Triple Chocolate Chip Goldmine Cookies

A rich gooey cookie with a mix of Milk, White and Dark chocolate Chips, and a sparkle of gold dust filling the cracks that melts in the mouth, which means they are far too amazing to just eat one....

So, I've been dieting for a few days to try and lose some holiday weight, but I admit. I caved. And these seemed to be be the perfect solution. It's a slight variation on a Nigella recipe, and although she prescribes these cookies them for mopping up tears of sadness, they seemed pretty good as the golden sunshine at the end of a long day :D Dead easy to make, I think I'm going to be making more very soon...

Ingredients; (Makes about 12-16 Cookies)

• 125g Dark chocolate minimum 70% cocoa solids
• 150g Plain Flour
• 30g Cocoa powder sieved
• 3/4 tsp Bicarbonate of soda 
• 125g Butter soft
• 75g Light brown sugar
• 50g White sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• 1 Medium Egg, cold from the fridge
• 150g Milk chocolate chips
• 100g Dark Chocolate Chips
• Gold Dust (optional)

Method
Preheat the oven to gas mark 3/ 170'C / 325'F and melt the 175g of chocolate in a double boiler, or, if you're feeling really lazy, you could do it in the microwave. While the chocolate is melting, put the flour, cocoa and bicarb of Soda into a bowl. Put this to the side, and you don't need to mix. Cream the butter and both the white and brown sugar in another bowl. Now add in the melted chocolate and mix them together. Add in the egg and vanilla extract and mix. Then add the dry ingredients and stir these with a wooden spoon. Now for the best part, add the chocolate chips to make the best cookie batter ever!!!! Use an ice-cream scoop to gather heaps of mixture and smooth them with a palette knife then put them on a lined baking tray about 6cm apart. DON'T SQUASH THEM!!!! They will melt down themselves :) Cook in the heated oven for about 18-20 minutes. Test them with a knife, and you want them still slightly gooey, so don't wait until no mixture is on the knife. Sprinkle with Gold Dust if desired. Leave to cool for about 5 minutes and feast to you're heart's content!

Add the chocolate in the bowl. I already boiled the water so it didn't take to long to heat up enough in the saucepan

Sieve the Powder to add air and make it mix together better

Make sure the chocolate mixture has no lumps and leave it in the bowl so it doesn't stop melting

Adding all the dry ingredients. You don't need to mix these

Measuring the butter and sugars into a bowl

Cream the butter and sugar by using the spoon to scrape the mixture across the bowl. The continue this motion  until everything is mixed

It should start to look like this

Use another spoon to pour the melted chocolate into the creamed mixture. Use as much of the chocolate as possible

Mix the smooth, runny chocolate with the butter and I dare you not to taste ;)

Add the egg and vanilla. By now you'll have a slightly grainy batter

Mix this in to give this awesome chocolatey deliciousness!!

Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and give them a good mix

This should give a thick batter to which we will add the chips

This is sooo totally the best bit, adding the chocolate chips!! Woo!

I admit that not all of the 350g went into the cookies, some I believe were misplaced.. I wonder where they went :D

Nigella said that she loved the "clattering of the chips on the side of the bowl" but I was waaay too busy smelling  and maybe tasting the mixture..

Scoop up some of the mixture in an ice-cream scoop and use a palette knife to smooth the mixture into a bit more of a ball shape

If you don't have a 'release' scoop, then use the palette knife to hook the cookiedough onto a lined baking tray

Keep going until all the balls are done. DON'T FLATTEN THEM!! I used two trays

As always, enjoy!! And please comment, I would love to know what you think

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Dark Chocolate Champagne Truffles

These truffles are rich and aromatic, with the delicate taste of the champagne woven in. I used them as a birthday gift for another friend, and I think she liked them. The recipe makes about 50, so there's plenty to go around, and if you like dark Chocolate, I'd say this is definitely a recipe that you should try out! They look gorgeous with glitter or gold dust, or decorated any way you choose

Ingredients: (Makes about 50)

• 250g Dark Chocolate (at least 70% Cocoa solids), chopped
• 200g Milk Chocolate (at least 40% Cocoa solids), chopped
• 150ml Double Cream
• 50g Unsalted Butter
• 100ml Champagne, or other sparkling wine
• 1 tbsp Brandy
• 700g Dark Chocolate (at least 70% Cocoa Solids), tempered (See in recipe)
•  Icing or Confectioners sugar for rolling
• Icing sugar, edible glitter or gold dust

Grease an 8" / 20cm square baking tin and line with cling film. Line a separate baking tray with greaseproof paper or baking parchment. Put the 250g of Dark Chocolate and 200g of Milk Chocolate into a heatproof or glass bowl and put to the side. Put the cream and butter in a small saucepan and heat over a medium heat until its just before boiling. Keep gently stirring the mixture so that it doesn't burn. Pour this over the chocolate in the bowl and add the champagne and brandy. Whisk quickly by hand until the mixture is smooth. Keep going as long as possible, but if there are still lumps then remove them, as you wont be able to pipe the mixture later. Then pour this into the cling film tin, and leave until it begins to harden slightly (About 30 minutes). Then fill a piping bag half full with the firmed mix and pipe into even blobs onto the baking tray using a plain nozzle, and put the tray in the fridge for about 60 minutes.
This is the messy bit, and the longer you can leave the truffles in the fridge, the better. They melt fast so handle them as little as possible and using icing sugar, roll the blobs into small balls and put back on the tray. Return the tray to the fridge. This is where you need the tempered chocolate. It's used so that the chocolate looks smooth and glossy. This is how to do it (Use this method only for Dark Chocolate, as White and Milk need different temperatures. You will also need a sugar thermometer for this);

1. Put about 2 thirds of the chopped Dark Chocolate into a heatproof or glass bowl. 
2. Put the bowl over a double boiler, or heat some water in a saucepan until simmering. Don't get any water into the chocolate, as it will ruin it.
3. Rest the heatproof bowl on the saucepan and place the sugar thermometer on the side of the bowl. Melt until the chocolate is 30-35'C or 104-113'F. Keep gently mixing with a wooden spoon. 
4. Now take the bowl off the pan, and put on a folded kitchen towel and  add the rest of the chocolate. Allow the chocolate to cool down to about 27-28'C or 80-82'F. Keep stirring until nearly all the pieces are melted. It may take up to 30 mins.
5. Now put back on the pan, and bring the temperature back up to 31-32'C or 88-89'F

Once you have the tempered Chocolate, use two spoons to take each of the refrigerated truffles, and dip them in the mixture. Allow them to drain slightly, and put them back onto the baking tray. I did attempt to put them onto a cooling rack, but they stuck solid so I had to re-dip them a second time. Put them back into the fridge for about an hour.  Now you can use your edible glitter or gold dust to coat the truffles, and Enjoy!! Alternatively, you can streak the melted chocolate over the truffles with a fork for an interesting effect
You will have a lot of chocolate left over, but this can be used in any other recipe :)

So cover the tray with this, but it can rip when scraping so be careful

Using a glass bowl is a good idea, as they're easy to look at and you can cool them down quickly

Putting the Butter and cream into the pan

Pouring the cream over the chocolate, it looks awesome as it melts down

Whisk quickly to try and melt down all of the chocolate pieces as fast as possible, and it's quite tempting to try!

If there are still any lumps, then remove them, as it won't allow you to pipe the mixture

Now add the champagne and brandy and being to whisk again

This will make the mixture even more amazing, but it will be very rich, so don't eat too much!

Put the mixture into the prepared tin and spread with a spatula so it is relatively even 
 

Half fill either a pastry bag, or a makeshift bag with  the mixture. If you'd like to know how to do this, leave a comment, and I'll make a tutorial

Pipe the mixture onto the prepared baking tray. Some of these didn't go to plan as I hadn't removed all the unmelted pieces, so I eventually just had to use a spoon to get lumps of the mixture, but I'd fix this if I do it again.

Now using lots and lots of icing sugar, dust your hands, and roll the refrigerated blobs into balls. Here, some of them are done 

Here are all the rolled truffles before dipping

 This is how to Temper the Chocolate

 Put the 2/3 of the chocolate in the bowl

Attach the thermometer on the side, it should be about 2" deep in the chocolate. But read the instructions about the thermometer 

This is the bowl on top of the saucepan with simmering water. Use a wooden spoon to slowly start mixing the chocolate to help with the  heating

It should start to melt relatively quickly, so keep an eye on the temperature so that it doesn't overheat. Check the saucepan to make sure it's not overboiling

Add the rest of the chocolate and mix

It may get a little stiffer, but keep mixing and it will go smooth. Now reheat the chocolate

It should look something like this

Dunk the truffles with spoons or forks to get them covered

Let them drain slightly

Put them back on the tray, as the cooling rack sticks to  the truffles

Do the same with the others

 As always, ENJOY! :D