We Should Cocoa: Chocolate Crackles

This month's We Should Cocoa is hosted by Rebecca at BakeNQuilt who has challenged us to make cookies.  Last month's vegetable packed challenge round up can be found here.  You can read all about We Should Cocoa and the past challenges here.  

 

There is a man who gets on the train at the same platform as me every evening.  He has that kind of geezer swagger; you know the type I mean, legs open wide, newspaper flapping.  And every day, on that platform, he manages to get in front of me and get on the train first, even though I am there well before him every time. 

I'm not saying that because I have girl parts that I deserve to get on the train first, I'm simply saying that it's just a bit rude to push in front of someone who is there before you. Every day. 

 

It's lead me to the conclusion that I am, in fact, invisible. 

Something else that's invisible is the magic that happens in your oven when you make these.  You can make this magic visible by sprawling yourself across the kitchen floor and watching them bake.  Honestly. It's pretty cool to watch the cracks appear.  One day, I'll get on the train before him. I'll be visible too. 

We live in hope.

Ingredients

120gr dark chocolate

60gr soft room-temperature butter

135gr soft light brown sugar

1 egg

60gr cocoa powder

120gr self raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

40ml milk

Icing sugar

Method

1, Melt the dark chocolate in a bain marie until completely smooth and set to one side.

2, Beat the butter and brown sugar together until fluffy. 

3, Beat in the egg and the dark chocolate.

4, Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt together into a separate bowl.

5, Alternate adding the sifted dry ingredients together with the milk and mix until you have a completely combined batter. Don't freak at this point, the batter will look really soft.  It will firm up in the fridge. 

6, Line a bowl with clingfilm, add in the batter and top with a layer of clingfilm.  This needs to be refridgerated for a minimum of 30 minutes but the longer you leave it, the more manageable it will be. 

7, When you are ready to start baking, preheat your oven to 175o/c and line two baking sheets with greaseproof paper. 

8, Sift some icing sugar into a small bowl. Divide the batter into 24 lumps, roll in your hands and then roll in the icing sugar until completely covered. It will have the consistency of soft  chocolate ganache that is ready to be rolled into truffles. Don't be tempted to knock off the excess icing sugar, we want these to be completely covered with a thick layer of icing sugar.  

9, Place 12 balls on each baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes until they are crackled and slightly firm to the touch on the edges. Leave to cool on the baking sheet before peeling off.  They have a soft almost cake like texture and are soft when they first come out of the oven.