Family - Chocolate Splats

Chocolate Splats

These are dead easy to make and extremely chocolatey! Luckily they only take a bear-sized minute to cook...and it’s worth doubling the quantities if you have more than two children and a small bear to satisfy!

We usually have a different helper on each station, and the bowl gets passed around until it’s been mixed to everyone’s satisfaction ...much “testing” required obviously! I use fresh organic eggs to minimise the risk of salmonella - I never have the heart to deny them the pleasure of testing the mixture or scraping the bowl clean!

Recipe

Ingredients

100g soft butter cut into pieces
(if you’ve forgotten to get it out of the fridge in advance, unwrap it and pop it in a bowl in the warming oven for about 5 minutes. Mind, it'll be scorching!)

50g castor sugar
1 (organic) egg
150g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
175g chocolate polka dots
200g good quality milk chocolate (Belgium or continental)

Preheat the oven to 180°c (150°c if a fan oven) /350°F

How to Make the Chocolate Cookies

1. Cream (beat thoroughly with a spatula or a fork) the butter and sugar together until it is smooth. This is best passed around in shifts as small children’s arms do get rather tired!

2. Choose one child to break the egg carefully (no shell please!) and add to the bowl. Beat well with a fork until it is smooth, passing it round until everyone is satisfied the job has been done properly!

3. Weigh the flour and sieve it into the bowl (oh, the mess! The joy!). Carefully fold the mixture and flour together with a fork or a wooden spoon until all the flour is mixed in.

4. Add the chocolate polka dots and fold in as for the flour.

5. Grease two baking trays (more if you are doubling the quantities – or double shift them).

6. Teaspoons at the ready, and each child to add a teaspoon of mixture, sensibly spaced as they spread a bit when cooking, until the baking tray is filled. Everyone then use their spoons to gently flatten the tops of the biscuits.

7. Pop into the oven (use oven gloves and set a good example – burnt fingers are no fun) for 10-12 minutes per tray or until the splats are golden brown.

8. Take them out and using a spatula or slice, remove them and carefully set them to cool on the wire tray. Set them aside to cool right down – and if you can’t fend off the hungry hoards at this point, well they are very yummy even without the chocolate topping...

Chocolate Topping

9. Find a mixing bowl that fits snugly into the rim of one of your saucepans – it should just rest above the bottom of the saucepan, if possible. You can still do it if the bowl is standing on the bottom of the saucepan, but in this case you will have to stand over it and keep stirring, else the chocolate will scorch...and that might not be easy when your cherubs are sleeve pulling!

10. Put a small amount of water into the saucepan – you want it to be about 4cm deep, so it’s not touching the bottom of the chocolate bowl. Then bring it to a simmer. Break the milk chocolate into pieces into the bowl and place carefully into the saucepan. Stir it frequently as it must not burn, and if the bowl is actually sitting on the base of the pan, that means stirring continuously. Also bear in mind that the chocolate will go dull if it’s splashed with water, so keep the water just simmering.

11. When all the chocolate is melted, remove from the heat, summon the troops and arm everybody with a tablespoon. Each biscuit needs a spoonful of chocolate carefully poured into its centre to create the desired ‘splat’ effect!

12. Allow the chocolate to cool and harden. Let the cherubs lick clean the chocolate bowl and spoons to keep them occupied...

13. And enjoy the crumbs...well, that’s all I usually get to eat in my house unless I’m very speedy indeed! The girls always claim it’s Lumpy’s fault, but I have my doubts whether he is entirely to blame...