CHOCOLATE, HONEY & ALMOND

I would suppose that, if one had not slept for 48 hours straight, the thought of baking would be considered as a bad, very bad idea. But that's a general statement, and consequently not applicable to 100% of the population. Which brings me to justify -and feel less guilty- for allowing my (sometimes) impulsive brain to decide that whisking sugar and eggs may just very well be a good, very good idea...after hours of sleep deprivation. Yes, the mind is a wonderful thing isn't it. 

But it was cold and grey out, and I didn't want to step out of my toasty home to buy any necessary ingredients.  I had to figure out a way to use up whatever was already lying around in the kitchen. You'd think that as someone who loves to cook, that my shelves are just always flowing with hundreds of ingredients at any given moment of the day. However, the reality is -being an individual living in a household of one (i.e: myself)- my kitchen is not permanently stocked like a Martha Stewart show set. So I thought to myself, just stick to the basics. Marianna, just play it safe and focus on ingredients you can't go wrong with. For starters: chocolate- that's a no brainer. Almonds, always good. And finally, the sweetest of them all, honey. Those were going to be my three star ingredients: chocolate, almonds and honey. Like Toblerone chocolate...minus the nougat. 

Then, to complicate my life just a little more, I couldn't decide whether I wanted to make cake or cookies. So I figured it would have to be something that captures the best of both worlds. There is no proper terminology to what I ended up making, but it turned out as cookie sized thin cakes with a slightly crunchy shell but with a cake-crumb interior and luscious bits of chocolate gooey-ness. Most importantly however, and I say this unabashedly, is that my chocolate, almond and honey cookie cakes were unbelievably scrumptious. They truly were. Scrumptious. Keep reading to find out why. 

 Chocolate-honey batter with crushed almonds...

...and out of the oven, dusted with icing sugar and cocoa

(Shamelessly) The Most Amazing Chocolate, Honey and Almond Cookie Cakes 

Makes 8-10 large cookie cakes

2 eggs

140gr dark chocolate

100gr butter

60gr sugar (confectioner preferably)

50gr honey

100gr flour

70gr ground almonds

Pinch of baking powder

Handful of crushed almonds (toasted, preferably)

Bittersweet cocoa 

Icing sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 350F/180C. 

Line mini tartlet moulds (approx10cm/4inch) with parchment/wax paper.

In a pan on high heat, toast the almonds for 3-4 minutes. Remove and set aside.

In a small pot (or in a microwave for quick method), melt the butter and chocolate together. Then transfer to a large mixing bowl. Add the eggs, sugar and honey. Whisk everything together well. Follow with the flour, ground almonds and baking powder. Mix until you obtain a smooth batter. Finally, crush the toasted almonds and fold into the batter gently. Place the tartlet moulds on a large baking tray. Fill the tartlet moulds with the batter and tap the baking tray on a rough surface to kill any air bubbles in the batter. Bake for 20 minutes (at 350F/180C) and an additional 3 minutes with the oven turned off. Remove, dust with bittersweet cocoa and place the baked goods in the fridge for at least five hours, up to overnight (yes, this is where you have to be patient). Take out of fridge, enjoy as is or dusted with icing sugar.

*From my experience, the most important things here are to use small tartlet moulds (thinner layer of batter), ground almonds and cooling the (cooled) cookies in the fridge. The end result will only lead to a deliciously addictive texture. The amount of crushed almonds should be adjusted to your personal taste. For this recipe however, I felt a good crunch was important, so make your handful of crushed almonds a generous one ;)