Given that my husband is a big fan of chocolate, it seemed only fitting that I explore this Sabrina Ghayour recipe spiced chewy chocolate cookies. I’ve had my eye on it for a few weeks now but was waiting for the time that we had a surplus of eggs to spare and I had a surplus of energy!

Today seemed to be that day. I’d been up early for a nine o’clock appointment with my physiotherapist. It seems my shoulder is now well and truly in the frozen stage now ( 😦 ) but I am largely pain free since the hydrodilation that I had three weeks ago. I then spent some time in the gym (treadmill, cross-trainer and exercise bike) and left feeling a little better about myself. I got home took a little nap, made a lemon chicken and orzo dish for my mother and I, which we ate in the garden and was just lovely. We then went out to do a little shopping and when we came back I had another little nap and then, only then did I feel energised enough to bake a batch of cookies.

I was interested in this recipe because it included chilli powder. I do not recall having used that in cookie recipe before, so I wondered just what that might taste like. I’ve had plenty of chilli chocolate before, little warming pieces of dark chocolate, provided by the chocolate-loving Ignacio. They have been nice and I wanted to see if this would be the same.

I was pleasantly surprised, but not in the way I expected. The chilli aspect of it was pleasant, it added a touch of warm and kick to the taste. However what I was not expecting was the texture. This is labelled as a cookie but because it made of egg whites and icing sugar, I guess they are really like little meringues with their crisp exterior and soft and chewy insides. They were so light and so thin, it was like eating tasty air! They are very moreish. I put a plate of the cookies in front of Ignacio after he had polished off his portion of lemon chicken and orzo, and he managed to eat five in one go. I too found myself unable to resist and ate pretty much the same amount while I pottered around in the kitchen.

I did find that the process of putting the batter onto the baking tray quite tedious. I could only make 9 at a time and there seemed to be plenty of batter. So after the second tray, I wondered if I might put the batter in mould and see what happened. I had bought a mini-bundt/ doughnut tray last month and it was just sitting in my cupboard unused. So this seemed like a good time to experiment.

I had to bake them for twice as long as the original recipe. When I took them out at 12 minutes they were lovely and crispy on the outside but they were relatively too gooey and uncooked inside, so I put them back and let them bake for a little longer.

When I felt that they were ready for consumption, I took them out. They were just as nice and did feel a bit more ‘solid’ and I did not eat quite as many in one go!

In addition to the cookies, I also decided to make an egg yolk lemon cake, as I did not want to waste those beautiful yellow egg yolks.

So now I have an abundance of baked goods to eat next week with my much needed black coffees. I also found a combination of cocoa and spices that I want experiment with to make brownies and cookies with flour.

It’s all good…

Ingredients

• 4 egg whites
• 300g icing sugar, shifted
• 50g cocoa powder, shifted
• Good pinch of salt
• 150g dark chocolate chips
• 3 teaspoons instant espresso, dissolved in 3 teaspoons warm water
• 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
• 25g butter, melted

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 180oC (160oC fan), Gas Mark 4. Line your largest baking tray with baking paper.
• Using an electric hand whisk, whisk the egg whites in a large mixing bowl until stiff peaks form.
• In a separate large mixing bowl, mix the icing sugar, cocoa and salt together, then stir in the chocolate chips. Use a spatula to carefully fold in the beaten egg whites, coffee, vanilla bean paste and spices, ensuring you are folding rather than beating, to incorporate air and prevent the mixture from flattening.
• As soon as you’ve mixed the ingredients together, brush the baking paper on they tray with the melted butter (this will make it easier to remove the baked cookies). Take heaped teaspoons of the mixtures and dollop it on to the baking tray, leaving a gap of 2.5 cm between each cookie – they will spread during baking. (Don’t be tempted to use more than a heaped teaspoon of mixture, as they will become impossible to remove whole once baked.)
• Bake for 12 minutes. The cookies will be soft when you remove them from the oven, but will crisp up as they cool. Leave on the paper to cool, then, using a fish slice, carefully remove them from they tray. This job is slightly fiddly, so be gentle when lifting them off and your patience will be rewarded. Serve immediately.
• Bazaar, Sabrina Ghayour, page 203.