Charmander's Chilli Chocolate Chip Cookies

Happy Monday to you lovely souls!

I hope you have all had a lovely week and are looking forward to the week to come. At long last Spring is upon us and I’m currently sat by my bedroom window with nothing but blue skies staring back at me. If anyone reading this is not from the UK, you’ll know that there is a very rare occurrence for British springtime so I’m trying to allow the sun’s optimistic energy to wash over me for as long as it lasts. Therefore, I felt it only time that I finally share a cookie recipe that I have been sitting on for far too long!

This recipe is a merger of my two favourite things: sweet treats and geeking out. When I started the blog, this was actually one of the first recipes I wanted to try and develop. I have always been on the hunt for the perfect cookie recipe and I really wanted to do something that showed my personality. Therefore, I spent a total of two weeks making various batches of cookie recipes until I found something that made me smile. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to say it is completely life changing but if you love a chewy, gooey chocolate chip cookie – then you have come to the right place!

I could have made a regular chocolate chip cookie and not tried to tie in with the Pokémon fandom – but where’s the fun in that? I wanted these cookies to be a representation of one of my favourite starter Pokémon. The fiery, feisty sassy little dragon… Charmander! If you’ve never watched the show, Charmander basically evolves into a very stubborn creature that the main character has to learn to work with. However, when you first meet this Pokémon, it’s just a teeny tiny cute little dragon that has a lot of fire. It reminds me of the Shakespeare quote: “Though she be small, she be fierce”.

Therefore, I wanted these cookies to be slightly misleading. When you first see and smell them, they will look like the best dark chocolate chip cookie that will grace your taste buds. Even when you take your first bite, it will be warm and comforting as the chocolate melts across your tongue. Then she slowly but surely a smoky heat will creep across your palate before you get a gentle smack in the face of fire.

I give you more than just recipes in this blog; I give you an entire experience.

Dramatics aside, this is a really good chocolate chip cookie recipe. I highly recommend tweaking elements of the recipe if you want a different type of cooking experience. I’ve always adored the American-style, soft and chewy cookie so I used two types of sugar. If you like yours a little bit harder, try using only caster sugar. I’ve also heard really great things about browning your butter before you start mixing in the sugar. Basically, go into your kitchen and experiment!

If you do bake these cookies, please tag me on Instagram (@diaryofahopefulcook) and I’ll see you in the next blog post.

Lots of love

Mary xx

Charmander's Chili Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

115 g softened butter

100 g light brown sugar

100 g caster sugar

1 egg

140 g plain flour

20 g cocoa powder

½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon ground ancho chili flakes

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Pinch of salt

100 g dark chilli chocolate

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C fan. Line a large baking sheet with baking paper and set aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the softened butter with the light brown sugar and caster sugar. Beat together until the mixture is pale and fluffy.

3. Crack one egg into the mixture and mix until fully incorporated.

4. Set a sieve over the bowl with your mixture. Add your flour, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda, ground ancho chili flakes, cayenne pepper and salt into the sieve. Sift the dry ingredients into the bowl and mix together to make a dough.

5. Break the chilli chocolate into small chunks or chop with a knife and fold into the cookie dough.

6. To portion, measure the dough with a slightly heaped tablespoon and place it on your lined baking tray. Keep each portion of dough quite spread apart as the cookies will spread when baking.

7. Bake for 5 minutes, then rotate the tray 180° and bake for a further 5 minutes. The edges should feel firm but the middle should still be quite soft. If it looks too soft, bake for a further 3 minutes.

8. Remove from oven and leave to cool on the tray for 5 minutes for transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.