Flourless Chocolate and Salted Peanut Biscuits
Servings: 14 biscuits
Ingredients
FOR THE BISCUITS
- 380 g golden caster sugar
- 75 g Dutch cocoa powder
- 1 tsp sea salt flakes or 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 150 g dark chocolate callets or block dark chocolate cut into small pieces
- 220 g toasted unsalted peanuts plus more for decoration … see note above
- 2 x 60g eggs
FOR THE DECORATION
- 300 g tempered dark chocolate
- Sea salt flakes to taste
- Roasted unsalted peanuts chopped into small pieces
Instructions
METHOD FOR BISCUITS
- Line two large baking trays with baking paper (maximum 6 biscuits per tray)
- Preheat oven to 160 degrees fan forced
- Place sugar and cocoa powder into TM bowl and mill 10 seconds / speed 9
- Add salt, chocolate and peanuts and mix 5 seconds / reverse / speed 5
- Scrape around bowl
- Add eggs and mix 25 seconds / kneading button
- Mix will be sticky … place into a separate bowl for easier handling
- Using a 1/4 cup measure, dip the measure into a small bowl of water ... then with the help of a knife spread the mix into the measure and level it off so that you have an even amount
- With the help of a wet knife release the mix from the measure placing the mixture directly onto the tray
- Use the wet knife (dipping it into the water as needed) to help shape the mix into a round - do not flatten too much as it will flatten into the oven and you want some density through the middle
- Continue with the rest of the mix ensuring you leave at least 6cm apart from each cookie (they spread so if using a square tray only place 4, and if oblong place 6 biscuits per tray)
- Bake for 20 minutes (don’t over bake otherwise they won’t be chewy in the centre)
- Remove trays from the oven and allow biscuits to cool on the baking paper for 30 minutes before removing (this will allow them to come away easily otherwise they may stick a little) ... if you need the baking tray to bake more biscuits, then simply remove the baking paper with the biscuits still on it and put aside to cool whilst you continue to use the trays
- Allow the biscuits to cool completely before decorating
METHOD FOR DECORATION
- Temper chocolate as per recipe notes
- Whilst this is being done place a sandwich snap lock bag, corner in first, into a mug ready for you to pour the chocolate into (see picture)
- Place the biscuits on greaseproof paper ready to decorate (the paper will catch extra drips making the clean up process easier)
- When the chocolate is ready pour it into the snap lock bag, gather up the opening in one hand, snip off a small piece of the tip with the other hand and drizzle the chocolate over the biscuits … do this twice so that there is a double layer of chocolate
- Sprinkle the sea salt flakes over the biscuits, followed by the chopped peanuts and allow to set at room temperature
- Spread any leftover chocolate onto a small sheet of baking paper … leave to set at room temperature and store for later reuse for either baking or decorating
- Store biscuits in an airtight container for up to a week
Notes
This is a recipe I adapted from my Christmas classes last year … then I demonstrated them as “Flourless Chocolate, Orange and Pistachio Cookies”, but being the festive season I know people don’t mind spending a little more on ingredients, particularly when they are used as gifts. But this recipe uses 220g pistachios (plus more for decoration) and that is a big cost for the nuts alone without adding in the cost for the chocolate. So I have amended the recipe to just use chocolate and peanuts, along with a bit more sea salt flakes to add some extra voom! If you wish to make the original then replace the roasted peanuts with roasted pistachios, and add the zest of an orange along with the sugar, cocoa powder and salt in the first stage of the recipe.
You can decorate these biscuits with either white chocolate (which I used at Christmas because it looked great against the dark biscuit and goes perfectly with pistachios), or dark chocolate (which is a better match for the peanuts).
When toasting nuts I like to take them to “the edge” … so I watch them carefully in the oven starting with 180 degrees fan forced for 8 minutes, stir, then 2 minutes at a time until they look lovely and golden … remove and allow to cool to room temperature. Always roast more than you need as they are great for decoration on just about any dessert, and keep well in the freezer if you need to store them for later … unless you decide to eat them of course!
This mix is very sticky but spreads when baked … so don’t be tempted to use more than a level ¼ cup per biscuit, or put more than six on your baking tray. An oblong tray is better than a square one so that you can fit three across in a line, using two lines giving you six biscuits per tray. I have also baked this as a single mix in a small slice tin (lined) which I cut it into squares whilst still warm, allowing it to cool completely before decorating it with the drizzle of chocolate and nuts. In either case these biscuits are best stored at room temperature.
For notes on how to temper the chocolate, please see the main post. To ensure these are dairy free, use dairy free dark chocolate (there are lots of good brands available these days ... Whittaker's Dark Chocolate over 50% is diary free with no added milk solids).