Lyle's Golden Syrup Cookies

Lyle's Golden Syrup is one of my all-time favorite ingredients - it has a rich, caramelized flavor just can't be beat and I'm thrilled to see it gaining in popularity.  Here's the flavorful syrup is paired with oats, butter, and vanilla to make chewy cookies.  Incidentally, leftover cookies freeze beautifully (just in case you're tempted to eat too many in one sitting).  

Start by whisking together all purpose flour, baking soda, and baking powder. 

In a medium saucepan, heat butter, sugar, and golden syrup together until melted and smooth.

Mmmm.

On a side note, Lyle's Golden Syrup is available in cans, squeeze bottles, and jars (see here).  The squeeze bottles are the least messy, like honey.  

Stir in pure vanilla extract - be sure to use the good stuff!

Now stir in old fashioned oats and the flour mixture.

Stir until no traces of dry oats or flour remain.

For this recipe, I use a #50 scoop to ensure all my cookies are the same size (affiliate link).  I have a number of scoops in different sizes, but this is the size I use for the majority of the cookies and mini muffin recipes that appear on this blog.  

NOTE:  when buying portion scoops, check for "#__" on the sweeper arm.  This scoop is a #50 (that means 50 scoops will equal one quart).  WARNING:  some vendors sell their scoops by diameter size (example:  50mm).   DO NOT order a 50mm scoop if you want a #50 scoop.  The diameter of a 50mm scoop is almost 2 inches, while the diameter of a #50 scoop is much smaller at 1 1/4 inches.    

Pro Tip:  whenever I bake a cookie recipe for the first time, rather than commit an entire tray of cookies to unknown variables such as baking time, baking temperature, and baking surface, I do a small test batch first to refine those unknowns (all of which can make or break your recipe).

First I preheat my oven fully and check my oven thermometer to ensure the interior temperature is accurate, then I bake for the suggested time directed (you'd be surprised how often the directions are wrong).  In addition to verifying baking time and temp, I check to see which baking surface produces the best results.  Here you can see I baked one cookie on parchment paper and one on a small quarter-sized silicone baking mat (like this one).  

Let's check out the results below, shall we?

The differences aren't always this clear, but for this particular recipe, it's obvious the cookie baked on silicone turned out much better than the one baked on parchment paper (and obviously, the suggested oven temp was too hot - thankfully I didn't ruin an entire tray of cookies discovering that fact).

Back to baking surfaces, silicone almost always wins my baking tests - not quite as dramatically as shown here, but I encourage you to give it a try and discover your own results.  

Alrighty - pour yourself a glass of cold milk and enjoy! 

Items used to make this recipe:

(affiliate links)

• lyle's golden syrup https://amzn.to/3B5OA54

• pure vanilla extract https://amzn.to/3ovS9fE

• #50 scoop https://amzn.to/3gugJcy

• magnetic measuring spoons https://amzn.to/3suac74

• small silpat liner for test baking https://amzn.to/3rCjXBd

• large silpat liner https://amzn.to/3SJkxsC

• half sheet pan https://amzn.to/3Lhy06R

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Lyle's Golden Syrup Cookies

makes 18 cookies

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup all purpose flour

• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 7 tablespoons unsalted butter

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

• 2 tablespoons lyle's golden syrup

• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• 1 cup old fashioned oats

Directions

1. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and baking powder, set aside.

2. In a medium saucepan, heat butter, sugar, and golden syrup until melted and smooth; remove from heat and stir in pure vanilla extract.

3. Add flour mixture and oats and stir well to combine.

4. Place cookie dough in an airtight container and chill for 30 minutes.

5. Preheat oven to 325F and place rack in the center position.

6. Line two half sheet pans with silpat liners (parchment doesn't work well for these cookies).

7. Use a #50 scoop to portion dough, 6 cookies at a time, evenly spaced on sheet pan.

8. Bake for 8 minutes; remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in airtight container.

Note

• I suggest baking only one tray of cookies at a time, being sure to place chilled dough on room temperature (not hot/warm) sheet trays.

Onigiri

One of my daughters is a Japanophile and she loves to introduce us to Japanese foods that are completely unfamiliar to us.  Foods like these onigiri (oh-nee-gee-dee), a rice ball or sorts.  They're kind of a rice sandwich filled with something savory like chicken or tuna salad.  The salty filling pairs so beautifully with the rice and a strip of nori is wrapped around for flavor and color contrast.  They're easy to make in the palm of your hand, but the triangular molds we used are even more fun.  Here's how they're made.

Start with about 3 cups of cooked rice.  I usually cook my rice on the stovetop, but my daughter loves any excuse to pull out the rice cooker. 

Sushi rice is the typical rice used to make onigiri, but any rice that will stick together when compressed will work.  When you're shopping, look for Japanese medium or short grain rice. 

As I said, you can form these in the palm of your hands, but using onigiri molds is kind of fun.

You'll also need a savory filling.  Today we're using my rotisserie chicken salad.  If you're interested in my yummy recipe, here it is.

You'll also need nori sheets.  They're the same sheets you might use to make sushi. 

Cut the sheets into 1-inch wide strips that are 3.5 to 4 inches long.

Alrighty, time to make these adorable onigiri.  Keep a small bowl of water nearby to dip your fingers into.  Sticky rice won't stick to your fingers if they're damp.

Press a tablespoon or two of rice into the bottom half of an onigiri mold, pressing it across the bottom and up the sides, leaving an indentation for the filling.

Add a tablespoon or so of tuna salad or chicken salad.

Cover the filling with more rice.

Fill the mold to the top.

Place the lid on top and press gently to squeeze everything together.

Gently unmold and place formed onigiri on a strip of nori.

Pull the ends of the nori up to wrap the onigiri.

Ta-da!  That's all there is to it.  Now you're ready to dig in. 

Enjoy! 

Items used to make this recipe:

(affiliate links)

• Rotisserie chicken salad - recipe can be found here

• onigiri molds https://amzn.to/3tFrDq6

• electric rice cooker https://amzn.to/3hDrUDT

• nori sheets (seaweed) https://amzn.to/3PFVs0e

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Onigiri

makes 8-12

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 3 cups cooked sushi rice (or any rice that sticks together when compressed)

• 1 cup tuna or chicken salad (try my rotisserie chicken salad recipe here)

• 1 sheet nori seaweed, cut into 1-inch wide strips, then cut each strip in half to make 2 shorter strips (each should be 1-inch wide by 3.5 to 4 inches long).

Directions

1. Place a few tablespoons of rice in onigiri mold, pressing across the bottom and sides of mold, but leaving an indentation for the filling.

2. Place a tablespoon of savory filling like tuna salad or chicken salad in center of rice; cover with more rice until mold is filled.

3. Place lid on mold and gently press to compress rice; remove lid and carefully unmold by pressing the release tab on the back of the mold.

4. Place nori strip on table, shiny side down, and place onigiri on strip as shown; pull both ends of nori up on each side of the onigiri and serve immediately.