Spiced Molasses Cookies with Butterscotch and Dark Chocolate – Pihikete Marahihi me te Tawhe, te Tiakarete Parauri anō hoki.
A few months back, I went to Daily Bread, a beautiful bakery style cafe in Auckland that serves the most divine kai (food). After I shared some delicious hanawiti (sandwiches) with my friend I felt like something sweet. There, in the cookie jar was a cookie, just like this one. The label said it had toffee and dark chocolate in it so I gave it a whirl. It is was perfection in a pihikete (biscuit). It was soft, perfectly spiced with chunks of tawhe (toffee) and tiakarete parauri (dark chocolate). After I had eaten it, I was determined to create my own version of it. So here it is! When I started recipe developing, I originally wanted to make toffee but felt like the recipe had too many steps. Instead, I found that Werther’s Butterscotch candy with caramel creme centre were the perfect alternative. You can’t quite see them in the photo’s but trust me, they drop oozy bits of caramel in to the biscuits that are just so incredible!
Kua mutu te pakiwaitara – the story has finished, let’s bake!
Spiced Molasses Cookies with Butterscotch Caramel Candy and Dark Chocolate – Pihikete Marahihi me te Tawhe Karamea, te Tiakarete Parauri anō hoki
Ingredients
- 175 g pata kūteretere (softened butter)
- ¾ C (150 g) huka hāura (brown sugar)
- ½ C (165 g) marahihi (molasses). I also love using mīere teiti (date syrup) instead of molasses in this recipe. Both work great.
- 2 tsp wanira (vanilla)
- ½ tsp tote (salt, fine)
- 2 tsp rau kikini whakauruuru (mixed spice)
- 2 tsp hinamona (cinnamon)
- 1 tsp tinitia kuoro (ground ginger)
- 1 hēki (egg, size 6)
- 2 ⅓ C (350 g) puehu parāoa noa (plain flour)
- ½ tsp pēkana paura (baking powder)
- ¼ tsp pēkana houra (baking soda)
- 140 g (1 packet) Werther's originals buttercream candy with caramel filling (the unfilled ones work well too but crush them quite fine if you are using them)
- 200 – 250 g tiakarete (I used 50% dark chocolate but use what you want to)
Optional Additions
- 80 g tiakarete parauri kua rewaina (melted dark chocolate)
- 2 tsp flaky sea salt
Instructions
Te Pokenga Pihikete – The Biscuit Dough
- Pre-heat the oven to 170 degrees, fan bake. Line two flat trays with baking paper.
- Add the pata kūteretere (softened butter), huka hāura (brown sugar), marahihi (molasses) or mīere teiti (date syrup), wanira (vanilla), tote (salt), rau kikini whakauruuru (mixed spice), hinamona (cinnamon) and tinitia (ginger) in to a large bowl.
- Using a stand mixer or hand beaters, whip for 2-3 minutes on high until light and fluffy.
- Add the puehu parāoa (flour), pēkana paura (baking powder) and pēkana houra (baking soda). Whakaranuhia mix – to combine.
- Add the rare (candy) to a mortar and pestle or a chopping board. Crush them gently and seperate the chunks of karamea (caramel) so that it distributes evenly in to the pihikete.
- Tapapahia te tiakarete – chop up the chocolate, keep it chunky. Add it to the mixture along with the crushed candy. Mix it all together.
- If your mixture is a bit too sticky to roll at this point, leave it on the bench or the fridge for 10 minutes to thicken up.
- Divide the ranunga (mixture) in to 24 balls and add 12 on to each tray. Gently press each pihikete (biscuit) down with the palm of your hand so they are around 2 cm high.
- Bake each tray separately 12 minutes.
- Remove from the oven, if any of the caramel from the candy has oozed out of the biscuit, just use a knife to stick it back on the pihikete (biscuits). If they are bit of an odd shape, scoot them with a round cookie cutter that is bigger than the cookies. Place the cutter around the hot cookie (straight from the oven), using a circular motion manipulate the cookies until they are round. The cookies need to be hot for this to work.
- Kaingia ngā pihikete mahana – eat the warm cookies!
Optional Additions
- If you want to up the ante, allow the pihikete (biscuits) to cool completely. Add a small dollop of the tiakarete kua rewaina (melted chocolate) on to each of the pihikete (biscuits).
- Sprinkle a little of the flaky salt on to the tiakarete (chocolate) before it sets.
- Allow them to set in the fridge for 15 minutes and enjoy!
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