Baking By Feel: 3 cookie recipes to turn to when you’re feeling a bit meh

Becca Rea-Tucker's peanut butter snickerdoodles

Credit: Amy Scott

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Baking By Feel: 3 cookie recipes to turn to when you’re feeling a bit meh

By Annie Simpson

3 years ago

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3 min read

Becca Rea-Tucker, aka The Sweet Feminist, shares three cookie recipes from her debut cookbook that guarantee to brighten your day.

From the ever-rising prices of just about everything to the state of UK politics, you’re not alone if you’re feeling slightly less than fabulous at the moment.

Whether it’s just an off day or the accumulation of everything going on in the world, anxiety, anger and generally feeling overwhelmed by it all are sadly all too common. 

But though sometimes we want to do nothing more than curl up under our duvet and ignore everything, we’re also firm believers in finding the joy in the little things in life to turn our moods around.

Sharing our sentiments exactly is US recipe creator Becca Rea-Tucker. More commonly known as The Sweet Feminist – with almost 250,000 followers on Instagram – Becca has been using her platform to “say it with sugar” since 2018, creating a range of sweet recipes that don’t shy away from her feelings and opinions, especially in relation to women’s rights. 

Baking By Feel: Recipes to Sort Out Your Emotions (Whatever They Are Today!) by Becca Rea-Tucker

Credit: Harper Wave

With her debut cookbook Baking By Feel, she’s giving us 65 recipes which help to embrace and tackle a plethora of emotions – from happy to sad, anxious, hopeful and mad – offering a unique toolkit to help us to bake our way through good times and bad. 

And because ‘meh’ pretty much sums up our mood right now, we’re sharing three of her cookie recipes that are designed to cheer up less-than-perfect moods. 

From the ultimate chocolate chip (and just about everything else)-loaded cookies to cinnamon-laced snickadoodles and seasonal raspberry tahini linzers, these recipes are sure to make your day brighter.

Because who wouldn’t feel better with a batch of freshly baked cookies?  

Becca Rea-Tucker's kitchen sink cookies

Kitchen sink cookies

Becca says: “These chewy, lumpy cookies are the dessert embodiment of awkwardness. They’re made up of a little bit of everything, an assortment of flavours and textures that you might not expect to hang well together – but this cookie is greater than the sum of its parts. Sometimes you just need the novelty of a treat with a lot going on, and these do the job. Other/alternative mix-ins include (but are not limited to): M&Ms, pretzels, dried fruit (not my vibe, but you do you), other kinds of chopped nuts, various kinds of cereal, crushed potato chips.” 

Makes about 2 dozen (24) cookies

Ingedients

  • 2 cups (260g) all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon espresso powder
  • 1 cup (2 sticks, 227g) room temp unsalted butter
  • 2/3 cup (133g) light brown sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ¾ cup (21g) crushed cornflakes
  • ½ cup (75g) toasted and chopped pecans
  • ¾ cup (131g) milk chocolate chips
  • ½ cup (56g) sweetened coconut flakes
  • *flaky salt (such as Maldon), for sprinkling (optional)

Method

Preheat the oven to 165°C (325°F) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and espresso powder.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugars on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract. Mix in the flour mixture on low speed. Add the cornflakes, pecans, chocolate chips, and coconut flakes and mix on low speed until just incorporated. Scoop into 2-tablespoon (40g) balls, arrange 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet, and sprinkle with flaky salt, if desired. If you’re feeling particular today, press some toppings into the tops of your dough balls after you roll ‘em – that way they’ll show up on the top (thank you to the brilliant food stylist Olivia Caminiti for this tip)!

Bake for 13-15 minutes, until the edges of the cookies are lightly golden. Let cool for 2 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Store at room temp in an airtight container for up to 2 days.


Becca Rea-Tucker's raspberry tahini linzers

Raspberry tahini linzers

Becca says: “Free yourself of the holiday cookie v non-holiday cookie dichotomy! You can have any cookie any time of the year. I promise. Today we’re making something kind of fussy, but the end result is just so *cute*. The cookies themselves have a deep flavour (hello tahini!), which is brightened by a sprinkle of powdered sugar and a dollop of raspberry jam sandwiched in the middle. Typically ground nuts are used in linzers, but I love the more complex but still-nutty vibe you get by using tahini instead. I like making these as a meditative, uplifting and delicious activity when I’m going through it. And: using cookie cutters to cut out fun shapes can help invoke a much-needed childlike levity.” 

Makes 15-20 cookies, depending on cutter size

Ingredients

For the cookies:

  • 1 ¾ cups (228g) all-purpose flour
  • ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ cup (1 stick, 113g) room temp unsalted butter
  • ½ cup (113g) tahini
  • ¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
  • ½ cup (60g) powdered sugar, divided
  • 1 large egg
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

For the filling:

  • ½ cup (150g) seedless raspberry jam

Method

First make the cookies. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and cinnamon.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, tahini, granulated sugar, lemon zest, and ¼ cup (30g) of the powdered sugar on medium speed until creamy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract. Stir in the dry ingredients on low speed.

Divide the dough in half, Roll out each half between two sheets of wax paper or parchment paper to ¼ inch thick. Refrigerate the rolled-out dough for at least 1 ½ hours (or freeze for 45 minutes). Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Using a 2-inch cutter (personally, I like stars and heart shapes!), cut shapes out of the dough. Place on the baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes, until the edges are beginning to brown. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely. Repeat with the remaining cookies.

To make the filling, divide the cooled cookies in half. Using a fine-mesh sieve, sprinkle the tops of one half with the remaining ¼ cup (30g) of powdered sugar. Spread a heaping ½ teaspoonful of jam on the bottoms of the other half. Sandwich them together powdered sugared cookies on top. Store at room temp in an airtight container for up to 5 days. 


Becca Rea-Tucker's peanut butter snickerdoodles

Peanut butter snickerdoodles

Becca says: “This recipe combines two of my very favourite kinds of cookies: peanut butter and snickerdoodle. The origin story is simple: one day I was making a batch of each type of cookie simultaneously and wondered what they might taste like together. As it turns out, they are delicious. These are big but thin cookies. They have crisp edges, with some chew in the middle. A mash-up of the best of both worlds! If you’re making these right before bed, like I think you might be, be sure to eat one straight out of the oven paired with a glass of milk (oat milk, or whatever). Don’t forget to text your friend!” 

Makes a baker’s dozen (13)

Ingredients

For the cookie dough:

  • 1 ½ cups (195g) all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ cup (1 stick, 113g) room temp unsalted butter
  • ½ cup (125g) creamy peanut butter (not natural)
  • 1 ¼ cups (250g) granulated sugar
  • ¼ cup (50g) light brown sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 tablespoons water

For the coating:

  • ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Method

First make the cookie dough. Preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F) and line a baking sheet with foil, dull side up.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cream of tartar, and cinnamon.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter, peanut butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar on medium-high speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat in the egg, vanilla extract, and water on medium speed until thoroughly combined. Add the flour mixture all at once and mix on low speed until the dough comes together.

Form the dough into 3-tablespoon (60g) size balls.

For the coating, in a small bowl, combine the granulated sugar and cinnamon. Roll each ball in the cinnamon sugar, completely covering all of the surfaces. Place the cookies at least 3 inches apart on the baking sheet. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes, until crisp around the edges and just set in the middle. Let the cookies cool on the pan for 2 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack. Store at room temp in an airtight container for up to 2 days. 

Baking By Feel: Recipes to Sort Out Your Emotions (Whatever They Are Today!) by Becca Rea-Tucker (Harper Wave, £25) is out now 


Photography: Amy Scott 

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