Home-made biscuits are a treat at any tea party and Black Forest biscuits are no exception with their added rich, decadence of dark chocolate and cherries

Ingredients:

Makes about 20

  • 130g butter, softened
    110g castor sugar
    75g brown sugar
    ½ tspn vanilla essence
    1 egg beaten lightly
    200g plain flour, sifted
    50g dutch process cocoa powder, sifted
    ½ tspn bi-carb soda, sifted
    ½ tspn salt, sifted
    70g 70% dark chocolate, chopped
    90g dried sour cherries, chopped (available at delicatessens)

Method:

Preheat oven to 180ºC. Beat butter and both sugars together with an electric mixer for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and egg and beat to combine well.

Add sifted flour, cocoa, bi-carb soda and salt to mixture and mix well – the mixture will be pretty thick by this stage. Finally, add dark chocolate and dried sour cherries and mix in.

Make rough shaped balls of mixture about 20g each and place on tray lined with baking powder. Make sure they have enough space to spread. Flatten slightly with the back of a fork.

Bake for around 9 minutes until they have puffed up a little. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly on the tray then move to wire rack to cool totally. They will flatten slightly as cooling.