Nigel Slater's Chocolate Cookies

Not having a television, I don't get to see cookery programmes very often. However, I do remember seeing an episode of Nigel Slater's Simple Suppers a year or so ago where Nigel made some sumptuous chocolate cookies that have stayed in my mind ever since. When fans Janice of Farmersgirl Kitchen and Sue of A Little Bit of Heaven on a Plate announced a new blog event Dish of the Month, I knew exactly what I wanted to make - in spite of my Healthy January.

As regular readers know, I am incapable of following a recipe exactly as stated - I tend to use recipes as guidelines and like to think that all good recipes are written for this purpose anyway. You will find Nigel's recipe here. Really and truly, I tried hard and fully intended to follow it precisely, because when it comes down to it, who am I to argue with the great Nigel? But then again, I couldn't actually bring myself to use all white flour. Not only do I like to get a little roughage into my baked goods by using spelt or wholemeal flour, but I think it makes them tastier too. As Nigel's recipe is meant to be eaten with raspberries, but hey, it's not raspberry season at the moment, I thought I'd use some raspberry chocolate instead, thereby coming up with my own chocolate, hazelnut and raspberry cookies. I used two bars of Divine's Fairtrade 70% dark chocolate with raspberries.

Although Nigel didn't specify in the recipe to place the cookies well apart, I am an experienced baker and knew that's what I really ought to do. But, I was in a hurry and wanted to get them all on the same baking sheet. Plus I've had a horrible virus which has lasted for over three weeks now and I'm not really thinking straight - that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! So, the inevitable happened and these wonderful cookies spread and all merged into one.

The smell of roasting hazelnuts is just one of the best and in the process of creating these cookies, the house was filled with their gorgeous smell. So, when they came out of the oven, I just couldn't resist eating one straight away. It was warm, soft and toothsome and would make a delicious dessert in its own right with a scoop of ice-cream.

When they cooled down, I tried them again - naturally! My conclusion was that they were chocolate brownies in biscuit form, slightly crisp around the edges, but mostly soft and fudgy. They were very sweet, thoroughly chocolatey and pleasantly hazelnutty with the flavour of raspberries as a fruity backdrop.