What to bake this weekend: Xanthe Ross's chocolate chip and almond butter cookies

The Bank Holiday weekend means ample time for cooking — and baking.

Chocolate chip cookies
(Image credit: Ola Smit)

I’m such a sucker for almond butter and wanted to incorporate that nutty flavour into my cookie recipe. These are so quick to make, which makes them ideal if you want an easy afternoon pick-me-up or to surprise a friend. I love making the cookies for pudding when I’m hosting, served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

If you want to do this, you can make the cookie dough in advance and bake them to serve. You could also use the No-churn Raspberry Ice Cream recipe (on page 162 Stay for Supper) and just leave out the berries.

Makes 10-12 cookies

Ingredients

  • 100g unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 150g plain flour
  • 50g caster sugar
  • 50g light brown soft sugar
  • 1 tspn sea salt, plus extra for sprinkling
  • 2 tbsp smooth almond butter
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1 medium egg
  • 100g dark chocolate with at least 70% cocoa solids, roughly chopped (you want some bigger and some smaller pieces)

Method

Combine all the ingredients except for the chocolate in a bowl and mix until smooth. Using either a food processor or a hand- held electric mixer will speed up this process, so I’d recommend using one.

Mix through the chocolate, then tip out the dough onto a large sheet of baking parchment and roll it into a thick sausage shape, roughly 5cm (2 inches) in diameter, twisting the baking paper at the ends to secure the dough. Refrigerate the cookie dough for about 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 175°C and line two baking sheets with baking parchment. Roll the cookie dough into 10–12 balls and lay them out on the prepared baking sheets, spreading them well apart. Chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

Bake in the oven for 10–15 minutes until golden brown. Sprinkle the cookies with sea salt as soon as you remove them from the oven. Leave them to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely — but if you can’t resist, feel free to eat them while they are still warm!

Stay for Supper by Xanthe Ross is out now (Quadrille, £25).

Xanthe Ross

Xanthe's laid-back style of cooking centres around the idea that every meal should be a celebration of the food we're eating and a chance to enjoy the people we're eating with. Her book, Stay for Supper, is a collection of vegetarian dishes from the queen of supper clubs, with recipes that can be scaled up or down or paired with other recipes, depending on how many you're feeding.