Hi! Welcome to my blog. I am a major foodie, with a haphazard cooking philosophy, currently making that transition from cooking and baking for friends and family to 'wonder if I could make this my career'. Follow me for recipes, the outcomes of a few experiments, and general lovely foodiness. Opinions, reviews and recommendations are all my own.

Thursday 25 July 2013

Aztec Cookies - Random Recipes Big 3-0

Aztec Cookies

I actually made these cookies right at the beginning of the month as soon as Dom announced the Random Recipes challenge, but it's taken me this long to get my act together and write them up. (See previous posts re: loss of mojo and subsequently getting it back) The challenge this month was to celebrate the 30th month of Random Recipes by selecting the 30th recipe from the 30th book on the shelf. 

My 30th book was The Great British Bake Off - How to Turn Everyday Bakes into Showstoppers. The 30th recipe was Aztec Cookies. I tend to have a fail-safe go-to cookie recipe, so this recipe was one that had so far passed me by, and probably would have continued to do so. On closer inspection however, I realised that these cookies contained all the things that are good in the world... chocolate, coffee, white chocolate and glitter! Win!

I made a couple of tweaks to the recipe, changing the flour to wholemeal as it's healthier, and using instant coffee and vanilla bean paste rather than extract as that's what I had to hand. These cookies are soft rather than chewy, and the wholemeal flour gave a really nice texture. I do prefer my cookies of the chewy variety, but I can't fault the flavour combination in these, and I'm a sucker for a sparkly baked treat! 


Ingredients

140 grams dark chocolate
2 tablespoons instant coffee granules 
65 grams salted butter
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
130 grams golden caster sugar
185 grams wholegrain plain flour
100 grams white chocolate

edible gold dust or glitter to finish


Method

Melt the dark chocolate and salted butter together over a bain-marie. Add the instant coffee and stir until completely dissolved. 

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla and sugar. Add the melted chocolate mixture and stir thoroughly. 

Sift in the flour, and fold into the mixture until fully combined. Roughly chop the white chocolate, and add to the mixture. 

Grease a baking tray, and heat the oven to 160 degrees.  Place spoonfuls of the mixture on the tray, leaving space for the cookies to spread. You should be able to fit roughly 6 cookies at a time on the sheet. 

Bake for 10 - 15 minutes, until they are just firm to touch, and the surface is cracked in appearance. Remove the tray, and using a pallet knife, slide the cookies onto a cooling rack. Repeat until you have used all of the mixture. 

Finally, sprinkle a little of the glitter over the still warm cookies for that extra special sparkle. 


Random Recipes is hosted by Dom at Belleau Kitchen





8 comments:

  1. They sound lovely and not just because they sparkle. I can't decide if I prefer soft or chewy cookies - I'll just have to eat both until I make up my mind.

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    1. haha that sounds like the best plan! I do prefer a chewy cookie, however the fact that I made these with wholemeal flour as well was a really nice texture, and kind of tasted healthier too!

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  2. love the sparkle... funnily enough we've had these as an entry before, from the same book... it's as though the random recipes gods are all in alignment... they are so lovely and I think quite an unusual recipe for such a simple sounding cookie... thanks so much for the brilliant entry and for getting it posted, I truly appreciate it x

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    1. I'm so glad I made them, as I really don't think I would have done if not for the challenge - I guess that's the point hey! xx

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    2. These look like they would be perfect for Christmas with that hint of glitz.

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    3. Oh! Don't wait until Christmas! Glitz works at all times of the year!

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  3. Love the cookie bling! And delicious sounding cookies too - yum.

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    Replies
    1. Bling makes everything just that little bit better! Hehe, thanks for dropping by!

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