This is a short bonus episode of the Good Food Podcast, hosted by Samuel Goldsmith, focused entirely on delivering a single recipe from baker and author Edd Kimber. Goldsmith briefly introduces the context: a wider conversation with Kimber covered the history of chocolate, the argument that chocolate should cost more, and Kimber's new book, Chocolate Baking. Kimber also made the bold claim that cookies are the one thing he makes better than anyone else. The featured recipe is Edd Kimber's hot cross bun cookies, sourced from olivemagazine.com, a sister publication to Good Food. The recipe yields 18 cookies and draws on classic hot cross bun flavour profiles reimagined in cookie format. Dry ingredients include rolled oats, desiccated coconut, raisins, candied peel, plain flour, soft light brown sugar, ground cinnamon, mixed spice, and sea salt flakes. The wet component is made by melting unsalted butter with golden syrup, then adding bicarbonate of soda and boiling water to create a foaming reaction before immediately combining with the dry mix. The dough is divided into 18 balls, placed on lined baking trays five centimetres apart, and baked at 180 degrees centigrade for 15 minutes. A distinctive mid-bake technique involves removing the trays halfway through and pressing each cookie flat with a glass to form a disc roughly one centimetre thick. After baking, the cookies cool on a wire rack before decoration. The icing is made from icing sugar, milk, and vanilla paste mixed to a toothpaste-like consistency, then piped in a cross pattern onto each cookie. Desiccated coconut is immediately sprinkled over the piped lines to cover them, replicating the visual of a traditional hot cross bun. The host advises working one cookie at a time as the icing sets quickly. The finished cookies keep for three to four days, with a crisp texture on day one that softens over subsequent days, both versions described as equally enjoyable. The episode closes with a prompt to visit goodfood.com or download the Good Food app for further recipes and inspiration.
