scone!):

However, it was love at first bite! I know I should be more modest, but these are definitely my new favourite dessert & I wouldn’t change a thing! I’m ashamed to confess that I went through 3-4 cookies each time I opened the tub, and there was even an embarrassing incident whereby The Hubster had to close the lid & pretty much wrestle the tub away from me! I daresay the only thing that prolonged their life (somewhat) was the fact that I was fasting during the day & had only 6 hours a day to stuff my face! 😀

You will need:

• Flour – 3 cups
• Baking powder – 6 tsp
• Sugar – 4-6 tbsp
• Salt – 1/2 tsp
• Greek yogurt – 6 tbsp
• Coconut oil – 6 tbsp (use half this amount if using another liquid oil)
• White (or dark) chocolate chips (or chopped) – 1 cup
• Lemon juice – 2 tbsp
• Vanilla extract – 2 tsp
• Milk – 1 cup
• Frozen berries – 2 cups

Steps:

1. Preheat your oven to 375°C.

2. In a bowl or food processor, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.

3. Add in the greek yogurt and coconut oil, and pulse until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. It will be quite dry at this point; just make sure everything is well-combined. If you are mixing by hand, cut in the coconut oil using two knives.

4. Mix in the chocolate chips by hand.

5. In a separate bowl, combine the milk, lemon juice and vanilla extract. Add this into the flour mixture, mixing only until everything is just combined. Over-mixing at this point may result in a dense & chewy cookie, so refrain from doing so.

6. Add in the frozen berries. I used a mix of raspberries, blueberries, strawberries & blackberries. Frozen berries are much easier to mix in and do not get crushed. Once again, mix until just incorporated. The dough will be very soft and slightly sticky.

7. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Using an icecream scoop or a measuring spoon, spoon dollops of dough onto the baking sheet, leaving about an inch gap between each. Bake for 25 minutes, or until light golden in colour. Serve warm, with a light dusting of icing sugar, or let cool and store in an airtight container.