Brazil Nut, Dark Chocolate and Wholegrain Cookies

Ingredients

• 80g Brazil Nuts
• 170g Salted Butter
• 180g Muscovado Sugar
• 40g Granulated Sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 Egg
• 150g Malted Wheat Flour
• ½ tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
• ½ tsp Baking Powder
• 150g Four Grain Muesli Base
• 100g Dark Chocolate, roughly chopped
• Sea Salt

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 150C.
2. Place your brazil nuts onto a baking tray and then toast them in the hot oven for 20 mins (rotating the tray halfway) until an even shade darker and very fragrant. Be careful not to burn them, particularly if you know your oven runs hot. Remove from oven (turning it off), allow the nuts to cool for a few minutes, and then roughly chop.
3. Now brown your butter: in a wide pan (preferably silver or enamel so you can watch the colour easily), melt the butter over a medium-high heat. Allow it to cook until it has reduced, the milk solids have turned a caramel brown, and it smells nutty. (Watch it carefully so it does not burn; this can happen quickly once browned). You should have about 140g of browned butter.
4. Scrape it all (including the toasted sediment) into a large mixing bowl and then weigh in the sugars. Whisk together until there are no more lumps in the sugar. Now add the vanilla extract and egg, and beat the mix well until fully combined, it will look and smell a bit like toffee sauce.
5. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, and baking powder, making sure there aren’t any lumps. Add this into the wet ingredients and mix on low until just combined. Now stir through the grains, chopped nuts, and dark chocolate. It might feel like there isn’t enough mixture to bind it all together, but have faith.
6. Line two baking trays with parchment. Between clean hands, press and form the mix into even balls of around 60g each, pressing in any escaping chunks of chocolate / nuts. Space them out evenly across the baking trays, bearing in mind they will spread in the oven, then place in the fridge or freezer for several hours, or preferably overnight. (Chilling the mixture helps them not to spread too much, it also means the grains have fully hydrated, and the flavours have perfectly combined).
7. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 160C.
8. Sprinkle each cookie with a pinch of sea salt flakes, and then bake in the hot oven for 8 minutes. Turn the trays, and then bake for a further 4 minutes, or until the cookies appear set and are particularly colouring around the edges. (Note they will still be entirely soft whilst hot).
9. Remove trays from the oven, and allow the cookies to cool on the trays for at least five minutes while they firm up enough to move. Using a thin spatula, carefully transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
10. Cookies store well if you can resist them. I quite like them kept in the fridge, eaten cold and fudgy.