Recipes

"These are great-looking chocolate biscuits studded with dried fruit and nuts. You can decorate them by scattering the nuts and dried fruit over them haphazardly or spend time over an artistic design. Either way, they make thoughtful Easter gifts".




Makes 5

    150 g plain flour
    1 teaspoon baking powder
    15 g cocoa powder
    50 g light brown soft sugar
    65 g unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
    45 g runny honey
    1 teaspoon water

    To decorate
    100 g white chocolate, chopped
    30 g shelled almonds, chopped
    30 g shelled pistachio nuts, chopped
    30 g shelled pecan nuts, chopped (optional)
    30 g dried cranberries, chopped
    an 11-cm high, egg-shaped biscuit cutter
    a baking tray, lined with greaseproof paper

Method

Preheat the oven to 170C (325F) Gas 3.

Put the flour, baking powder, cocoa, sugar, butter and honey in a food processor and pulse until you get crumbs. Add the water and mix until a smooth ball of dough has formed.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and roll out with a rolling pin until about 5 mm thick. Cut out egg shapes with the biscuit cutter and place on the prepared baking tray.

Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes, then leave to cool before decorating.

To decorate, put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water. Do not let the base of the bowl touch the water. Stir until melted.

Brush the melted chocolate over one side of each biscuit with a pastry brush, then scatter the nuts and cranberries over the top. If you prefer, you can arrange the decoration in a pattern.

Leave the chocolate to cool and set before serving. Store in an airtight container away from sunlight for up to 2 weeks.

This recipe comes from Popina Book of Baking by Isidora  Popovic (Ryland Peters & Small), with a foreword by our very own Henrietta Green. Photography by Peter Cassidy, copyright of Ryland Peters & Small.