These chewy chocolate biscuits are easy to make with children. You can give them a Rolo centre or use Smarties or whatever you prefer!

Another recipe pulled from my Mum’s recipe folder. It’s from BBC GoodFood Magazine once again but this time it doesn’t seem to be available online. So you’ll just have to take my word for it!

Ingredients (makes 24 – 30 biscuits)

• 225 g /  8 oz butter or margarine, softened
• 225 g /  8 oz caster sugar
• 2 egg yolks (I used the whites to make a batch of my almond and coconut macaroons)
• 2 tbsp milk
• 250 g /  9 oz plain flour
• 30 g / 1 oz cocoa powder
• 3 packets of Rolos or any chocolate covered toffees. You can also use Smarties or other chocolate of your choice!

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees C (or 160 if you have a fan oven)/ Gas Mark 4 / 350 degrees F. Grease and line two baking sheets with greaseproof paper.

Cream the butter and sugar together. Beat the egg yolks in a cup and then add to the butter and sugar mixture. Stir until combined. Put the milk in the eggy cup, swirl to rinse the cup and then add to the mixture. Stir again.

Sift the flour and cocoa powder into the wet mixture. Stir well until you have a consistent dough. You can use your hands to form the dough if you find that easier. I used a wooden spatula. When the dough comes together in a ball, wrap it in clingfilm and put it in the fridge for half an hour. If you’re in a hurry you can move on to shaping the dough straight away, but it is easier to work with when cold.

Shape the dough into small balls. This is where small pastry chefs can be of help to you! Children are usually pretty good at rolling and shaping dough. You might struggle to stop them eating the sweets though! I used an ice cream scoop to help me to get consistently sized rounds (not a foolproof method, as you’ll see from the pictures).

Put the chocolate dough balls on a baking sheet, spacing them at least 3 cm (1.5 inches) apart to leave them space to spread while baking. Push a Rolo into the middle of each dough ball to flatten it slightly. This will probably be the favourite part of any small people who may be helping you.

Or you can use Smarties…

Bake for 12-15 minutes until the chocolate biscuits look dry on top and a little cracked (see photos below). Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the tray for about 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

These are best enjoyed when still slightly warm from the oven and the toffee will still be extra soft. However, they’re also delicious when cool and will keep for a few days in an air-tight container (yeah, like they’ll last that long! ha!).

 

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Looking for some other biscuit/ cookie recipes? Try these!

 

Two-tone chocolate and vanilla biscuits.

 

 

 

 

 

Melting moments; custard powder butter cookies.

 

 

 

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Claire Huston / Art and Soul