We are excited to share, that we have partnered with Charlotte Marrifield of The Harrogate Cake Co. to create a series of extra special chocolatey dessert recipes, along with some other exciting activities on the run-up to 'Chocolate Week!'

Charlotte has been a patisserie chef for over 27 years starting out in Michelin-starred restaurants before moving into innovation and development for retail desserts and confectionary.

So, we hope you enjoy making this extra special little number and of course, eating it even more!

This first recipe will be popular as it includes the most delicious, salted caramel. A true melt-in-the-mouth family crowd-pleaser…wooden spoons and smiles at the ready.

Salted Caramel and Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Ingredients for the Salted Caramel

• 142g Dark Brown Sugar
• 142g Butter
• 216g Double Cream
• Pinch of Sea Salt

Ingredients for the Cookies

• 65g room temperature Butter
• 65g Dark Brown Sugar
• 48g Caster Sugar
• Pinch of Salt
• 120g Plain flour
• Pinch of Bicarbonate of Soda
• 10g Cocoa Powder
• 30g Egg (whisk a small egg together and then weigh this out)
• 110g Lily O’Brien’s Milk Chocolate Drops for Baking (plus extra for topping)
• 50g Cocoa Nibs (optional)

Helpful note:

This recipe makes around 16 cookies, however If you would like to make more, then doubling up the quantities will work fine.

Method

• To make the salted caramel sauce, place all the ingredients into a sauce pan and melt on a low heat until all ingredients are melted together, then increase the heat and boil for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally with a whisk.
• Pour into a shallow dish to cool and thicken – please be careful when pouring not to splash as the sauce will be very hot.
• Prepare two baking trays covering them with baking parchment.
• Chop the Milk Chocolate Drops into half cm sized chunks and set to one side.
• Preheat your oven to 180C/160C fan.
• Cream together the butter and sugar for the cookies in a large bowl for 1 minute or until a smooth paste forms.
• Add the dried cookie ingredients to the bowl along with the chocolate chunks and whisked egg and blend together until a smooth ball is achieved. Cover and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
• Divide the ball of cookie dough into 30g smaller balls and space out evenly on the baking trays, then chill for a further 30 minutes. The cookie dough balls can be frozen at this point and thawed in a fridge if you’re making ahead of time.
• Place your chilled cookie dough balls in the oven for 5 minutes.
• While the cookies start to bake, fill a piping bag (with a small round nozzle attached) with some of your salted caramel sauce, leaving the rest in the bowl for the topping.
• After 5 minutes remove the cookies from the oven then using the tip of the piping bag nozzle, make a hole in the surface of each cookie and pipe in a small amount of caramel - make sure not to push all the way down to the bottom of the cookie. Place the cookies back in the oven for a further 5 minutes.
• Remove the cookies from the oven and while still hot, using a glass or cookie cutter that’s slightly larger than the cookies, roll this around the edge of each to create a perfect round shape.
• Leave the cookies on the baking trays to fully cool.
• Once cooled and firm, peel the cookies off the trays and onto your serving plate or stand. Pipe some more of the salted caramel sauce over the cookies and sprinkle extra chopped chocolate drops for extra delicious indulgence!