It’s Spring – and I love to see the bright colours of the flowers coming out in the parks and gardens, especially when the sun shines. That’s inspired me this month to bake these delicious chocolate cookies, which are very easy to make and have the extra treat of the pretty SMARTIES on top – you can have fun choosing which colours to use and pressing them into the cookies (and I bet you’ll eat some straight out of the packet while you’re doing it!)
If you haven’t got chocolate essence, then don’t worry about it: it’s not essential (it just gives the cookies a denser taste of chocolate) and you can use vanilla essence instead.
Spring Cookies
You will need
- 75g softened or spreadable butter
- 125g Demerara sugar
- 1 tsp chocolate essence (or vanilla)
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 150g self raising flour
- 1 heaped tablespoon cocoa powder
- a little icing sugar for dusting (optional)
- 1-2 tubes SMARTIES
Makes 12-15 cookies
Children should be supervised by an adult.
This recipe makes approximately 20 cookies
For information on guideline daily amounts please click here.
Method
1. Turn the oven on to 180C (160C fan assisted, 350F, mark 4) to pre-heat. Line two baking sheets with silicon or baking parchment (or grease them thoroughly).
2. Cream the butter and sugar together in an electric mixer until light and fluffy, then add the egg little by little, beating all the time.
3. Fold in the sieved flour and cocoa (I usually don’t bother to sieve flour, but cocoa often has lumps in it, so it’s easiest to sieve them together)
4. Drop dessertspoonfuls of the mixture onto the baking sheets, pushing the mix off the spoon with your finger. Don’t worry if they’re uneven – these cookies aren’t meant to be neat!
5. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until they’re beginning to firm up on top: don’t over-bake them: they will harden as they cool, and you want to leave the centres a bit chewy.
6. Let the cookies cool on the trays for a minute, then dust them with a little icing sugar through a small sieve (a tea strainer is perfect). Press as many SMARTIES as you like into the top of each. Gently lift the cookies onto a rack to cool completely (if you can resist trying them while they’re still warm…).
