It’s SWOTVAC, so with exams next week what’s a girl to do but eat cookies, drink tea, desperately cram knowledge into her brain and dream of the holidays that are less than 2 weeks away? I really worked to perfect this delicious little cookie recipe last week, a dream come true for any lover of the fragrant, sensual, indulgent combination of dark chocolate and orange. Laced with nutmeg and a little salt, these giant cookies have perfectly crispy edges that give rise to a chewy, soft centre. Served warm, generous chunks of melted dark chocolate flow from each mouthful, as warm, salty crumbs cling to your lips. The undeniable magic in the marriage of salt and chocolate completely seals the deal…these cookies are bound to leave you charmed.
Top tip; refrigerating cookie dough overnight before baking helps the cookies to spread evenly in the oven, giving higher, rounder, chewier cookies!
Salted Dark Chocolate and Orange Cookies
Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes, plus overnight refrigeration (optional)
INGREDIENTS
- 115 g dark brown sugar
- 100 g raw caster sugar
- 115 g unsalted butter, cubed and at room temperature
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 215 g plain flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
- 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
- 1 fresh nutmeg seed, finely grated, or 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 180 g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
- zest of 1 large orange
- 20 g sea salt flakes (a handful)
METHOD
- Beat the sugars and butter on medium speed for 8-10 minutes, until pale, creamy and thick. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula every few minutes. The mixture will reach a ‘wet sand’ stage first, but should end up looking like a tan-coloured whipped cream.
- Add the egg and vanilla, and beat for another minute to combine.
- In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cocoa powder, salt and nutmeg. Turn the beater to low speed, and add the dry ingredients one spoonful at a time until combined.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the chocolate and orange zest, and beat again on very low speed for 30 seconds.
- Line 2 large baking trays with greaseproof paper. Roll the dough into golfball sized balls, place on the tray with about 5 cm of space around each cookie to allow for spreading, and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight. If you don’t have enough time (or self-restraint, no shame), then bake the cookies straight away.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F fan-forced. If you refrigerated the cookies, place them on the freshly lined trays. Sprinkle salt flakes on each cookie, and bake for 13 minutes from the fridge, or 11 minutes from room temperature.
- Leave the tray to cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then place the cookies directly on the wire rack and leave until just cool enough to eat!
Store the cookies in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
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