They look classier over at Bakerella's beautiful blog, but i chose to shorten the process for almost immediate satisfaction.

1 cup peanut butter
½ cup sugar
1 egg
approximately 18 chips of chocolate

Preheat oven to 325ºF/ 160ºC
Mix peanut butter, sugar and egg until well blended.
Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Pinch into 18 pieces and roll mixture into small balls.
Place on cookie sheet 2 inches apart.
Place a chip of chocolate in the centre of each cookie ball and flatten with a fork to make a criss-cross pattern.
Bake 18-20 minutes or until lightly browned.
Cool for 5 minutes on cookie sheet and then cool completely on a wire rack.

I made these: Bittersweet Biscotti (or so i named them) with walnut, spice & white chocolate. They are gluten-free, which makes them a little crumbly but the chilli hit is slow and luscious in combination with the darkest, bitterest chocolate that i had in the cupboard.

The original recipe came from here, but i adjusted with a little less gluten-free flour, walnuts instead of almonds and a majority of dark 70% chocolate, with white chocolate chips for contrast.





Oh, and i also made this: Rick Stein's Fennel Sausages with lemony potatoes and bay. Delicious.

Off to a summer party, armed with cider, cheese and Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Mint Cookies, still ever-so-slightly warm. I made this in my electric mixer, quickly and simply. They smell divine as they cook and are a perfect after-supper sweet mint treat for grown-ups and children alike.

100g soft butter and 150g light brown sugar, creamed together.

Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 1 egg.

Using the mixer on pulse, beat in 150g plain flour, 35g cocoa powder and a 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder.

Finely chop 200g dark chocolate and fold into batter.

Using a dessertspoon, scoop spoonfuls of dough onto a lined baking sheet leaving a little space for expansion. Bake in an oven for 12 minutes at 180ºc, remove and allow to sit for 2 minutes before moving cookies to a cooling rack.

Glaze: 75g icing sugar, 15ml cocoa (sieved), 30ml boiling water (you may need a little more) and 1/4 teaspoon of peppermint extract, warmed in a saucepan until blended.

(sorry - no photos of this stage as i was otherwise distracted at the time)

Drizzle glaze over the cookies as they cool.

US quantities and official method here.