Chocodoodles

It's been rather a strange, grumpy day, so we made chocodoodles (little chocolate biscuits/cakes) to cheer ourselves up. It's a Nigella recipe, slightly tweaked - we ate them with slices of juicy nectarine, and will finish the rest off with the blackberry mountain currently sitting at the bottom of the fridge.

Makes about 16. You'll need:

65g butter
50g sugar
25g cocoa powder
100g plain flour
a pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
a small egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon caster sugar
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon

Stick the oven on at about 180 degrees C, and fish out a baking tray (you'll need to line it with greaseproof paper or a silicon sheet).

Cream the butter and sugar (50g, not the tablespoon) together, until they're fluffy. A bit of elbow grease works wonders, but you could cheat and do this in the food processor. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract, and then carefully add the cocoa powder, and mix gently. Add the flour, baking powder and salt, and mix until everything is smooth.

Mix the remaining caster sugar/cinnamon, and place on a plate. Take a teaspoon of mixture, roll it in your fingers to make a ball, and then roll each ball on the cinnamony/sugary plate until it's thoroughly covered. (You loved this bit.)

Sling each ball on the baking tray (they don't spread too much while baking, so you don't have to space them widely), and bake in the oven for about 15 minutes until no longer soft. Leave to cool on a wire rack.