INGREDIENTS:

Nutella Brownie Cookies

The start of a new business means many, many nights in. It’s strange because when I was fantasizing about starting up Mother I had imagined effortless days in a cute retro office wearing cute retro outfits, and lovely evenings swanning about at various events (always in a perfect dress, and with perfect hair). Fact, as well as being stranger than fiction, is also a lot less glamourous! These days I am more often found schlepping around in a pair of shorts and always, always with my hair tied up! Come to think of it, I haven’t let my hair down in months – both literally and metaphorically!

Still, there are consolations. The thrill of watching a dream slowly materialize. The gratification of happy clients. The pleasure of creation.

And…cable television. Particularly, Discovery Travel & Living! Most of you will probably be shaking your heads and thinking “what cave have you just crawled out from?” but I have not had access to cable TV until recently. Let me tell you, it’s fabulous! For those of you who take it for granted, I challenge you to watch nothing but local sitcoms for a year then come and talk to mama!

Thanks to all the cooking shows my salivary glands are edgy with over-stimulation - craving crisp grilled mackerel one second, then squirting at the thought of tangy thai chilli fishcakes the next second. Then the stomach chimes in with demands for bilberry custard tarts…jeez. All those voices in my anatomy can be so difficult to please!

But they have all been silenced (momentarily) with these giant Nutella Brownie Cookies. They were inspired by Nigella Lawson's Totally Chocolate Chip Cookies which I caught on Nigella Express last Friday…but “half a kilo of chocolate in 12 cookies” really is a bit much, even by my standards of greed. Then I came across Fatboybake's adaptation, the Dolphin wanted hazelnuts, and I am always hankering after childhood flavours so they evolved into these! Crispy with a delicate crumb on the outside, and slightly gooey on the inside and bursting with chocolatey-hazelnut goodness!

Because they are round and not square, I have classified them as a brownie-like cookie instead of a cookie-like brownie. Oh, whatEVER! Just get them in yer gob with a long, cold swallow of milk!

PREPARATION:

SERVINGS: 24 large cookies

PREP-to-MOUTH: 45mins

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT: Oven and electric whisk OR electric mixer OR handheld blender with a whisk attachment

1 hour before baking:

• Take the butter out of the fridge and allow to soften to room temperature.

When you're ready to start, preheat your oven to 180°.

• Crush hazelnuts in the bag by bashing them with a rolling pin, pestle or and empty bottle until the nuts are in bits and pieces.
• In a large sturdy bowl, cream the butter and sugar together by whisking on a medium speed* until the mixture turns paler in colour, light and fluffy.
• Add the egg, beating until throughly incorporated.
• Add the nutella, beating well until the mixture turns a lovely chocolately glossy brown.
  
• Add in the flour mix and beat until well mixed.
• Add the chocolate chips and hazelnuts, then mix in using a spoon - you don't need to whisk them in!
• Drop heaped table-spoonfuls onto a baking sheet, spaced far apart to allow them to spread.
• Bake on the middle shelf for 10 mins. If your baking sheet can't hold all of them, bake them in batches!
• Remove from the oven, allow to cool and enjoy with vanilla ice cream or cold milk.