Cardamom and cocoa cookies

The Christmas hampers were well received! I had great fun making them - it was a great week of cooking. We still have to wait and see how the chutney turns out but everything else was scoffed in record time (even considering all the other Christmas goodies tempting everyone).

The cookies I included in the hamper are a favourite of mine. The recipe is from Anna Hansen's book, The Modern Pantry. We visited the restaurant for brunch recently too (in fact, we couldn't go without trying a bit of everything, so we had a three-course brunch consisting of pastries followed by a hot main dish and finished off with some of their lovely truffles). It goes without saying that it was all delicious!

Cocoa and cardamom cookies

Makes 16 cookies

80g unsalted butter
175g soft brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
200g dark chocolate, melted
110g plain flour
40g good quality cocoa powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon of ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon salt
150g macadamia nuts, lightly toasted and chopped

Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, then gradually beat in the egg, followed by the melted chocolate. Sift the dry ingredients together and fold them in, followed by the macadamia nuts. If the dough is too soft to handle, chill it in the fridge for 20 minutes or so, until it is manageable, then roll it into 16 balls.

Arrange them 5 cm apart on baking trays lined with baking parchment and place in an oven preheated to 150 degrees Celcius. Bake for 15 minutes, until just firm, then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool.