Intercultural Life

Tag: cookies

Sharing Cookies

Sharing Cookies

Some of the first ever comics I did on this blog were about Hugh’s obsession with cookies. I’ve talked about how most Korean homes don’t have ovens so people don’t bake at home. Discovering how good cookies (or biscuits in Aussie English) actually are was a revelation for Hugh. While we are in Australia he has been eating as many as he can. The first day we arrived in Australia he said, “So, who is going to make me cookies?” My brother made him some and I’ve been making them while we are at my parents’ house.

The morning we had to babysit our friend’s kids, I caught him in the act of hiding the cookies in our room. I still gave the twin boys a cookie each and Hugh was horrified when they tried to feed our dog their cookies, and I think one even ended up in the fish pond. A cookie that is, not a twin.

We also have a family recipe for chocolate chip cookies, which I’ve tweaked further for white chocolate chip cookies, that people seem to really like. Hugh loves them most though.

We will both be on diets when we go back to Korea next week.

More Cookies

More Cookies

Since there isn’t really a baking culture in Korea, for some Koreans (my husband in particular) tasting real home made cookies can be like a religious experience. In Korea, cookies (or biscuits in Australian/British English) are just store bought ones and even ones in cafes are not that good. Whenever we are in Australia Hugh demands more and more cookies. There are a lot of people living at my parents’ house so he was very concerned about other people eating the cookies. Several times I caught him trying to hide the container of cookies in our room.

It’s also interesting comparing childhood experiences with Koreans in regards to cooking. For example, baking is a relatively safe activity to do with children and my siblings and I were able to bake and make cakes and cookies from an early age. Since most homes in Korea don’t have ovens, it isn’t possible to get children baking at a young age and other types of cooking (stove top cooking) are more dangerous for young children. Not only are baking skills not learnt early on in Korea, but even buying simple baking items like measuring cups and wooden spoons can be difficult.

Did you learn how to bake when you were young?

Fan Mail

These drawings are from Patrycja who is from Poland but is living in France right now. She chats with my husband about cookies sometimes haha.

hehehe Thanks! This is true, he loves cookies so much.

He had a nice birthday, well birthdays…. the day before what I consider his birthday was his lunar calender birthday which is what many Koreans consider the real birthday.

Yay delicious dumplings! How exciting!

And this package is from CYah! She lives in Brunei, which is part of the island Borneo. I have been to Borneo, but the Indonesian part, when I did some volunteer work at a Sun Bear sanctuary there. I saw the proboscis monkeys there, which are so cool, so she has seen me a toy one. Proboscis monkeys are only found in Borneo. So cute!

Look at all the lovely things. Now I will have to visit Brunei! Thank you so much!

(That’s my husband’s Snoopy in the background).

Cookies

So it’s not like Koreans don’t have cookies* it’s just they don’t usually have home made ones. With many Korean homes not having ovens they don’t do much baking. They have their own variety of store bought cookies (can’t think of the name but I really like those ones that come in the yellow box) but sometimes homemade cookies can be a bit of a revelation for them when they come to somewhere like Australia.

My husband is addicted. He could eat a whole batch of cookies in one sitting. Eventually his obsession became too much and I had to wean him off them and only allow them as a treat because otherwise he wants to eat about 20 a day.

Seriously, when he’d come home from work he’d be like this:

For me, it’s been ingrained in me from my childhood that we should only each 1 or 2 cookies at a time and I feel guilty (and sick) if I eat too many at once. But he has no such guilt. Perhaps that is part of it too- I’ve had my whole life to get used to and to tire of cookies but for him it’s a new discovery.

He also gets upset if I want to share the cookies I’ve just baked with other people- like friends or neighbours. Such an idea usually causes exclamations like “Why??!! No!!!” But I just laugh at a grown man getting so upset about not being to eat all the cookies.

So while most other recipes on this blog will be for Korean food, I thought I’d share this cookie recipe. It’s quite simple, many other choc chip cookies recipes have many more ingredients, but sometimes simple is the best.

Favourite Choc Chip recipe:

Ingredients (Australian measurements)

250 grams of butter (softened)
1/2 cup caster sugar (or just white sugar)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 egg
half cup of choc chips (or 1 cup if you prefer)
1 and 3/4 cups of self raising flour

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C and put baking paper on some oven trays.
2. Put the butter and both sugars into a bowl and mix with electric beaters on a medium speed.
3. Add the egg and vanilla essence to the bowl. Mix with electric beaters until it becomes lighter and and fluffier (about 4 mins).
4. Add the choc chips and half the flour to the bowl. Mix with a wooden smooth and then add the rest of the flour.
5. Make the mixture into balls and put on trays. Bake in oven for 15 mins. Take out trays and let them cool for 5 mins on trays.
6. Hide from your Korean husband.

* the words cookies and biscuits in Australia are somewhat interchangeable. ‘Cookie’ is more American but since Koreans are used to American English I use the word cookie more with my husband.

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