Cooking with Charlotte: Chocolate cobweb cookies

Charlotte’s had a busy week at school and done brilliantly, considering she’s got a bit of a cold, even earning an ‘Outstanding’ certificate for giving 100% effort to all she does at school. She really didn’t seem ‘A1’ this morning so a rest day was definitely in order. She has been learning about procedures in school and how to follow them as well as write them. Of course cooking is perfect practice for following instructions. She chose ‘Chocolate cobweb cookies’ and did a marvellous job measuring out the ingredients, timing the baking and reading the steps to produce the finished product.

To make about 18 cookies, you will need:

160g plain flour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
100g butter
50g caster sugar
2 tablespoons milk
white writing icing
a 6.5cm round cutter
baking tray lined with baking paper
a toothpick

Heat oven to 180°C, 350°F, gas mark 4.

1. Sift the flour and cocoa into a large bowl. Add the butter and rub it in with your fingers.

2. When the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs, stir in the sugar. Then, sprinkle the milk over the mixture and stir it with a fork.

3. Stir the mixture until everything starts to stick together. Then, squeeze it with your hands to make a ball of dough.

4. Wrap the dough in plastic foodwrap and put it in a fridge for 20 minutes (great clock reading practice!). While it is in there, heat your oven.

5. Roll out the dough on a floured surface until it is 5mm thick (we got the ruler out here!).

6. Cut out lots of circles (letting your younger sister have a go too) and bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes.

7. Leave the cookies on the baking tray for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

8. To decorate draw a spiral of white writing icing on each cookie, starting in the middle and working out towards the edge.

9. Using a toothpick, drag the icing from the middle to make a web.

The end result was yummy and they were definitely fun to make.

Recipe Credit:
Fairy Cooking (Usborne Activities) by Rebecca Gilpin