As we rattle through October, I think it’s probably time to ignore the fact that it’s only 10 full weekends until Christmas (sorry!) and cheer ourselves up with a spot of easy baking. And what better way to lift the spirits than with chocolate?
Now, I’m not one for adding things to chocolate; I think it’s pretty damn good on its own, and for me many additions are just terrible.
Chocolate with red fruit is one of the biggest disasters modern cooking has dumped upon us; they simply don’t do anything whatsoever for each other. Try a chocolate-dipped strawberry and tell me how it improves either the chocolate or the fresh strawberry. It collapses into a watery, greasy mouthful that, in my opinion, is one of the saddest combinations ever dreamt up.
I’ll admit that cherries work ok, but for me they have to be glacé or confit-ed to work properly.
And I’m totally on board when it comes to pairing orange with chocolate. There’s something that works very well here, and I could munch chocolate-dipped strips of candied orange peel until the cows come home. Coffee, too, is lovely with chocolate, especially when the coffee is deeply-roasted and the chocolate dark and seductive.
Apart from these exceptions, though, I’m happy for chocolate to do its own thing and fruit to do similar. Do not trouble me with pineapple, banana or blueberries!
But there’s one thing that is often blended with chocolate that I am 100% behind, and that is mint, and specifically peppermint. I adore it.
There’s a mouthwatering harmony between the smooth, creamy taste and texture of the chocolate, along with the insistent, powerful intensity of the mint.
My love of minty chocolate comes from way back in my childhood in Dewsbury when, as a little boy, I was tasked with keeping the little glass jars of sweets fully-stocked at our neighbours’ annual Boxing Day whist drive.
Whilst being a diligent boy and dutifully wandering about the dozen or so tables spread about the lower rooms, distributing Jelly Babies and Liquorice Allsorts, I became most fond of the highly addictive mint-flavoured Matchmakers, thin sticks of chocolate crammed with crunchy mint cracknel. There would also usually be a box of After Eights somewhere, and these I ate with almost religious reverence. There was a thrill in the opening of that dark green box, of riffling through the row of black paper cases, and of the final delicious snap of chocolate around that intense mint cream.
And this hankering occasionally resurfaces, and I find myself buying something to cure the craving, be it a mint Aero or some fancy box from Bendick’s.
My friend in New York always brings me a few boxes of the Junior Mints candy – a popular little sweet, like little round After Eights – and these remain unopened in the cupboard until I can no longer resist the call of the minty chocolate.
So, this week, a cheekily-named combination of these great flavours. I thought of a nice soft cocoa cookie, but with nuggets of mint, and the best way to do this was, I reckoned, to go back to the very first thing I ‘cooked’ – peppermint cream. This slab of pure minty sugar is often the first thing primary school kids get to play at to pique their interest in cookery, and I thought it would add the required intense minty-ness with ease and without melting.
You could make great ice-cream sandwiches with these cookies, too. Imagine a big scoop of mint-choc-chip squished between two of these.
Chocolate mint heaven for those of us who can’t quite shake the addiction.
For the cookies:
200g unsalted butter, at room temperature
300g soft brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
300g self-raising flour
80g cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
For the peppermint chips:
1 free-range egg white
The juice of half a lemon
400g icing sugar
½-1 teaspoon peppermint extract
Extras:
150g chocolate chips (or chopped dark chocolate)
Maldon salt
Baking parchment
Method:
To make the peppermint chips, whisk the egg white until it reaches a soft peak, then add the lemon juice and mix. Sift in the icing sugar and add the peppermint.
Whisk together and bring to a smooth soft dough-like consistency with your hands. Taste and add more peppermint if necessary.
Roll out to about a centimetre in thickness with a little extra icing sugar and cut into thin strips. Cut these into small nuggets and set aside to firm up while you prepare the cookie dough. In the bowl of a mixer, or using a hand-mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, then beat in the vanilla extract.
Add the eggs, one by one, and whisk until fully incorporated. In a separate bowl, sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder together.
Add the flour mixture to the butter in thirds, mixing well each time, creating a smooth mixture. When all the flour is added, gently fold in the chocolate chips.
Line a large baking tray with baking parchment and heat the oven to 180ºC / Gas 4.
Dollop generous tablespoons of the cookie mixture on to a baking tray, remembering not to flatten the spoonfuls too much – this helps the cookies stay plump and moist.
Dot with a few nuggets of peppermint cream, sprinkle with a little Maldon salt and bake for 10-12 minutes until they are slightly flattened and have become a little crusty on top.
Cool on the trays until set enough to transfer to a wire rack for further cooling.
