Cracked Chocolate Brownie Cookies

I stumbled across these bloody delicious morsels on a hunt for dairy free chocolate cake recipes. At first glance I wasn't convinced... Cookies without chocolate chips? Surely thats blasphemy? But these little buggers looked so pretty I figured I'd give it a go anyway, and I'm bloody well glad I did!

Not only do these circular drops of delight look impressive, but they taste phenomenal. You know how the corner bit of a tray of brownies is always extra good due to the 'crust' to gooey centre ratio? Thats what makes these so fantastic. They are wonderfully soft in the centre but have a satisfying hardened (not crunchy mind you...) exterior and the icing sugar coating doesn't just have aesthetic appeal, it really sets off the flavour of the cocoa. Lip smackingly tastey and guaranteed to be gone within minutes, give them a go guys... you will NOT be disappointed. 

Ingredients:

85g Cocoa powder

400g Caster Sugar

250g Plain Flour

125ml Vegetable Oil

2 tsps Vanilla Extract

2 tsps Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

60g Icing Sugar

4 eggs

Quick note before we start boys and girls: Usually I'm a huge advocate of the electric mixer when baking, however with this recipe there is honestly no need for one as its just as easy if not easier by hand. I'd recommend a rubber spatular (like this) over a wooden spoon as its useful when incorporating all the ingredients that get stuck to the sides of the bowl etc.




In a large bowl mix the caster sugar, vegetable oil and cocoa together. Beat in the eggs one at a time and pop the vanilla extract in there too.

Add the flour, baking powder and salt to the bowl and use folding and figure of eight motions to make sure everything is well and truly mixed.

Cover the bowl over with a clean tea towel and chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours (I tend to do all this prep in the evening and then leave it over night so I can have freshly baked cookies the following day).

Once your mixture has chilled the fuck out it's time to get ballin'. First preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Then get a baking tray ready by covering with either a non-stick teflon sheet or some baking parchment. Use a metal dessert spoon to scoop one dollop of chocolatey goodness at a time from the mix and roll into around 2.5 cm balls (don't worry about being exact here, but keeping them roughly the same size looks neater and means they'll all bake evenly).

Add the icing sugar to a small bowl, roll each ball in the powdered white scrumminess so its completely covered and place on your baking tray. Leave a good couple of inches between each sugar coated globe and give every one a little pat on the head just to ensure the cookie will spread slightly (and for being such a good chocolatey ball of yumminess of course).

Bake for around 8-12 minutes. Cookies will 'crack', expand and harden slightly when ready. Use a clean knife and insert into the centre of a chosen test victim, if it comes out clean then whip em out coz those suckers are done, done, done!

NOM.