SOFT HAZELNUT CHOCOLATE COOKIES

If you're the type of person to favour crunchy cookies over soft, gooey, melt-in-the-mouth goodness, you better walk away slowly. We're not going to get along very well. This Nigel Slater recipe is just that, and a little bit more too. I've been making these for years, ever since I first discovered the recipe, and I've yet to come across a person who doesn't like them. Easy to whip up a batch, not easy to keep around for long. Just how it should be. 

• INGREDIENTS
  Makes 12 large cookies
  
  
  200g/7oz dark chocolate at least 70% cocoa solids
  75g/3oz butter
  225g/8oz light muscovado sugar
  2 free-range eggs
  1tsp vanilla extract
  25g/1oz skinned hazelnuts
  25g/1oz ground almonds
  150g/5¼oz self-raising flour
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  METHOD
• 1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. 
  
  
  2. Snap the chocolate into pieces in a small heatproof glass bowl. Place the bowl over a small pan
  of simmering water, with the base of the bowl not quite touching the water. Allow the chocolate to melt. Don't be tempted to stir it, other than to occasionally push any unmelted chocolate down into the liquid chocolate to encourage it to melt. Turn off the heat as soon as the chocolate has melted.
• 3. Cream the butter and sugar together in a food processor until smooth and creamy. Break the eggs and vanilla extract in a small bowl or jug, whisk just enough to break up the eggs, then add the mixture gradually to the butter and sugar, beating constantly. It is worth scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula from time to time to ensure a thorough mixing. Add the melted chocolate and continue to mix.
• 4. Toast the hazelnuts in a shallow pan until golden, shaking regularly so they colour evenly. Pour the hazelnuts onto a clean tea towel or kitchen roll and rub to remove the skins. Chop up roughly and add to the mixture, along with the flour and ground almonds.
• 5. Place large, heaped tablespoons of the mixture on to a baking tray lined with baking parchment. You should get twelve large biscuits. The mixture is fine to sit for a few minutes if you are cooking them in two batches. Don't be tempted to flatten the cookies, they will do so in the oven anyway.
• 6. Bake the cookies for 9-10 minutes. The cookies will have spread and be very soft to the touch. Remove them from the oven and set aside to cool a little. As soon as they are cool enough to move without breaking, slide a palette knife underneath and carefully lift them onto a cooling rack.
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