Very good cookies!

I made my usual cookies yesterday and thought I might share my recipe.

For non-fruit eaters you can omit the fruit. I made the first batch fruitless yesterday for a visitor today, and then added fruit to the rest of the mixture. The amounts stated make about 32 cookies but you can easily halve the amounts to make fewer.

Oven 175 degrees C

100 gm butter

100 gm soft brown sugar

2 eggs (large)

200 gm good quality dark chocolate (roughly chopped)

150gm self-raising flour

1 heaped teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon cocoa (optional)

a handful of chopped marzipan pieces (optional but delicious - and it works with left-over marzipan that has gone rock hard!)

a handful of glace cherries (whole, halved or chopped, optional)

a couple of handfuls of chopped dried apricots (optional)

small amount of chopped candied peel (optional)

Start by pouring boiling water over the dried apricots and glace cherries and candied peel in a bowl.

Cream the butter and sugar together.

Add the eggs, the flour, the baking powder and the cocoa and stir until well mixed.

Drain the fruit well and add.

Add the chocolate and marzipan and stir.

Put small dollops well spaced on a baking tray (no need to grease unless it sticks badly normally). The cookies SPREAD. Leave plenty of space between them.

Bake for 7~ 10 minutes.

Leave to cool for 5 minutes on the tray before removing or they will disintegrate.