Recipe | Chocolate, Bay Leaf and Spelt Oat Cookies

Chewy, chunky cookies. Add ice cream to make it a pudding, or keep for whenever the need arises. You’re never too old for a midnight snack, after all.

Serves 1

125g salted butter

2 tbsp honey

70g light brown sugar

3 fresh bay leaves, very

finely chopped

1 egg, beaten

50g plain flour

100g spelt flour

½ tsp baking powder

85g jumbo oats

75g dark chocolate

60g blanched hazelnuts, chopped

1 Preheat the oven to 190C/Fan 170C/Gas 5. Place the butter, honey, sugar and bay leaves into a saucepan set over a low heat and allow everything to melt together. Remove from the heat and leave to cool for 5 mins, then whisk in the egg.

2 Combine all the other ingredients in a separate bowl, then pour over the butter mixture and stir together to make a stiff dough.

3 Spoon tablespoons of the dough – as many as you want to eat now – onto a lined baking sheet, leaving plenty of space between them, then bake for 10-12 mins, or until just golden on top. Leave to cool and harden a little before serving.

Cook’s note: The dough freezes well, so make as many as you want for yourself, then come back for the rest whenever the need strikes.

This recipe is just one of the ideas from our feature ‘Please Yourself’ in which Kathy Slack devises a seasonal menu to cook and enjoy alone. You’ll find the rest of the recipes, which include cauliflower, leek & mushroom bean bake, bitter leaves and fennel with hazelnut dressing, and malted turmeric milk, in our January issue, out now.

More sweet things best enjoyed alone…

More from our blog…

Recipe: Summer spelt almond cake

This nutty, light cake is perfect for scattering with summer fruits. Some will sink in and some will rest on top. If you want a less sweet cake, leave out the rose water icing.

SUMMER SPELT ALMOND CAKE

Makes one 23cm cake (8–10 slices)

FOR THE SPONGE
175g butter, softened, plus more for greasing the tin
175g light brown sugar
2 eggs
1⁄4 vanilla pod, seeds scraped out 125g ground almonds
175g wholemeal spelt flour
2 tsp baking powder
1⁄4 tsp salt
200g halved cherries, or whole raspberries or blueberries
200g peaches or nectarines, sliced 2 tbsp caster sugar, for sprinkling 
rose petals, for scattering (optional)

FOR THE ICING (OPTIONAL)
200g icing sugar 1-2 tbsp rose water

1 Preheat the oven to 160/Fan 140/320F. Butter a 23cm cake tin and line with parchment paper.
2 In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each one. Add the vanilla seeds. Add the almonds and mix to combine.
3 In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt, then gently beat these into the creamed butter mixture. The mixture will be rather stiff but that’s OK.
4 Spread the batter into your prepared cake tin and smooth top with a palette knife. Scatter the cherries (or raspberries or blueberries) over the batter, then press the slices of peach (or nectarine) on top to get the fruit inside the cake batter a bit.
5 Sprinkle with the caster sugar and bake for 60–70 mins, until a skewer comes out clean and the top is springy. Let the cake cool for 15 mins before turning it out.
6 If using the icing, whisk the rose water into the icing sugar until smooth and runny. Drizzle over the cooled cake. Scatter with garden rose petals if you have them. This is best eaten on the same day you bake it.

Recipe from The Violet Bakery Cookbook by Claire Ptak, photography by Kristin Perers (Square Peg, £20)