Chewy Chocolate Cookies With Nougat

Are you on the chewy cookie team or the crunchy cookie team? Personally I like my honey/coconut/butter based cookies to be crisp, and my chocolate/oat/almond cookies to be chewy. Although if you give me a crisp chocolate, oat & almond cookie, I’m really not going to complain! These cookies include a little espresso powder to bring out the taste of the chocolate. Not enough that they taste like coffee, a teaspoon is plenty to give an extra depth of flavour. Then of course with have chocolate chips, a little almond extract - which brings out the taste of the nougat. And then there’s the nougat itself. No need for buying the posh, expensive nougat - good old pink and white (<–affiliate link) does the job perfectly. Personally, I only use the white part, as I think that looks better in the cookies, then I eat the pink part whilst the cookies are in the oven 😁

The nougat melts down in the oven, so be sure to use a non-stick baking mat so you don’t leave any of that chewy deliciousness behind. Once the cookie dough is mixed together, I like rest it in the fridge for a couple of hours. This really helps the flavours to develop and gives the cookies a better texture. Plus it’s easier to roll the dough into balls once the dough has firmed up in the fridge.

I performed an extremely scientific cookie experiment a few years back to help me to figure out how to make the perfect cookie. Take a look at the post for a taste description and visual representation of cookies with different sugars, flour amounts, refrigeration, freezing etc. It definitely set me up to be a confidant cookie maker, even if I did gain a couple of pounds. Once the cookie dough balls are rolled out, you can also freeze them, and then cook them from frozen. This is great for when you need a sweet snack, but only want to bake one or two cookies. It’s also good to have them on standby in the freezer for when the kids friends come round to play. I know I’ve always got winning snacks on hand!!

White Chocolate and Cranberry - replace the cocoa and espresso powder with 60g (½ cup) plain (all-purpose) flour. Replace the nougat and chocolate chips with dried cranberries (115g/1 cup) and white choc chips. Replace the almond extract with an extra teaspoon of vanilla extract Chocolate Orange - replace the cocoa and espresso powder with 60g (½ cup) plain (all-purpose) flour. Replace the nougat with the zest of two oranges. Replace the almond extract with an extra teaspoon of vanilla extract. Rolo/Caramel stuffed Chocolate Cookies - Don’t use the nougat, chocolate chips or almond extract. Instead roll the cookie dough into balls, flatten into a disc and place a Rolo in the middle of each disc. Wrap the disc around the Rolo to create a ball. Once cooked and cool, drizzle a little melted chocolate on top. White Chocolate dipped Pistachio Cookies - replace the cocoa and espresso powder with 60g (½ cup) plain (all-purpose) flour. Replace the nougat and chocolate chips with roughly chopped pistachios (120g/1 cup) Replace the almond extract with an extra teaspoon of vanilla extract. Melt 200g white chocolate, and half dip the cooked and cooled cookies before leaving the chocolate to set.