Rich, dark and not too sweet, these thick cacao nib chocolate cookies are perfect pick-me-ups for grown ups. They’re crisp on the outside and soft on the inside, but with welcome crunchy bits courtesy of the cacao nibs. Swap the cacao nibs for chocolate chips if you prefer, or just leave them out altogether.
A Cornish Woodland Walk
The 1st of May is traditionally a day off for the workers. This being the case, a group of us did just that and went off to explore Trenant Wood a couple of weeks ago. We hoped to enjoy the bluebells for which the wood is renowned too.
Trenant is a relatively recent acquisition of the Woodland Trust and it lies at the confluence of the East and West Looe rivers. I’d never been there before so I was looking forward to this walk with eager anticipation.
Amazingly, despite the lowering clouds, we were not rained upon. It was a wonderful walk through ancient woodland in a spectacular setting. There were views across the river to the woods on the other side as well as plenty of bird life to observe on the river itself.
The woods were lovely although the bluebells were only just starting to come out, courtesy of the late spring. Luckily, there were plenty of other flowers to admire and the trees were in various stages of coming into leaf giving a rich tapestry of shapes and colours to draw the eye.
Of course we said we would return to see the bluebells out, but CT and I haven’t managed it yet.
Cocoa Nib Cookies
Supplies of the edible variety were of course necessary, so it seemed like a good opportunity to get out my newly acquired copy of Adventures in Chocolate and have a go at making some cocoa nib cookies to accompany us on the trek.
As I haven’t yet mastered the art of tempering, I decided not to drench the cookies in chocolate as the recipe suggested. But other than that I tried to follow it as stated. Some of you know how hard I find that. The only change I made was to make half the quantity.
But oh dear me, it all went very wrong. Paul’s recipe employs the melting method rather than the creaming one. So instead of creaming the butter and sugar, you melt them together in a pan instead.
When I mixed in the other ingredients, the butter separated out so there was grease everywhere. The butter carried on going everywhere in the oven too. This resulted in a kitchen and oven smelling of burnt butter. What’s more the cookies didn’t spread at all, which meant they ended up being somewhat chunky. The recipe stated to place them well apart on the baking trays.
Despite the over abundance of butter and not being impressed with Paul’s recipe writing skills, I wasn’t too disappointed. These cookies are really good. They’re very adult, being rich and chocolatey and not too sweet and they have an impressively dark appearance to match.
They have a great crunch and an extra chocolate hit, both coming from the cocoa nibs. I’m sure a coating of rich dark chocolate would be delicious, but they stood up well to being unadorned. They were certainly appreciated at the time. Turns out we all like chunky cookies.
Cacao Nib Chocolate Cookies Revisited
I have since updated the recipe, which I think works much better than Paul’s original. Both method quantities and ingredients are different now and the butter stays exactly where it’s meant to be. Sorry Master Chocolatier.
Step 1. Cream Butter And Sugar
When creaming butter and sugar together, the most important thing to remember is to take the butter out of the fridge well in advance. I often forget and it’s so annoying as it then takes ages to get the butter soft enough to cream it with the sugar.
As long as it’s soft enough, it’s easy to cream by hand. If you prefer to use an electric mixer, by all means do, but I find it’s more bother than its worth for small amounts.
Beating the butter and sugar together is called creaming. It’s important to get this as light and fluffy as possible so that the butter is fully amalgamated. This process also increases the air and makes baked goods lighter.
Add the salt at the same time as the butter and sugar, so it gets well distributed into the dough.
Step 2. Beat In Egg
Add the egg to the creamed mixture along with the vanilla extract.
Beat the egg into the mixture. Don’t worry if it all curdles to begin with. Keep beating and it will come together.
Again, I do this by hand with a wooden spoon, but it’s fine to use an electric mixer.
Step 3. Add Dry Ingredients
Add the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder. I mostly use wholemeal spelt flour for baking cakes and biscuits. It’s what I used for this recipe. Any wholemeal flour will work though.
Work the flour in with a wooden spoon, spatular or electric mixer until it all comes together. The dough is quite dry, but that’s the way you want it for these cacao nib chocolate cookies.
Step 4. Add Cacao Nibs
Chuck in the cacao nibs. I only had chocolate enrobed cacao nibs when I made the batch of cookies you can see here. So I used those instead. Normally, I’d use plain cacao nibs.
If you prefer to use plain chocolate chips instead, go ahead. Or you could just leave them out altogether.
Mix the nibs into the dough so that they’re well distributed throughout.
Step 5. Shape Cookies
Take spoonfuls of the chocolate cookie dough and place them well apart on a greased or lined baking tray. My tray isn’t big enough for this amount of dough, so I used two trays.
I also used a small ice-cream scoop to transfer the dough. I find this is not only really easy, but it gives a good even shape to the cookies. They also all come out the same size.
Flatten the cookies with a fork. You don’t have to use a fork to do this, but it gives the finished cookies a nice pattern on top.
I quite like chunky cookies, so the ones you can see in this post are quite thick. You can make them thinner and smaller too if you like, but they’ll take less time to cook in the oven. They’ll also be crunchier.
Step 6. Bake Cookies
Depending on the size of your cookies, they’ll take about eight to twelve minutes to bake. Place them as near to the middle of the oven as you can. This will give them a more even bake.
Once the tops look set and the edges are slightly brown, they’re done. Leave on the baking tray to cool for a couple of minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Other Chocolate Cookie Recipes You Might Like
- Bourbon biscuits
- Cardamom chocolate shortbread biscuits
- Chocolate & fresh mint cookies
- Hazelnut & chocolate biscotti
- Raspberry chocolate hazelnut cookies
- Stamped chocolate biscuits
Keep in Touch
Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make these cacao nib chocolate cookies, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. And do please rate the recipe. Have you any top tips? Do share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.
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Choclette x
Cacao Nib Chocolate Cookies. PIN IT.
Cacao Nib Chocolate Cookies – The Recipe
Cacao Nib Chocolate Cookies
Ingredients
- 110 g unsalted butter – softened
- 75 g dark brown sugar (I used muscovado)
- 1 pinch fine sea or rock salt (I used Himalayan pink salt)
- 1 large egg
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 150 g wholemeal flour (wholemeal spelt flour)
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 30 g cocoa powder
- 30 g cacao nibs
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180℃ (160℃ fan, 350℉, Gas 4).
- Cream the butter with the sugar and salt until light and fluffy.110 g unsalted butter – softened, 75 g dark brown sugar, 1 pinch fine sea or rock salt
- Beat in the egg and vanilla extract.1 large egg, ½ tsp vanilla extract
- Mix in the flour, baking powder and cocoa. The mixture will be stiff, but that’s fine.150 g wholemeal flour, ½ tsp baking powder, 30 g cocoa powder
- Stir in the cocoa nibs until everything is just incorporated.30 g cacao nibs
- Scoop 12 to 15 spoonfuls of the mixture and place onto lined baking trays leaving a little room between them. I find a small ice-cream scoop works well for this and produces even-sized biscuits. Press a fork onto each one to flatten them slightly whilst giving the tops a pattern at the same time.
- Bake in the middle of the oven for 8 to 12 minutes, depending on the size of cookie. They should look cooked, but not burnt.
Marinela says
Those crunchy cookies sound like a perfect sweet snack for a nature trips! Portable, energy-boosting, and so enjoyable!
Choclette says
Thanks Marinela. It’s always good to have a delicious energy boost to hand when out and about.
Choclette says
Gillian, if I make this again, I will just use unmelted butter – I’m sure therein lay the problem. When you say cooled melted butter, do you mean semi solid consistency?
Gillian says
Choclette, I just made these cookies and boy were they messy to shape. Tasty nonetheless. Other recipes I have for cookies call for melted, cooled butter. I think if the butter had been cool maybe it would have worked better. Must try again.
Choclette says
Chele – if you do try these, I’d suggest creaming butter and sugar rather than melting it – that might work better.
MaryMoh – thank you. It’s certainly nice to have good things to eat when on a walk.
Catherine – it was a lovely walk. I’m really bad at remembering to take photos, so it was a lot better than it looks here.
Catherine says
The cookies still look really good, despite the complications. I’m so jealous of your walk, I bet it was lovely taking all the scenery in 🙂
MaryMoh says
Lovely scenery and lovely cookies for the walk. The cookies look crunchy and delicious. I don’t mind to keep walking if I have such mouth-watering cookies in my hand 😀
Choclette says
Ananda, most of the walk was really pretty, but this was such a contrast I actually thought to get my camera out.
Chele says
Ooooooooooooh they do look good! And the walk looks very pretty too. I have some cocoa nibs lurking at the back of my cupboard that I have been trying to come up with a new use for so will defo be giving these a try. Thanks for sharing ;0)
Ananda Rajashekar says
deserted standing tree attracts me,choco chips, i have never tried so far…may be soon will give it a try!
Choclette says
I love bluebells, but for me it’s the primroses I can’t bear to see finish. Yes, I too have got some raw chocolate making ingredients that have been sitting in my cupboard for some time. I am intending to use them …. sometime!
Joanna says
Just caught up with the last of the Bristol bluebells this morning, they are already going over. I can’t bear it! Looks like a beautiful place, your cookie experience reminds me of the one and only time I tried to make brandy snaps, butter leaking everywhere, now lost in the mists of time. I have a packet of those choc nibs from the wholefood shop, and I don’t know quite what to do with them and a piece of raw chocolate and some cocoa butter, all sitting there, waiting for Chocot!
Choclette says
Celia – aghh, you might have cracked it there. So you don’t think it was because there was too much butter? I might try this again using the creaming method.
Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial says
Lovely photos, Choclette! I’m curious what happened with the recipe, although when I think about it, I’ve never seen a cookie recipe that called for melted butter. Brownie and cake, yes, but not a cookie, which basically has to keep its shape – in most cases, cookie recipes call for not overbeating the butter so as to avoid melting it!
Choclette says
Kath – yes it is a wonderful place – my photographs don’t do it justice of course. I always get wrapped up in the walk and looking at things and forget to take photographs.
Caked Crusader – I got them from a health food shop. they tend to be cheaper brought that way. You can by them through places like Hotel Chocolat, but they are a lot more expensive.
Thank you Priya & Sushma
Bridgett – thank you. I think I need your eye for photography to actually show off the area properly.
Sushma Mallya says
Beautiful place and cookies looks yummy…
Bridgett says
Looks like a beautiful place to go walking. Looks like the cookies turned out in spite of the butter not cooperating at first. They look delicious!
Priya says
Beautiful and scrumptious cookies..
The Caked Crusader says
Fascinating recipe! Where did you get cocoa nibs from?
Kath says
What a wonderful place. Shame about the butter, but it sounds as they redeemed themselves in the end, they look delicious.