Hello everyone,

I'm sorry it's taken me a few extra weeks to post. I've been very busy - though very happy and content - with my new life in Cambridge and I wanted some space to think.

The truth is I don't have enough time to blog. I can't cut corners and spend less time on things like testing and editing - it would feel so wrong and I can't bring myself to do it. Over the past few years I've approached this as a (much beloved) professional piece of work and as a result, blogging doesn't feel like relaxing time off. There's no finish line for a blog - no deadline or obvious point to retire - so it's difficult to work out when to let go, but I know that I want to finish on a high, feeling proud of Poires.

My plan is to turn the site into something that functions more like a book than an updating blog.

I will still try to answer any questions you have about the recipes in the comments or by email, though it may take me a touch longer than it used to. (On that note, I'm really sorry if you've sent me an email in the past few weeks and I haven't replied yet - I will get to them soon.)

One of the most exciting things about this is that I get to revisit the recipes myself - there's so little time to go back when you're always working on new content. If they need it, I'll edit any recipes I retry, so the site won't be completely static. Poires is not disappearing or being forgotten - it's just time to retire from the week-to-week work.

This little corner of the internet is very important to me. I've learnt and gained so much from the last five and a half years. It's hard not to sound cheesy and I really don't know how to convey how I feel... but it's been wonderful. Thank you.

All the very best,
Emma
(or Poire, as my lovely new friends have nicknamed me)

Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies

I feel like I'm living in the midst of a storm at the moment, with excitement, nerves and stress blustering around. I move house and leave Oxford in a few days, and I start my four years soon after. The majority of my kitchen and all of my books are in boxes. I keep reaching for my stress-reducing activities - plums in the fruit bowl, crumble! Oh wait... - without success. It's odd and disjointing.

Thankfully, I stashed some logs of cookie dough in the freezer and kept a baking tray out. I have some Peanut Butter Biscuits (I rolled the dough into a log instead of individual balls), some Chocolate Cardamon Cookies and these chocolate chip pecan cookies. They're crispy and chewy, nutty and sweet and generally comforting.

Wish me luck - I'll be back when I've unpacked my kitchen in Cambridge...



Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies
(adapted from David Lebovitz's Ready for Dessert)

115g pecans
200g dark chocolate (I use 70%)
115g unsalted butter
150g light brown sugar
75g white caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
175g plain flour
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
1 large egg

Toast the pecans in a dry pan then leave to cool down. Chop the chocolate into small chunks (bigger than normal chips but not huge). Beat the butter, both sugars and vanilla extract together until uniformly smooth (if you're not using a mixer, room temperature butter is easier to combine). Sieve in the flour, bicarbonate and salt then add the egg. Beat together on low until the mixture comes together. Roughly chop the pecans then add them along with the chocolate and mix until combined. Scrape out onto a big square of parchment lined foil, baking parchment or clingfilm (or two sheets if you'd prefer two smaller logs of dough) and arrange into a log. Roll it up and twizzle the ends. Place into the freezer.

After at least an hour or up to a month later, preheat the oven to 170C/340F. Unwrap the end of the log (and if you've used clingfilm, take it all off and place the remaining log into a plastic bag) and cut off however many 1 cm slices you want to bake. Place on a parchment lined tray and bake for 11-13 minutes until the cookies are browning around the edges. Leave to cool on the tray for a few minutes then transfer to a wire rack. Best eaten while they're still warm from the oven.

(Makes about 24 cookies)



Two other biscuit doughs that I've frozen before:
Milk Chocolate and Hazelnut (in a log)
Triple Chocolate Pecan (in spoonfuls on a tray, then transferred to a bag when frozen)

...and one dough I haven't:
Roasted Hazelnut Butter