Chocolate & Hazelnut Hunks

These cookies have altered my life. And maybe my dress size.

 

Chunks of crunchy, hazelnutty, chewy cookie, stuffed with pools of rich dark chocolate & a shortbread-esq buttery crust. Straight from my kitchen to your oven.

I like to bake a batch of these on Sunday mornings and stash them away for a naughty weekday treat. There's nothing in this world which makes jump out of bed on a Monday morning faster than a hunk, not even the manly, rugged breed.

What can I say? Hazelnuts and chocolate do it for me.

For 20 of your own delicious little hunks, go grab yourself: 

225g unsalted butter, softened

225g caster sugar

170ml Carnation Condensed Milk

350g self-raising flour, sifted

175g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids min), chopped

100g hazelnuts, roasted and chopped
A few sheets of cling film

Each batch makes enough dough for two sittings. I keep half of my dough wrapped in cling film, tucked away at the back of the fridge in the event of an emergency, (discovering TOWIE has clashed with Law & Order, a missing iPhone charger...)

I'd suggest you do the same.

Righto. In a bowl, cream together your sugar and butter until pale and smooth.

Pour in the condensed milk with or without singing high-low-chicka-low.

Give it a good whisk, sift in your flour and stir as you go.

When it begins to form a dough-like substance, grab your nuts.

Toast them over a low heat for a couple of minutes until they're good and hot.



And whizz them up in a processor until broken up but still chunky.

Pour your crumbled hazels into your cookie dough and fetch your chocolate.

Chop into bite size chunks and invite it into the mix.

Stir it all together until well combined and looking fine and dandy.

Empty it out onto a flat surface...

Divide into two even balls...

And roll them out into sausage shapes.

Pop your cookie sausage on top of a sheet of cling film and wrap it up nice and tightly.

Repeat with the remaining ball of cookie dough.



Pop them in the fridge for as long as possible, but even one hour will work wonders.

Now, the hard part. Stay busy, stay strong & whatever you do, stay away from the cookie dough. Ten minutes before cooking time, preheat the oven to 180C.

When it's thoroughly chilly grab one cookie sausage from the fridge & a sharp knife.

Chop your dough into chunky segments, around ten cookies per roll.

Pop them on a baking tray and into the oven for ten minutes or until slightly tanned but gooey in the centre. They will continue to harden whilst cooling, so even if you think they're not ready just yet, chances are they're pretty darn perfect.

Leave them to cool and serve up with jars of frothy ice cold milk.

The remaining cookie sausage will keep for a whole week at the back of the fridge, however if it manages to survive that long I would strongly suggest you see some kind of professional doctor immediately.

Hunky dory.

Cookies & Cream Hot Fudge Melts

I’m not sure I should even be sharing this with you.

What you’re about to witness is classed as a criminal offence in seventeen countries and is punishable by death. Baring that in mind, this stays between you and me. Ok?

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Cookies & Cream Hot Fudge Melts.

  

I’m actually sat here eating one as I type. My hands are sticky and I’ve got fudge sauce dripping down my chin, but I’m afraid that’s just how the cookie crumbles.

Getddit?! The cookie crumbles! Ok. I'm sorry.

As you can probably tell, I’ve totally ditched the January diet. If you, like me, would rather eat your own foot than face another bowl of shrubbery, this one's for you.

If you, unlike me, are still nibbling on green beans for lunch, then get that sculpted ass of yours back in the kitchen. You’re right on time for a well-deserved reward.



I don't need to tell you that these are a total crowd pleaser, you already know that.

To make four Cookies & Cream Hot Fudge Melts, go fetch yourself:

1 x tub of your favourite ice cream - I like the vanilla Häagen-Dazs variety
1 x pack of ready made cookie dough (obviously you could make this yourself, but with this sneaky trick you can have your Melts ready to go in under 20 minutes)

And for the hot fudge sauce:
100g dark chocolate, 70% cocoa minimum
1/2 cup golden syrup
1/2 cup icing sugar
1/2 cup double cream
2 tbsp coca powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
A pinch of salt

Preheat your oven to 200°c and follow the instructions on the packet. Simples.

(If you're making your cookies from scratch, divide your dough into eight, place on a lined baking tray about 6cm apart and bake for 10 - 15 minutes.)

Done? Good. Whilst your cookies are in the oven, get your hot fudge sauce going.

Break your chocolate into little pieces and heat in a bowl over a saucepan filled with boiling water. When it's melted, add your cocoa powder and stir until combined.

Remove from the heat and pour in your golden syrup, cream, sugar and vanilla.

Give it a good stir and add a touch of salt. You really don't want to over salt it, you just want to counteract the bitterness of the chocolate.

Have a taste and exercise every ounce of self control you possess by banning yourself from drinking the whole lot right then and there. Keep it somewhere warm and go check on your cookies.

You want them soft, chewy and beautiful. Put them to one side to cool (remember they'll keep cooking for a few minutes) and grab your ice cream.

Scoop out a ball of ice cream and pop it on top of a cookie. I was very greedy with my serving and ended up squidging a good hunk of it back out - you've been warned.

Drizzle your warm chocolate fudge on top (ohmigod!) and stay in that position until you feel you can drizzle no more, without going up a full dress size within the hour.

The ice cream will melt from the heat of your fudge, so grab your hat nickety split!

Pop it on top and give everything a little squish. Check out the ooze on that, right?

I was feeling especially naughty and topped mine with even more fudge sauce. I read somewhere that this was the recommended approach among professional cookie samplers and was forced to oblige. Who am I to disagree?

Once you've polished it off, play with the melted excess whilst recovering from your food coma. You're going to need some serious recovery time after this one. Promise.

Let me know how yours turn out. I absolutely LOVE seeing your photos which you've been instagramming me right here. Make sure you tag me @petticoatandpie

You can also upload them to Petticoat and Pie's brand new Facebook page right here where you can keep up to date with new posts, pictures and my little rants.