Double Choc Chip Chilli Cookies - Bake Sale Donation (2 of 3)

        The best damn cookies I've ever made I just had to make them twice - two weeks in a row. I first made these delicious cookies about 5 weeks ago. I hadn't baked anything all weekend so came home one day during the week and felt like baking something. I also had to make something where all the ingredients were readily available. I am such a bad hoarder, pantry is full of ingredients that need to be used a lot more often than they do because I'm always making things that require me to go out and buy 'special' ingredients.

        I was flipping through all my cookbooks and thought some cookies might be cool as I havn't made cookies in a while now. I came across this book which I picked up cheaply at my old workplace. I flipped through and came across a recipe for 'Double Choc Chip Chilli Cookies' which I had eyed off before but never thought about making until now, I was also in a chocolate mood. Scanning through the list of ingredients I knew I had exactly everything I needed and set about making them. The recipe yielded a huge batch so I took some to work and they were very well received. I loved them so much that I had to make them again a week later to donate to the bake sale along with some other goodies.

Ingredients:

• 250gr butter, softened
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup (165gr) caster sugar
• 3/4 cup (165gr) firmly packed brown sugar
  (I used dark brown sugar, probably explains why mine were darker than the photo in the book)
• 1 egg
• 2 cups (300gr) plain flour
• 1/4 cup (25gr) cocoa powder
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 400gr dark eating chocolate chopped coarsely
  (or in my case dark choc chips)

Candied Chillies:

• 1/4 cup (55gr) caster sugar
• 1/4 cup (60ml) water
• 3 fresh red (thai) chillies, chopped finely
  (I originally used 5, I thought my chillies were 'too small', gave the cookies quite a kick so I toned back down to 3 the second time around, still good).

        Firstly sift all the dry ingredients together into a bowl - plain flour, cocoa powder, and bicarb soda.

        Next make the candied chillies. Stir the sugar and water in a small saucepan over heat until the sugar dissolves. Add the chilli and boil for about 2 or so minutes, cool, drain and discard the syrup.

        Beat the butter, vanilla extract, sugars and egg until light and fluffy, did it all by hand but please do use your mixer for this if you have one.

My candied chillies ready to go in.

        Stir in the sifted dry ingredients in two batches then stir in the chocolate bits and chilli.

        Roll tablespoons (I used teaspoons) of cookie dough into balls and place about 5cm apart on greased, baking paper lined baking trays.

        Bake for 12 minutes in a 180 degrees celcius preheated fan forced oven. The first time I may have cooked them for a minute or two longer which gave them a more crispy texture. The second time I took them out on the dot as soon as my timer went off, it was noted that the second batch were not as fiery due to less chillies but were also more chewy - perfect!

        The recipe does say it makes 48 cookies, oops I overlooked that but I think you need to make that many in one go as they disappear very very quickly! Just ask my work colleagues =D.

        Even though my second batch of cookies were specifically for the bake sale I had to make sure I saved some to take to work again. Everyone loved the chocolate and chilli concept, if you're a fellow foodie this combination is probably not so unusual anymore but for everyone at work, they thought it was a revolution hehe =) I've had chocolate and chilli before but having it in a chewy cookie form was fantastic. What's your favourite cookie?