rocky road cookies...

To celebrate our very first scholar placing her little patent leather shoes on the bottom rungs of the ladder of academia I give you the aptly named 'Rocky Road Cookie'- the perfect after school treat with a glass of milk. This is one of my all-time favourite cookie recipes because it not only makes fantastic cookies, the dough also makes a paste that is very easy to work with and with very little mess. The baked marshmallow pieces give a lovely candy floss flavour - chocolate and candy floss together can't be wrong. You could play around with it and throw in a few toasted hazelnuts, raisins or any other rocky road type additions if you want.

Ingredients.

125g dark chocolate.

150g flour

30g cocoa

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

125g soft butter

125g light brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg

150g chocolate chips

8 big pink and white marshmallows, snipped into chunky pieces

Method

This makes 12 nice, big cookies

Preheat the oven to 170°C/gas mark 3. Melt the dark chocolate.

Cream the butter and sugar in together in a bowl, then mix in the melted chocolate.

Beat in the vanilla extract and egg.

Sieve together the flour, cocoa, bicarbonate of soda and salt and then mix into the wet ingredients. Finally stir in the chocolate chips and mallow lumps.

Measure by eye 12 equal-sized mounds - an ice cream scoop or a couple of large spoons work well - and place on a lined baking sheet about 6cm apart. Don't squish them down. Cook for 15 - 20 minutes, leave to cool slightly on the baking sheet then transfer them to a wire rack to cool.

I usually form all 12 cookies, bake 6 and open freeze the other six. As soon as they are frozen solid I put them in a freezer bag, seal it and stash it back in the freezer ready to go straight into the oven. Remember that they will need a couple of minutes extra in the oven when cooking from frozen.