Chocolatey walnut melts

Healthcliff has stolen Autumn and replaced it with something altogether more misty and mysterious. With him in mind I thought a biscuit with walnuts was in order, a manly nut if ever there was one. Add some Dairy Milk and I may have a biscuit to tame even the wildest moor-roamer.

This made a baker’s dozen though I admit the sizes were rather haphazard.

Ingredients:

115g salted butter

60g icing sugar (plus 2 tbsp extra for rolling the biscuit dough in)

100g plain flour

20g cornflour

80g milk chocolate cut into half cm-ish chunks

60g chopped walnuts, not too fine, about 1cm pieces

Get the oven on to 180C/Gas 4 and find two baking trays. Cream the butter and icing sugar together until really light and fluffy. I used a stand mixer for about 4 minutes. Then add the flour and cornflour and mix again with your stand mixer/handheld mixer or wooden spoon until combined and light and fluffy. Throw in the chocolate and walnuts and mix well.

Pop about 2 tablespoons of icing sugar on a plate, then take about a tablespoon of mixture, roll between your palms to form a ball, then roll the ball in the icing sugar (this doesn’t show once baked but acts as a great non stick layer), place on the tray and squash with your thumb until about 1cm deep. Continue to roll the dough until it’s all gone and don’t forget to put the biscuits about 6cm apart as they do spread a bit, then bake for 10 – 15 minutes until starting to brown at the edges.

Cool on the tray for 5 minutes and then move to a wire rack to cool completely otherwise you’ll end up with soggy centres. These are best eaten from a foil wrapper with a slight snarl and a hipflask of something boozy to keep you warm whilst roaming about.