Devil's double choc malt cookies

"Bake these and your face will hurt because you'll be smiling, chewing and gurning for another one."

You know how much I love Jamie Oliver's recipes, and I certainly couldn't refuse his invitation to make these cookies, could I? Especially after such an introduction.
And knowing that most of my readers have a sweet tooth as much as I do, I couldn't but pass the recommendation on.
Soft, chewy, intensly chocolatey cookies, with a little crunch inside, I bet you, too, will love them.
The malt part you see in the title comes from two ingredients, Horlicks and Malteasers. Horlicks is not really available here in Italy, so the first time I made these I used Ovomaltine that my daughter adds to her milk instead of cocoa (in fact they are basicly similar, with a difference that Ovomaltine contains cocoa, too). But I managed to find it later, so I can say I've used both, without terribly big difference in flavour. The second one, however, Malteasers, I've never seen around here, nor tasted, so I don't know if they have anything in common with KitKat balls that I have used, except the shape. But they added some lovely crunch to the cookies. I guess you could perfectly ommit either of these and maybe add more chopped chocolate or invent something on your own, depending on where you live and what's available to you. It would be a pitty not to make these just because you don't have one additional ingredient.

I don't know about you, but I'm making myself a cup of something delicious and hot (like Layered Cuban coffee) with a couple of these cookies, to get through this rainy autumn day.

And, BTW, have you started making the list of Christmas cookies yet? I bet you'll be able to squeeze these in, too.

Devil's double choc malt cookies
(by Jamie Oliver)

* 50 g unsalted butter
* 200 g good quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa)
* 397 g can of sweetened condensed milk
* 25 g finely ground almonds (almond meal)
* 2 heaped teaspoons Horlicks (or Ovomaltine)
* 200 g self-raising flour
* 100 g Malteasers (me: KitKat balls)
* 50 g good quality white chocolate (me: milk chocolate)

Melt the butter and chocolate in a pan on a low heat (or in a microwave oven) until smooth and combined, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and stir in the condensed milk, followed by the almonds and Horlicks. Sift in the flour and a pinch of sea salt, mix together, then chill in the fridge for 20 to 30 minutes (no longer). Once cool, but still pliable, smash up the Maltesers (I cut each KitKat ball in 4 parts) and roughly chop the white (or milk) chocolate, then mix it all together.

Preheat the oven to 170°C (325°F). Divide the mixture into equal-sized balls (Jamie's recipe says 24 but I got double, normal size cookies, his must be giant :)))  and place on a couple of large baking trays lined with baking/parhment paper. Flatten each a little – like squashed golf balls (you can freeze them at this stage to bake another day if you like) – then bake for around 12 minutes, or until chewy in the middle and firm at the edges. Leave to sit in the tray for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

If you want to take these devilish cookies to another level, either sandwich 2 cookies with a good spoonful of your favourite ice cream, or even some homemade marshmallow, and squeeze… heaven, or simply drizzle all the cookies with melted chocolate while they cool (which I did).

Cookies al doppio cioccolato e malto
(di Jamie Oliver)

* 50 g di burro
* 200 g di cioccolato fondente di ottima qualità (70% di cacao)
* 397 g (una lattina) di latte condensato zuccherato
* 25 g di farina di mandorle (mandorle tritate finemente)
* 2 cucchiaini colmi di Horlicks (o Ovomaltina)
* 200 g di farina autolievitante (o farina 00 normale + 1 cucchiaino di lievito per dolci)
* 100 g di Malteasers (io: KitKat balls)
* 50 g di cioccolato bianco di buona qualità (io: cioccolato al latte)

Fate sciogliere il cioccolato fondente e il burro sul fuoco dolce (o nel forno a microonde), mescolando ogni tanto.
Fuori dal fuoco unire il latte condensato, le mandorle, l'Horlicks (o Ovomaltina), un pizzico di sale marino, e in seguito la farina. Mescolate bene e mettete in frigo per non più di 20-30 minuti. La massa deve raffreddarsi ma rimanere morbida.
Unire al composto i Malteasers spezzettati (io ho usato i KitKat balls tagliati in 4) e il cioccolato bianco (io al cioccolato) tagliato a pezzettini.

Scaldate il forno a 170°C.
Formate delle palline con l'impasto prelevandolo con due cucchiaini (non necessariamente regolari), sistemandole sulle placche da forno rivestite con la carta da forno,  e schiacciatele leggermente. La ricetta dice di formare 24 biscotti, io ho ottenuto più del doppio.
Infornate i biscotti per 12 minuti circa - al centro devono rimanere morbidi. Lasciateli raffreddare sulle placche per 5 minuti e poi trasferiteli su una gratella per farli raffreddare.

Potete decorarli con un po' di cioccolato fuso una volta raffreddati (come ho fatto io), o come suggerisce Jamie unirli a due e due con una pallina di gelato o mashmallow fatti in casa.

Dvostruko čokoladni cookies s ječmenim sladom
(recept Jamieja Olivera)

* 50 g maslaca
* 200 g kvalitetne tamne čokolade (70% kakaa)
* 397 g (jedna limenka) zaslađenog kondenziranog mlijeka
* 25 g sitno mljevenih badema
* 2 pune žličice Horlicks praha (ili Ovomaltine - oba su pripravci za napitak s mlijekom na bazi ječmenog slada)
* 200 g samodizajućeg brašna (ili obično glatko brašno + 1 ravna žličica praška za pecivo)
* 100 g Malteasers (ja: KitKat balls)
* 50 g kvalitetne bijele čokolade (ja: mliječna čokolada)

Otopite maslac i čokoladu na laganoj vatri (ili u mikrovalnoj pećnici) povremeno miješajući dok ne dobijete glatku smjesu. Maknite s vatre i dodajte zaslađeno kondenzirano mlijeko, bademe, i Horlicks prah, prstohvat morske soli, a potom i brašno. Dobro izmiješajte da dobijete ujednačenu, mekanu smjesu, i stavite je hladiti u hladnjaku (ne više od 20 do 30 minuta). Kad se smjesa ohladila ali je još uvijek mekana, izvadite je i dodajte smrvljene Malteasere (ja sam nasjeckala KitKat balls na 4 dijela) i nasjeckanu bijelu (ili mliječnu čokoladu).
Uz pomoć dvije žličice uzimajte smjesu i oblikujte hrpice (okruglice), smjestite ih na plehove obložene papirom za pečenje (recept kaže 24 komada, ali ja sam dobila dvostruko više). Malo ih spljoštite i stavite ih peći u pećnicu zagrijanu na 170°C oko 12 minuta. Keksi trebaju ostati mekani na sredini. Ostavite ih da se hlade na plehu 5 minuta pa ih tek onda premjestite na rešetku da se potpuno ohlade.
Možete kekse ukrasiti otopljenom čokoladom (kao što sam ja) ili ih, kako predlaže Jamie, spojiti u sendvič sladoledom ili domaćim marshmallowom.