Hot chocolate biscuits

These biscuits do not require cooling down after baking; they are pure bliss hot from the oven. In fact, they are a bit like a cup of thickly brewed Mexican hot chocolate: creamy, chocolaty, and lightly spiced with cinnamon and a dash of chilli.

You can increase the chilli in the recipe up to ½ teaspoon if you feel brave, but we recommend keeping it down to just a hint of chilli.

Ingredients

  • 175 gram unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup (125 ml) caster sugar
  • 1/3 cup (80 ml) brown sugar, firmly packed
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla
  • 2 cups (250 ml) flour
  • 3 tablespoons (45 ml) cocoa
  • 1 teaspoon (5 ml) ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon (2 ml) salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon (1/2 ml) chilli powder or cayenne pepper
  • 1/8 teaspoon (1/2 ml) ground black pepper, sieved
  • 125 gram bittersweet chocolate, grated or finely chopped

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 150ºC.
  2. Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
  3. Add egg and vanilla and beat well. Add spices and mix thoroughly
  4. Combine flour into mixture. Mix to a dough.
  5. Lastly add chocolate and mix through the dough; at this point it will become a bit crumbly but keep mixing gently as it should become a ball of dough.
  6. Break dough in half and roll each into a log with a diameter of about 30 mm. Wrap separately in wax paper or foil and refrigerate for three hours.
  7. Line two baking trays with baking paper.
  8. Take one log out of fridge, unwrap and cut into 7 mm thick slices. Place on tray, spaced at least a 30 mm apart. Repeat with second log on to second tray.
  9. Bake 15 to 20 minutes until firm.
  10. Transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool – or eat them warm!