Chocolate and Yogurt Coated Blackcurrant Cookies - We Should Cocoa

This is my entry for this month We Should Cocoa hosted by the lovely Choclette over at Chocolate Log Blog. 

She started off announcing that this month chocolate pairing ingredient was challenging. 

Blackcurrents, Pah I thought, easy. I love chocolate and tart fruit. No probs!

However I was very wrong, I've searched high and low for these cheeky little things with no joy!

In the end I managed to find one pack of yoghurt coated blackcurrents at 2 am in the small shop I went to to buy eggs and bacon for breakfast.

My plan was to make blackcurrant and chocolate cookies. I was looking forward to the juicy blackcurrants in contrast with the chocolate but I went ahead with the recipe anyway. I didn't get the pretty splashes of purple I would have got with fresh blackcurrants, but I did get little bits of fruit chewiness which was pretty pleasing!

The yogurt melted and you couldn't really see any blackcurrant pieces - here is one on the left just above the chocolate chunk! You could say it was surprise eating!

The cookies were chewy and super easy to make. I am a chewy cookies girl rather than a biscuit person so a chewy cookie is a must for me!

Chocolate and Yogurt Coated Blackcurrent Cookies:

• 250g plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 170g melted salted butter
• 200g dark brown soft sugar
• 100g caster sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 150g chocolate (Chopped in to pieces with a sharp knife)

1. Preheat your oven to 170C and line two (or more) baking trays with greaseproof paper.

2. Using an electric whisk, beat together the melted butter and sugars until fluffy.

3. Beat in the egg and yolk and vanilla bean paste until the mixture is creamy.

4. Sift in the dry ingredients and fold into the creamy mixture. Try not to over mix.

5. Fold in the chocolate pieces and yogurt coated blackcurrants (feel free to substitute with real blackcurrants!)

6. Scoop the cookie dough with a tablespoon or ice cream scoop and drop on to your prepared trays. Leave 6 cm between each dough ball and you don't need to flatten the dough.

7. Bake for 15 mins for chewy deliciousness!

8. Nibble hot or leave to cool on a wire rack.

I hope you are all enjoying the weather ( I had to mention it, I'm British right!?). It's not really baking weather but you can still make many delicious desserts that are no bake, so it's no excuse not to quench our sweet tooth's.

It is two days until the Olympics officially start! Where are you watching the Olympic ceremony? I am watching it on a big screen in Walthamstow. I am so excited about the Olympics, I just can't wait!

Cake Fairy x

We Should Cocoa - Roast Goose with Apples and Cocoa

I mentioned my thanksgiving meal in my last post, which was delicious but you may have notice I didn't elaborate on the Goose recipe. That is because it is my We Should Cocoa entry this month.

Chele from Chocolate Teapot is hosting this month's We Should Cocoa and she challenged us to make something with cocoa and apples! I didn't have a lot of time this month. I had originally planned to make apple and chocolate Mille -feuille but I'll have to make that another time, instead I decided to double up my thanksgiving meal with the challenge. I got this roast Goose recipe from allrecipes.com but I added two teaspoons of cocoa to the spice rub. The Goose is stuffed with fried apples and covered in a spice rub with cocoa. You could taste the cocoa on the skin (yum!) and the goose meat had an overall spicy taste.

Here is all the food on the plate, covered in gravy!

Just as a side note, this is the weird fused mushroom I used for the green bean casserole.

Was too busy eating the Goose so forgot to take a pic before it was carved but...erm...here is one after.

 Do you like my new wintery placemats? They are in red felt with cut out stars. I also sprinkled on some felt snowflakes, cute huh?

These are from the new plate set my mum got me for the "festive season". I don't have too much room for them but I love festive stuff!

So be thankful today, in fact all weekend, and tell at least two people you love that you love them because   this holiday reminds us to be thankful for what we are blessed with x