It’s been one of those weeks, so I thought I’d share the recipe for one of my favourite comfort foods. These cookies aren’t for the faint hearted – gooey on the inside and crisp at the edge, they’re as dark and rich and chocolatey as I could possibly make them. The inspiration came from a favourite cookbook of mine – Ratioby Michael Ruhlman. A wonderful book this – it gives you the tools to take almost any recipe and tweak it to be exactly the way you want it. It’s especially good for baking.

These cookies are really simple – 200g each of brown sugar and butter, 150g self raising flour and 50g of cocoa powder creamed together with an egg. Add about 75g good dark chocolate broken into big chunks, and 50g or so of dried sour cherries. Mix and chill until firm. The egg and the self raising flour add a little lightness – otherwise these can be overpowering!

Cut off pieces about the size of a table tennis ball, pop on a baking tray spaced ten cm apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 180 degrees, until they have spread a bit and crisped around the edges.

Let them cool a little or they’ll crumble when you try to take them off the tray, and enjoy! They’re nice cold too, but they probably won’t last that long….