The Kayak Cookie
I promise that I am not getting dividends from the New Zealand tourist industry.
So, if it happens that you are getting tired of my New Zealand stories, you can probably skip this post. Ah no wait! There is a recipe as well, so maybe you want to wait?
Do you remember following me to Abel Tasman National Park where we went kayaking and hiking for 3 days? I have not yet talked about the kayaking part of this wonderful time. Needless to say that it was pure joy in a place like this. Turquoise water, great beaches and wildlife. Some people call that le paradis. But life remains life and even in an idyllic place like the one we visited, it is just not possible to feel happy at every moment (those same people give you the impression that it is possible to smile all day long, but I just think it is a lie! aha!) Kayaking can be stressful and…
Kayaking can start like this:
It is called Disorientation.
Setting:
Kayakers all going in the same direction or in opposite directions, depending on the time, eventually all merging towards one another and boum! Colliding. Called a mess!
Maybe this would not happen at all if you the kayaker were alone in your kayak. But Mother Nature teaches us to think it could always be someone’s else fault. Because we were two people in each kayak – and what better choice is there to make than to sit proudly with your husband or boyfriend, wife or girlfriend in a binôme kayak– things did unfold differently. We, the actors, called them binôme kayaks and imagined the experience would be charming, you know, similar to you sharing something with him or her. Very soon, our guides told us that the many years spent observing the typical kayakers’ interactions inspired them to rename those beautiful pieces of water equipment. They called them divorce kayaks.
Typical scenario:
A droite!
Mais non, je t’ai dit de tourner!
Mais t’es sourd ?
Tu m’entends là ?
Ah mais non, pas si vite, ralentie on va leur rentrer dedans!
And for your convenience in English you get:
To your right!
No, I told you to turn!
Are you deaf?
Do you hear me?
No, not so fast we are going to hit them!
Kayaking on our trip also meant spending four hours crunched in one position before lunch, two or three after lunch (this increases the grumpiness and hunger factor). Consequently, when we finally put our feet on land to eat our lunch, we looked like good fellows after a few pints of beer. Called stiffness!
All things considered…
Kayaking with your partner is fun!
But we were glad to have lunch!
Lunch under such circumstances was a major highlight. We loved kayaking but needless to add that we were all impatiently waiting for lunch to arrive. Pas fous! On our kayaks, we carried our paper-wrapped lunch bag that we would open as if it were a Kinder Surprise (everyone knows Kinder, right? you wait for the surprise!) One day, we found an enormous cookie in the bag. Oh, it was so big, so round, so chocolaty. I can still remember it. It was big but why not have two instead of one? Perhaps someone would trade one against something else? Don’t ask me how it happened, but I managed to trade to get a second one against…well against nothing. I like good friends! It inspired me and once more, I had decided that upon our return, I was going to make cookies, just like this one.
Pohutekawa flower, New Zealand, Feb 2006.
Oyster Catcher, New Zealand, Feb 2006.
Back home, I took Trish Deseine’s Je veux du chocolat and found a recipe that was close enough to match my memory of the cookie (mind you, I marked many recipes I wanted to try).
Here it is!
You need:
- 70 g rolled oats
- 210 g butter (the recipe calls for salted, I used unsalted)
- 100 g confectioner sugar
- 220 g all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 50 g milk chocolate (I only used dark)
- 50 g dark chocolate
Steps:
- Preheat your oven at 300 F (150 C).
- Mix together the sugar and butter until you obtain a cream-like consistency.
- Add the flour, the baking powder and the oats. Your dough should be firm.
- Shape the dough into a 10 cm (3 inches) roll and wrap it in plastic wrap.
- Place in the fridge for 30 mns, minimum.
- Take it out and make slices (0.5 cm or 0.2 inch).
- Place on a baking sheet (with greased parchment or silicone sheet) for 15 to 20 mns, or until the top of the cookies has a nice golden color.
- Take out and let cool down.
- When they are cold, decorate with melted dark and milk chocolate. I only used dark.
And then what do you do? You try to be patient and not rush to eat them all. They are tasty!
Recipe from Je veux du chocolat (Trish Deseine)
Bravissima, Bea, bravissima!
First of all the New Zealand Tourist Board should hire you immediately! I have never seen so many photos to enticeme to go to New Zealand … and I’m generally the type of person that wants to travel to Europe.
But now I think I want to go to New Zealand.
And the cookies … my compliments to the baker … what a wonderful thing to see on a Sunday morning while sipping my coffee.
Have a great day! Buona giornata!
those are the most delicious looking OATMEAL cookies i’ve ever seen.
Great recipe – these look delicious!
oatmeal and chocolate are my favorite things in cookies. but they taste so much better after a whole day on the water. great photos.
these cookies look great and the water under your kayaks look blue as the water in Okinawa!
I don’t know what looks better, the cookies or the warm sandy beach!
You French folks really know how to bake…and vacation.
Strange, we have same things in mind. I’ve been to BIO shop last Friday and bought “flocon d’avoine.. planning to make ANZAC…but good idea to have chocolate! That cookies looks perfect!
Looks so good. You killing me with your photos.
Yours cookies seems delicious and I must buy this book of Trish Deseine : Je veux du chocolat.
I met Trish Deseine at Paris (La Grande Epicerie) and she was so nice and so sweet….
I agree with the first comment – the New Zealand folks need to get in touch with you immediately!
Such beautiful photography and writing. I feel as if I’ve just been on a trip!
You can write as much about New Zealand as you want! We’ll always be here to read it!
ooh ooh I NEED one of those cookies, they look too scrummy yummy!
Thanks Ivonne! I am pretty convincing eh?
Ptinfrance, MERCI! Only in America!
Catherine, thanks
Vanessa, you are so right. Food tastes always so much better after a day in the water or hiking! The reward!
David, what about both, the beach and the cookies? Good at baking? Thanks for the compliment! For once that the French are good at something (besides complaining or being on strike ahaha)! 😉
Relly, Yes ANZAC, I forgot this name!
Sophie, I promise, I do not work for the New Zealand board …yet but could! 😉
Ah Fabienne, so cool you met her! When??
Matt, ahahah, thanks! I think I should definitely contact them and talk business! I surely would enjoy it as I love this place. Feels like a second home!
Bron, more visitors, eh? The cookies were good and are all gone!
Kat,
I have to check the place you mentioned!
what a great post. so good to see someone actually come back and try making something from their holiday! i once did some kayaking in krabi, thailand which was a wonderful experience. we also had a packed lunch in our kayaks which was a delicious thai meal all packed in tifin containers. such an amazing time.
I love my kayak and am missing it this summer. I usually go early in the morning around the edges of Lake Pupuke in Auckland looking into everyone’s back gardens.
Im a new jersey native and was visiting NYC yesterday with my parrents for my bday(which is today…sunday sept 6 2009) and these cookies are everywhere. My mother pick up a package and instantly fell in love as did I. They are really light and very good. I waswondering if anyone knows where I could maybe order some online or something. I have yet to check the local markets but seeing as this was the first time I tried them I dunno if they are old here. .
Hello!
I tried to make the cookies, but I didn’t succeed! The taste of the mix was very good, but the texture not at all. The dough never really stuck together… do you have any ideas what was my mistake?
thanks!