Chocolate Brownie Biscuits

A few weeks ago I was invited to a friends’ garden party. I love those “bring your own dish” type of get-togethers because they give me a perfect excuse to spend a couple of hours in the kitchen creating a new recipe. Mind you, not that I need an excuse to bake and not that I always mix up something delicious! I have made some less than impressive, to put it nicely, biscuits and cakes in the past… Even with years of experience under my belt baking can still be trial and error. To me, this is actually the beauty of it – the process rather than the end result.

This chocolate biscuits recipe, however, is an absolute winner! If you love chocolate and brownies this one is definitely for you. Heavenly gooey and chewy on the inside and with a light crust on the outside. Unlike many commercial chocolate biscuits found in supermarkets or chain cafes, they are neither too sweet nor too heavy.

Like all of the recipes I have taught over the years, this is no exception; it’s quick and easy, you don’t need any baking experience and it doesn’t call for any sophisticated equipment. What’s more, it’s versatile which in my book means that some ingredients can be easily substituted or left out without affecting the flavour or new ones can be added to tweak the flavour slightly. Almonds are optional; three reasons I use them are: for their nutritional superpowers, fantastic taste and a lovely crunch. Right, enough talk, let’s get baking!

Chocolate Brownie Biscuits

Makes 15 large biscuits, about 8 cm in diameter

Ingredients

• 150g self-raising flour
• 40g good quality cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 100g unsalted butter softened and a little extra for greasing
• 150g soft dark brown sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 100g dark chocolate, chopped (I use dark chocolate containing min 70% cocoa mass but you can go for milk chocolate instead if you prefer a sweeter taste or use half dark, half milk.)
• 50g almonds, chopped (optional)

Method

1. Grease a baking sheet or a tray. Place the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder in a bowl and mix well.
2. In a separate, larger bowl put the butter and sugar together and beat them with an electric whisk until well combined, light and fluffy. It should take about 3 – 4 minutes.
3. Mix in the egg. The colour will slowly change from brown to milky coffee. Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan 160°C.
4. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture. It will soon start turning quite thick so you might need to adjust the speed on your electric whisk to high towards the end. Once all ingredients are combined, fold in the chopped chocolate and almonds.
5. Take a heaped tablespoon of the biscuit mixture and drop it onto the baking sheet. If it’s too thick and too sticky to fall naturally, slide it off the spoon with your finger and flatten it very gently. Important – make sure the distance between the biscuits is about 5 cm as they need plenty of room for spreading.
6. Bake for about 12 minutes. After removing the biscuits from the oven, leave them on the baking sheet or tray until cool and firm. While hot, they are still very soft and will fall apart easily.

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Enjoy!