Nutty Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's been more than a week now that I've written about Molly's Chocolate Cake. I've been at a bit of a loss since then, to be honest, because what on earth do you cook after a heavenly cake like that without being disappointed? It's like walking on the moon, or climbing Everest (both feats I am yet to accomplish, in case you wondered) - doesn't everything you do afterwards seem like a bit of an anticlimax? The pasta I cooked was blah, ditto for the chicken. There will forever be in my life a BMCC, and an AMCC (before- and after Molly's Chocolate Cake, respectively). Things that I would previously have been pretty pleased with, now just seem adequate.

I tried to psyche myself up: "Move on, Adele, for goodness sake! It's just a bloody cake!" Or something along those lines. Also, I get hungry on a regular basis, and a girl cannot live on chocolate cake alone. Sad, but true. So I found some cashew nut butter in the pantry left over from my mum's visit, and decided to make cookies. As you do. I was forced to add some chopped up chocolate. Did I mention I have about 3kg of chocolate in my pantry to work through? No? It's a combination of a planned dessert for Christmas which never got made (Christmas Pudding Chocolate Truffles, I'll see you end of the year), a gigantic box of Toblerone bought duty-free by The Fabulous Man, and several other chocolate gifts leftover from the festive season. It will be irresponsible to just let it go off, as I'm sure you'll agree.

I came across this fabulous recipe for flourless almond butter cookies on  Tasty Eats at Home, which I promptly decided would be my comeback cookie. Unfortunately I didn't have enough cashew butter, so I just used natural crunchy peanut butter to make up the difference. To be completely honest, there was quite a bit more peanut butter than cashew butter, so much so that I can't honestly say I tasted any cashews at all in the final result. I'll make this again some time with only cashew butter to see what it tastes like. But it was great as is, and I fell into a familiar habit of eating three cookies still hot from the oven. Delicous. Peanut butter and chocolate are after all one of the classic combinations of life.

So, I'm moving on. MCC will always be a regular in my baking repertoire, but I'm looking forward to finding my next Everest. Or moon. Whichever blows your hair back.

Nutty Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes about 2 dozen

1 cup of cashew and/or peanut butter (combined amount)
1 cup soft brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 180°C.

Mix all the ingredients together.

Roll tablespoonfulls of the dough into balls, and flatten slightly. Allow enough room for spreading.

Bake for 8 -10 minutes, until golden brown.

Cool on the tray for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Easy, isn't it? Enjoy.