Really fair chocolate cookies

Chocolate Cookies 

Why buy cookie mixes from the shops when it’s so easy to make this one yourself? Of course, these jars make super gifts, but keep one handy in the cupboard and you can have dark, rich and melt-in-the-mouth chocolate cookies on the table in 20 minutes flat for half the cost of bought ones!

Makes 24

Prep time 10 minutes

Cooking time 10 minutes

Suitable for freezing Yes

220g self-raising flour

Pinch of salt

120g dark brown sugar

130g caster sugar

45g cocoa powder

150g chopped fair trade dark chocolate

120g soft butter

1 egg

1 Sift the flour into a bowl. Add the salt.

2 In another bowl, mix the dark brown sugar and the caster sugar together. Make sure it is well-mixed – this stops the brown sugar from clumping. 

3 Layer the flour, cocoa powder and sugar into an 1-litre jar with an airtight seal. Add the walnuts and chocolate on top and close well. You can hand-write a label with the following instructions

4 To make the cookies, preheat the oven to 175˚C/gas mark 4. Tip the contents of the jar into a mixing bowl or food processor. Add the butter and the egg and mix for 2–3 minutes, until the ingredients are well-blended. 

5 Using your hands, roll the batter into walnut-size pieces and pop them on to a lightly greased baking sheet. 

6 Bake for 10–12 minutes. Remove the tray from the oven and leave the cookies for a few minutes to allow the chocolate to set a little before transferring them to a wire wrack to cool completely.

London Trip

In half term the chocolate club members who could make it went to London for the day with the aim of finding out about chocolate in the food hall in Harrods and to make our own Chocolate at Rococo Chocolates. With Chantal Coady the owner.

Original Beans Cru-virunga

These Original Beans chocolate’s are ethical and sustainably grown in the Congo and are mainly for grown ups because of the richness. I would not recommend it for children as they like more sweetness in chocolates. In my opinion this chocolate is too strong for children and is not sweet at all. Out of 10 for the adults I would give a score of 8/10. On the other hand for the children I would mark it 4/10! 

By Oompa Loompa 1

Review of Green & Blacks Hazelnut & Currant Chocoalte

Green & Blacks Hazelnut & Currant

The home of the chocolate.

The Green & Blacks cocoa comes from Belize and the Dominican Republic. It has been shipped over from the two countries since 1994.

The Dominican Republic is of the coast of Mexico and Belize is on the coast of Mexico. They both face the Atlantic ocean.

Green & Black’s has been getting organic cocoa from the Dominican Republic and Belize for this chocolate since 1994. The smell is sweet but it has too sweet a taste. It has a soft and lumpy texture. It also has a soft snap.   

                    

We have rated it 6 ½ out of ten

by Willy Wonka 

Green and blacks organic milk chocolate

Green and blacks organic milk chocolate By TV Mike

Well the milk chocolate has 34% cocoa and is fair trade so it is ethically sustainable. That means they will get a fair amount of money.

Fact file

Smell: the smell is milky, Rich and very sweet.

Sound: when you crack the chocolate it makes a sharp snappy sound and when you bite into it makes a crunch sound.

Taste: the taste is rich, sweet, milky, and after a while it is sickly

Our first Meeting

Orange & Pecan Brownies.

• 300g Dark Fairtrade chocolate
  250g unsalted butter
  150g golden caster sugar                                                                       150g demera sugar
  3 free range eggs, plus 1 extra egg yolk                                                     2 tablespoons orange essence
  60g plain organic flour
  ½ tsp baking powder
  Pinch of fine sea salt
  75g Fairtrade cocoa powder
  100g pecans (optional)

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C, and line a 23cm x 23cm baking tin with baking parchment.

2. Set a bowl over,a pan of simmering water, and add 250g of the chocolate, broken into pieces. Melt, stirring occasionally, and then remove from the heat. 

3. In the mean time beat the butter and all of the sugar together until light and fluffy.

4. Keep your mixer running and add the eggs and orange essence beating well. Leave your mixer on a high speed for five minutes until the batter has a glossy sheen, and has almost doubled in volume.

5. Remove the bowl from the mixer, and gently fold in the melted chocolate and chocolate with a metal spoon.  Fold in the sifted flour, baking powder, salt, cocoa powder and the pecans and break the remaining of the chocolate into small chips and add these too. 

6. Spoon the mixture into the tin, and bake for 30 minutes. When you test with a skewer; it should come out sticky, but not coated with the raw mixture. If it does, put it back into the oven for another few minutes, then test again.

7. As soon as the brownies are ready pop them into the coldest part of the fridge for an hour then leave to cool for an hour before cutting into squares. Store in an air-tight tin and if you can resist eating them they are even nicer the following day.

How the chocolate club started ....