Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

These cookies were amazingly easy to make, but a little messy to put onto the baking sheet, so I respectfully recommend wearing a pair of disposable rubber gloves!  This quantity makes about 24 cookies

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

175g Plain Chocolate, chopped  into chunks
50g Butter, chopped into chunks
175g Plain Flour
2 Eggs, at room temperature
150g Caster Sugar
1tsp Vanilla Extract
60g Icing Sugar

Melt the chocolate & butter in a bowl - either over a pot of simmering water or in a microwave until glossy & smooth.  Allow to cool for about 10 minutes before using, so it doesn't scramble the eggs!

Using either a food processor or an electric whisk, beat the eggs & sugar together until pale - this takes about 2 minutes.  Add the butter & chocolate and the vanilla extract and mix.  Add the flour and mix thoroughly.  The mixture will be thick & truffle-like.

Pour into a lidded container and refridgerate for at least 90 minutes - overnight is even better.

When you're ready to make the cookies, heat your oven to 160c/140c fan/Gas Mark 3.  Line two cookie sheets with baking parchment and remove the mixture from the fridge.

Grab a metal tablespoon or icecream spoon, pour your icing sugar into a shallow bowl and don those rubber gloves!

Use your spoon or scoop to make golf-ball sized lumps of dough, roll them in your glove-clad hands into a ball shape and then roll  in the icing sugar. 

Place on the baking sheet - leaving plenty of space as they do expand during baking - prod them to flatten them out slightly and bake for 12-15 minutes until the edges are set and the centres are soft.  Leave to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes and then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.