Cocoa Nib Biscuits

Cocoa Nib Biscuits | Patisserie Makes Perfect

These delicious cocoa nib biscuits came about because I had a LOT of cocoa nibs in the cupboard and some cream leftover. This recipe is from William Curley’s book Couture Chocolate and I was so happy to learn that he’s going to have a new book out in the autumn. I have both of his books and if you’re interested in learning patisserie, or chocolate making, you really need these books on your bookshelf.

The reason I like these books so much, is because they can be used to create some exquisite patisserie as well as simpler recipes like this one, that are still so full of flavour. Perfect for when you need a home-made sweet treat in a hurry – the other great thing about these is that they keep really well and they’re great with a mug of tea or coffee.

Cocoa Nib Biscuits | Patisserie Makes Perfect

You could use a biscuit cutter to make these, but I quite like the square shape and it gave me an opportunity to get my ruler out in the kitchen. These biscuits are perfect for a bit of weekend baking and they’re great to share if you’ve got friends coming round this bank holiday weekend.

I never really used cocoa nibs before, but after they’re baked they take on a really sweet taste. If you’re wondering what cocoa nibs are, they’re chocolate in it’s purest form. They are dried, fermented bits of cocoa bean, they have a deep chocolate flavour and can even be used to make cocoa nib tea.

Cocoa Nib Biscuits | Patisserie Makes Perfect

Cocoa Nib Biscuits | Patisserie Makes Perfect

Cocoa Nib Biscuits

William Curley
This is a tasty, crumbly shortbread style biscuit that get's a chocolate hit from the cocoa nibs that have been added.
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Course Biscuit
Servings 25 +

Ingredients
  

  • 125 g Unsalted Butter cut into cubes and softened
  • 125 g Caster Sugar
  • 1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 20 ml Whipping Cream
  • 125 g Plain Flour
  • 5 g Baking Powder
  • 125 g Ground Almonds
  • 50 g Cocoa Nibs
  • Granulated Sugar for sprinkling

Instructions
 

  • Put the butter and sugar in a bowl and cream together until light and fluffy.
  • Add the vanilla extract and whipping cream, mix well. Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl, then mix in the ground almonds and cocoa nibs.
  • Fold this into the creamed butter mixture and mix until it forms a dough.
  • Wrap it in cling film and leave to chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
  • Preheat the oven to 180C (350F/Gas4). Roll the dough out to a thickness of 4mm.
  • Using a knife cut the dough into 5cm squares, or use a cookie cutter of your choice. Place the biscuits onto baking trays lined with non-stick baking mats or baking parchment. Make sure the biscuits are at least 3cm apart.
  • Bake in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes until lightly golden in colour. Remove from the oven and lightly sprinkle them with granulated sugar and allow to cool.
  • These will keep for 5 days in an airtight container.

Cocoa Nib Biscuits | Patisserie Makes Perfect

Cocoa Nib Biscuits | Patisserie Makes Perfect

if you need to get your hands on some cocoa nibs, you can get them from Sous Chef or from lots of health food stores. You could also try adding other ingredients to these biscuits, candied fruit maybe? Or even switch the ground almonds for ground hazelnuts. Let me know if you make these, have a great weekend.

Thanks for reading.

Angela

 

9 Responses

  1. Jodie Dodd

    I was wondering if cocoa nibs were similar to chocolate chips but now I see the difference. Using them to make tea is a great idea too! These biscuits look fantastic, almost make me wish for Fall, curled up on the couch with a blanket, some tea and biscuits. 🙂 xx

  2. Hannah Hossack-Lodge

    These look delicious! I really like the square shape as well, who needs cookie cutters?! I haven’t tried cocoa nibs yet, I’ll have to seek some out. I’ve got William Curley’s Patisserie book and love it, I’ve added Couture Chocolate to my “to get” list 🙂 x

    • PatisserieMakesPerfect

      I have such a small kitchen Hannah, I try to have a rule that anything which only does one job, doesn’t really stick around in the kitchen (my egg slicer is the exception to this rule). So I don’t actually have any interesting cookie cutters – just round ones for pastry.
      The couture book is great – you’ll have to add their new book to the list too!

  3. rebecca beesley

    i’ve recently discovered cacao nibs and LOVE them! Not used them in any baking yet though. x

    • PatisserieMakesPerfect

      you’ve hit on my dilemma as well Rebecca, cacao or cocoa…I didn’t know which to use, the recipe was cocoa, but lots of health food articles etc reference cacao… I was at a loss.

      You’d definitely like these biscuits – I promise you.

  4. Lucy Parissi

    These look so good! I haven’t used cocoa nibs much but did on a cake recently and they have a great taste and good crunch. I can just taste them in those biscuits.

    • PatisserieMakesPerfect

      Thank you Lucy – I never really used cocoa nibs either, but I am a convert now, they are so much more chocolatey when they are baked or roasted.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.