Try this basic recipe for fail-safe biscuits every time. Make a batch of chocolate chip cookies, or adapt it to include nuts, fruit or your favourite sweets.
Prep: 25 mins
Cook: 10-15 mins
Difficulty: Easy
Serves: 25 biscuits
INGREDIENTS
250g butter, softened
350g light soft brown sugar
2 large eggs
350g self-raising flour
100g cocoa powder
200g chocolate chips or chopped chocolate chunks, or 400g for optional dipping (choose your favourite type)
METHOD
- Beat the butter and sugar together with an optional pinch of sea salt in a bowl until light and fluffy, then beat in the eggs one at a time.
- Sift over the flour and cocoa powder and beat into the butter mix, then fold through the chocolate chips.
- The mix can be made up to 2 days ahead and chilled or frozen for a month, or used straight away.
- To bake, heat oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. If the mix is at room temperature, place evenly spaced spoonfuls on parchment-lined baking sheets, allowing 2 tbsp for each cookie.
- If the mix is fridge cold, you can roll it into 40g balls before baking. The balls can be frozen and the biscuits baked from frozen, but they’ll need a few minutes more.
- Bake for 12-15 mins until spread out and crusty around the outside.
- Leave to cool slightly and enjoy warm, or leave to cool completely and eat cold. The biscuits will keep in a tin for three days.
- As an optional extra, the biscuits can be dipped in chocolate. To do this, melt your chosen type of chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water or in the microwave.
- Leave to cool a little, then dip half of each biscuit in the chocolate and leave them on parchment-lined trays somewhere cool to set.
- Again, the dipped biscuits will keep for up to three days in a tin or lidded plastic container.
Recipe from bbcgoodfood.com
