“Anna, please make sure we have extra crunchies and extra choc chip cookies on our morning game drive tomorrow.” This is a very common request from our guests, and who wouldn’t want lots!
These are possibly the most sought-after recipes from all of our guests and the most regularly baked sweet delights… So much so that Brite, our Londolozi baker, sets aside a weekly afternoon to top up the cookie containers’ ever-dwindling contents.
A close second to the breads, Brite spends an entire afternoon baking the Chocolate Chip Cookies and Crunchies
So, let’s start with the famous Chocolate Chip Cookies… Not only a favourite with our guests, but our bush babes as well. One of my most treasured times during the morning in the Londolozi Kitchen, is when I am visited by the little people of Londolozi to have just one cookie!
Londolozi’s Legendary Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Cup / 227g Butter
- 2 Cups / 240g All purpose flour
- 1 Teaspoon Bicarbonate of soda
- 1 Cup / 200g White granulated sugar
- 2 ½ Cups / 270g Rolled oats
- 1 Cup / 200g Brown sugar
- 2 Eggs
- 1 Teaspoon Baking powder
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla essence
- 150g Dark chocolate chips
- 150g White chocolate chips
- 1/2 Cup Macadamia nuts
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180°C / 356°F
- Cream the butter and the sugars together
- Add the eggs and the vanilla and mix well
- Add the oats, salt, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda
- Mix in the chocolate chips and the nuts (if you don’t like white chocolate, you can use all dark)
- Roll mixture into balls and press out onto a baking sheet
- Bake for 10 – 15 minutes until your kitchen is smelling glorious and the cookies are golden brown!
Tracker Sersant Sibuyi quietly appreciates the perfect combination of the Chocolate Chip Cookies and cup of coffee…
Now for Londolozi’s Safari Crunchie…
Just one is never enough!
Londolozi’s Safari Crunchie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ½ Cup / 135g Oats (rolled oats, porridge oats)
- 1 Cup / 100g Desiccated coconut
- 1 Cup / 120g All purpose flour
- ½ Cup / 100g Granulated sugar
- 1 Teaspoon Bicarbonate of soda
- 125ml / 119g Butter, melted
- 2 Tablespoons Maple syrup or golden syrup
Method
- Pre heat the oven to 150°C / 302°F
- Combine the dry ingredients together in a bowl
- Melt the butter and syrup together in a pot
- Mix the dry ingredients together with the butter and syrup
- Place the mixture onto a greased baking tray and, using your fingers, flatten to smoothen
- Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown
- Allow to cool slightly and then cut into even squares
- When completely cooled, remove the squares and store in an air tight container
Soft in the middle and crunchy on the outside – a perfect way to enjoy your morning coffee on safari… let alone during lockdown!
Anna’s Tip – before cutting into the squares, spread some melted chocolate over the Crunchies for more decadence!
So here lies the ultimate question, argued by different guests for generations… which is your favourite, the Cookie vs the Crunchie? Let me know in the comments below.
Happy Baking, and remember to keep an eye out for more deliciousness with Londolozi’s Lockdown Larder!
The best Anna, either of them, on the drive or reaching into the jar first thing in the morning and last thing at night
Thanks Kenneth! and they’re deemed healthy enough to eat throughout the day!
Anna thank you soooo much forvthe recipes. Desmond love the choc chip cookies. I am a huge fan of the crunchies. Going to try it this week. We seem to want something sweet and indulgent with our tea at 11. Must be the cold weather.
Thanks Marinda! There’s nothing wrong with ‘elevenses’ – glad you’ve been able to make them for Desmond
Never liked forced choices!!! Crunchie tops the chocolate chip cookie by a whisker!
(Luckily our guides require no such choices.)
Thanks Vin! i’ll remember that for your next visit!
I loved the chocolate chip cookies when I was there. Going to try this recipe. Thank you!
Thanks Mary! They’re easy to make and keep for a while in an airtight container
Anna, loved all the recipes🤗
Hi Anna,
Your “greens” soup is now a staple! Yummy! I will amend your oat crunches with gluten-free flour and a great new sweetener – Monkfruit granules. It tastes exactly like sugar with no glycemic index and weird aftertaste. It comes in packages and looks like brown cane sugar. Do you have it in SA? I’ll bring some next May. I am so sad we had to cancel this July. Andee Burrell
Thanks Andee! I haven’t heard of that before, so please do bring some in May and i can taste it. Sorry to not see you in July as well, but keep watching the blog and you’ll feel as though you’re with us!
Asking me which is my favorite is like the proverbial, “Which is your favorite child?” The only answer is “Both!”
Ha Ha Tom! I’ll make sure you have both then on your next safari! Love to Sherry!
Thank you so much for sharing these two wonderful recipes. My mouth is watering and I’m going to make them tomorrow!
Dearest Anna. This is unfair… Don’t you know that most people put at least 3 kilos on during confinement? You are not helping to solve the problem… But be reassured, by the time we are back to Londolozi, everyone will again rush to your delicious cookies and bread. Get ready! Congratulations to Brite.
Merci Jacqueline! J’ai hâte de vous voir bientôt et nous pouvons pratiquer mon français. J’ai essayé de m’améliorer! I hope you and Yves are safe.
Oh Anna, I can’t choose! They’re both fantastic. I’ll be baking these over the weekend and share with friends who don’t enjoy cooking or baking.
Are the crunchies the same ones that lived in a jar on my coffee stand in my room? I totally confess to the thievery of placing half the contents of the jar into a ziplock bag as a snack for my trip back to the US. Thank you for sharing these recipes!
Thanks Denise! yes, these are the ones that lived in the jar! Let me know how your baking goes over the weekend!
Hello Anna,
Success with the crunchies! Easy, delicious like yours but I miss the views and all of you. Sunday is chocolate chip cookie day… I’d send photos but not sure how to attach them. Thank you so much for your recipes!!
Thanks for the lovely recipes! I’ll try them out and while eating the cookies imagine I am in Londolozi .
Thanks Christa! Bake the cookies and listen to a blog or one of Boyd’s podcasts and you will be closer!
We love them both and can’t wait to get back in 2021 to savor them in person once again. Thanks, Anna!!!
Thanks Bob & Lucie! there really is no competition i agree! Look forward to 2021!
Both lookabsolutely delicious Anna. Will try each of them for my lockdown treat. Thank you for sharing with us. Hoping that all at Londolozi are well and staying safe.
Crunchies win for sure! Can’t get enough of them!
Thanks Anna. I’d better get baking!
Thanks Al! Hope you are well! Yes, get baking and let me know how it all goes!
My grandmother made crunchies that we took on our trips to the Kruger in the 1970s and 1980s. So this is the truly South African treat that transports me instantly to some of my fondest childhood memories.
Thanks Alex – i can imagine driving around the Kruger with a crunchie or five, must have been a serious treat! Hope you will make them and relive that beautiful memory!
Just bought some rolled oats and golden syrup …
Yum Anna – agree with Marinda re sweet treats with our morning (or more likely any time!) Tea on these colder mornings and love the photo of those two Little People – magic expressions.
Thanks Mum! missing the bush babes for sure!
Yum! Need to make a batch of each soon!
Hi Anna…
Thank you for sharing you amazing recipes! The food at Londolozi is always wonderful. One of my favorite’s was your morning granola… I still dream about it here in California wishing I had some for breakfast! Would ♥️
if you could share…. yummmm
Thanks Barbi! hope you enjoy baking!
Crunchies are my fave! Not a big fan of any chocolate chip cookie but yours are definitely a cut above!
👌🏻🙏🏻💕
Anna, You are talking about two of our favorites! We are so proud to serve the “Crunchies” in our restaurant – of course they are known as Londolozi Crunchies here! 🙂
On our last visit Anna was kind of enough to give us the crunchie recipe. I made them the first time at home during the first few weeks of Covid lockdown here in South Carolina and they were wonderful and reminded us of such good times that helped sustain us through those weeks. We can’t wait to see you all again very soon!
Yum, will have to try both! Thank you for sharing, we love the chocolate chip most of all but maybe make a sandwich out of the mix! lol
Hi Anna, we are so sorry to hear you are leaving and due to our trip in November being delayed to next year, we’ll miss seeing you. Our days from Londolozi are filled with memories of starring with crunchies and ending with whatever you and your magical staff delighted us with in the evenings. There can be no best when every day and experience was simply perfect. We wish you all the best Anna!
We are doing an African theme for my birthday tomorrow and I cannot wait to have these mid morning with my coffee! Thanks so much for sharing!