Its Lent and my daughter has given up jellies and her will power is admirable. Even when others are eating jellies around her, she remembers her promise. She asked her Dad to give up chocolate with her but I’m not sure how that is going as there was a box of these in the press last week and now the’re all gone…..

I’m not that surprised really, they are delicious and as a bonus really easy to make, can be cut and cooked from frozen in 13 minutes so are really handy to keep in the freezer and works equally well with gluten free flour. Throw in some chopped nuts instead of chocolate drops and they will also be lovely. I adapted this from a published recipe, reducing the sugar and using gluten free flour. Really easy to make, really delicious – just don’t eat them all!

Chocolate biscuits – recipe adapted from Pierre Herme’s Chocolate Sable Biscuits

Makes about 25
175gr all-purpose gluten free flour
30gr good quality unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
150gr unsalted butter, room temperature
80gr light brown sugar
20gr granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon fleur del sel or 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
150gr good quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips

Oven at 170C
Sieve the flour, cocoa and baking soda together.
Beat the butter until soft and creamy.
Add sugars, the salt and vanilla extract and beat for 2 minutes more until light and creamy
Pour in the dry ingredients and gently pulse the mixer at low speed about 5 times, a second or two each time.
Mix just until the flour disappears into the dough – work the dough as little as possible once the flour is added, and don’t worry if the dough looks a little crumbly.
Add the chocolate and mix gently incorporate.
Turn the dough out, gather it together and divide it in half.
Shape each piece into a log that is 1 1/2 inches in diameter.
Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for a few hours.
(The dough will keep in the fridge for about 3 days or just pop into the freezer. If you’ve frozen the dough, you needn’t defrost it before baking — just slice the logs into cookies and bake the cookies 1 minute longer.)

Using a sharp knife, slice the logs into rounds that are 1/2 inch thick
Place on a lined baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch between them.
Bake for 12 minutes or an extra minute if frozen.
Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack and let the cookies rest until they are only just warm, at which point you can serve them or let them reach room temperature.