Brown butter oat cookies

From this House and Garden recipe - followed as directed (adding apricots and stem ginger) they didn't spread at all, and a kitchen timer error saw them overcooked which didn't help the result. Taste ok though, so I'd like to give them one more chance.

• Bring 110g butter to foam/caramelised stage; set aside and stir in 90g sugar and 2 tbsp honey or syrup. Cool a little.
• In a bowl mix 150g rolled oats, 90g plain flour, tsp salt, 1/2 tsp baking powder.
• Chop a handful of dried apricots and a knob of preserved stem ginger (or other additions to taste).
• Beat 1 egg.
• Add sugar/butter mix to dry mix, then eggs and additions, mix well.
• Place 12 balls of mixture well apart on 1-2 trays to accommodate spreading (allegedly).
• Bake 180°C for 15 minutes or until you realise the timer hasn't beeped. Drop the unattractive brown lumps on to a cooling rack, sulking while you do.

What to try? Not spreading suggests mix was too dry but it seemed soft when placing on the tray. Sure I added the right amount of flour. The oats were from the end of a box so maybe too powdery? Did dried apricots take moisture from the mixture?

Cheesecakes, vegan and not

Vegan: based on this one from Carnation, quantities as written

Biscoff 175g and flora plant butter 25g for the base.

540g violife cream cheese (3 packs!) +100g Carnation 'condensed milk' for the main part.

Plus a pinch of salt, vanilla, a little maple syrup. Blackcurrant compote on top.

Texture held up well, after I was worried about it being too soft. Wouldn't mistake it for full dairy cheesecake but it was OK.

Non-vegan: Nigella but made half as much again of base and filling as I just could not spread the base thin enough to cover the tin! I used biscoff, added lime instead of lemon (and a bit of zest). Absolutely delicious, unsurprisingly, but definitely benefited from the tangy blackcurrants and the lime (could use more zest if anything).

190g biscoff + 110g butter (somewhat different ratio to above!)

450g cream cheese mixed with 90g sifted icing sugar + 70g greek yogurt*; folded in 300ml double cream (whipped), tsp vanilla, tsp lime juice, zest

*as I only bought 300ml cream for the original recipe which needed 250... probably would have been fine without?

To "lightly whip" double cream needed quite some time before any difference was observable. Made it to very soft peaks.

For each: topping was blackcurrants previously simmered with a little water and sugar. Took half a pint, heated and dissolved half a pack of vege-gel, then added a few whole blackcurrants in at the end. 

Banana bread

Good, reliable recipe by Jack Monroe:

Mash 3 ripe bananas with 50g brown sugar and 75ml oil.

Sift together 220g flour (any combo - half and half wholemeal and white is good) plus 1tsp baking powder, pinch salt, tsp mixed spice. Mix wet and dry mixtures.

Optionally add choc chips or sultanas.

Bake in lined loaf tin for ~50 mins @ 160°C fan.