The dough spreads wildly during baking and turns a deep golden colour. The final crispiness of these bikkies is mostly down to how long you bake them and how long before you eat them: made and eaten straight away they are at their crunchiest.
Ingredients
115g unsalted butter, softened
200g castor sugar
20g honey or black treacle
1 egg (60g)
2 tsp vanilla extract
200g plain flour
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
150g milk or dark chocolate, chopped in small cubes
extra chocolate to finish, optional
flaked salt, like Murray River (optional)
Method
1. Beat the butter, sugar and honey until smooth then beat in the egg and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add the flour and bicarbonate, mix in evenly then stir in the chocolate.
2. Take scoops about 30 grams each, roll into balls then flatten slightly and place on a baking tray lined with nonstick paper.
The balls spread more than twice their width during baking, so leave lots of room in between on the tray. I like to press extra chocolate chunks into the surface of each dough ball, and sprinkle with a pinch of salt flakes to enhance the flavour, but that's optional.
3. Heat the oven to 160C (140C fan-forced) and bake for about 15 minutes until they are a rich, even golden brown on top. Leave to cool on the tray slightly before moving carefully to a cooling rack once they have firmed up.
Makes 750 grams of dough, enough for 25 large biscuits.
If you love these thin and crispy cookies, try Dan Lepard's secret ingredient chewy choc-chip bikkies. Both of these recipes can be easily customised so you can create your own private bikkie heaven.