Nigella Lawsons Chocolate Biscuits Food

NIGELLA LAWSON'S CHOCOLATE BISCUITS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 190°C/170°C fan/gas 5. Sift together the flour and cocoa powder into a mixing bowl and set aside.
• Cream together the butter and sugar until light and pale in colour (you can use a wooden spoon but it's easier and quicker with an electric hand whisk).
• Mix in the sifted flour and cocoa - the mixture might look as if it needs liquid to bring it together, but keep working in the ingredients and it will form a dough.
• Working quickly, roll the dough between the palms of your hands into walnut-sized balls and arrange on the baking sheets, spaced well apart. Flatten the cookie dough balls with the back of the fork.
• Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 5mins, then turn the temperature down to 170°C/150°C fan/gas 2 for a further 15-20 mins.
• The biscuits should feel firm on top but not hard. Remove from the oven and transfer to cool on a wire rack, before storing in airtight container.

CUT-OUT COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and moving towards moussiness, then beat in the egg and vanilla. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter and eggs, and mix gently but surely. If you think the finished mixture is too sticky to be rolled out, add more flour, but do so sparingly as too much will make the dough tough. Form into a fat disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and let rest in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
• Sprinkle a suitable surface with flour, place disk of dough on it, and sprinkle a little more flour on top of that. Then roll it out to a thickness of about 1/4-inch. Cut into shapes, dipping the cutter into flour as you go, and place the cookies a little apart on 2 parchment or silpat lined baking sheets.
• Bake for 8 to 12 minutes; obviously it depends on the shape you're using and whether they are on the upper or lower shelf, though you can swap them around after about 5 minutes. When they're ready expect them to be tinged a pronounced gold around the edges; they'll be softish still in the middle, but set while they cool.
• Remove the cookies with a flat, preferably flexible, spatula to a wire rack. When they are fully cooled, you can get on with the icing. Put a couple of tablespoons of not-quite-boiling water into a large bowl, add the sieved confectioners sugar and mix together, adding more water as you need to form a thick paste. Color,as desired. I think pastes are much better than liquid, not just because the range of colors is better but because they don't dilute the icing as they tint. Ice cooled cookies, as desired.