Chocolate Walnut Muscovado Cookies

Almost every Sunday I bake cookies for Ivan to take to work for his tea pause. So I'm always in search for new cookie recipes. When I'm out of inspiration I stick to the classic shortbread cookie or just transform a recipe I've already done. These cookies fall under the latter case.

We used to make them often at the hotel during the pastry course this summer, since they served them with the coffee. The original recipe, beside of being multiplied by 10, uses hazelnuts – coarsely chopped. But since we are short on hazelnuts and overloaded with walnuts, my choice was obvious. Furthermore Ivan prefers the nuts to be ground, so I took it in consideration. As a consequence, not only the taste but the texture too happened to be very different. However, Ivan liked them, so did his colleagues.

Chocolate Walnut Muscovado Cookies Recipe:
Makes 60 – 70 cookies

• 125 gr butter, soften;
• 2 eggs;
• 150 gr all purpose flour;
• 5 gr baking powder;
• 75 gr ground walnuts;
• 85 gr dark chocolate, cut into small chunks;
• pinch of salt;
• 70 gr light muscovado sugar;
• 60 gr granulated sugar.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Line with silpat or paper 2 baking sheets. I've noticed my oven bakes cookies better if using only the middle rack, so I bake only 1 sheet at a time, but preparing 2 sheets I already have one cooled and ready for cookies to be piped on it.

Combine together the dry ingredients – flour, baking powder, walnuts, chocolate, salt and the two types of sugar.

In a large bowl beat the butter until creamy and fluffy, then beat in eggs, one at a time. Then add in the dry ingredients and mix shortly just till combined. The idea is not to overwork the sugar in order not to melt it. Thus after baking the sugar grains will give a pleasant crunch to the cookies. Transfer to a piping bag equipped with plain tip and pipe the batter onto the baking sheets leaving some space between them. Bake for 6-7 minutes, until golden brown on the edges. The time depends according to the size of cookies. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.