Featured Recipe
Chocolate Brazil Soft-baked Cookies
A brazil nut has the calorie content of half an egg and is especially rich in amino acids so you may feel a mixture of guilt and contentment as you tuck into these delicious biscuits. This recipe was sent to us by Lorna Dowell, another of our National Trust chocolate competition finalists. Lorna was inspired to experiment after a delicious tea at the National Trust site at Dapdune Wharf where she ate soft-baked chocolate chip cookies.
| Preparation time: | 15 minutes |
| Cooking time: | 20 minutes |
| Use: | 6.5cm (2½in) cookie cutter |
| Makes: | 20 |
- 75g (3oz) unsalted butter
- 60g (2½oz) caster sugar
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 175g (6oz) wholemeal self-raising flour
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ tablespoons milk
- 75g (3oz) dark chocolate, minimum 60% cocoa solids, roughly chopped
- 75g (3oz) milk chocolate, preferably 34% cocoa solids, roughly chopped
- 50g (2oz) brazil nuts, chopped
- pinch of salt
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. Grease a baking sheet with melted butter.
Cream together the butter and sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg. Sift the flour once, returning the bran to the sifted flour, then fold it into the mixture.The bran gives a distinctive flavour and texture to the cookies. Beat well, adding the vanilla extract and sufficient milk to make a pliable dough. Mix it with your hands, adding the milk in stages until the dough is fairly soft, but not sticky. Add the chopped chocolate, nuts and salt and distribute evenly through the dough. Roll out on to a lightly floured board to a thickness of about 5mm (¼in). Stamp into rounds and place the cookies, spaced well apart, on the greased baking sheet.
Bake in the centre of the oven for about 20 minutes. Watch them carefully so they don't overcook. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the baking tray for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
HINT: All flour should be sifted before you use it. Sifting flour is important, not just to remove any little foreign bodies that may be in the flour, but also to aerate it.
