Accidental chocolate cookies!

Accidental chocolate cookies! Strange name, na?? But I made these cookies by accident. Some may say trial and error. But it was neither a trial for cookies, nor can I call the end result as error! Well here's the story: Last week, a friend of mine gifted me some awesome homemade chocolates. They were soo very good, that I was inspired to make some myself. I remembered that I had some cooking milk chocolate which I had bought earlier. So I cut a big chunk of it, around 100 g of it and placed it in the microwave to melt it. This being my first time with melting the chocolate, I realized that the chocolate had caramelized a little, very slightly. So I quickly removed it, added some milk to it to make a gooey mass, and then added some nuts and sultanas to it. I was hoping that it would set when cooled, but after 10 minutes of cooling, I realized that it was still just a gooey mass though very tasty. Instead of eating it just like that, I decided to experiment a little. I sifted some all purpose flour with 1 tsp of baking powder and added it to the chocolate mixture. I mixed it well. Added a couple of drops of cooking oil to it and made a smooth uniform mass. My confidence regained, I made small balls of this mixture, flattened into a cookie shape, and placed in on a baking sheet. Then I baked it in a preheated oven at 200 degrees C for 14 minutes. When the kitchen was filled with a heavenly chocolatey aroma, I new that I had not lost my way in saving the chocolate!! I removed the cookies from the oven, cooled them and hesitantly bit into one.....and it was GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was light and crunchy, may be not as crunchy as a butter cookie, but definitely crunchy enough to be relished.

So here's the recipe:

Milk chocolate - 100 g

Milk - 2 tbsp

All purpose flour - 100 g

Baking powder - 1 tsp

Cashew nuts - 1 tbsp

Sultanas - 1 tbsp

Oil - 1 tsp

Method: Melt the chocolate using a double boiler or in the microwave, taking care to see that it does not burn or caramelize. I heated it in the microwave at 50% power for 1 minute. Add the milk, nuts, sultanas. Mix well. Sift together all purpose flour and baking powder. Add this to the chocolate mixture and mix well. Add the oil and knead lightly to make a smooth dough. Take small balls of dough, flatten them like a cookie and place on a baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven at 200 degrees C for 14-15 minutes. Check with a tooth pick to see if cooked well. Remove and allow to cool. Makes around 15 cookies. The cookies tend to be soft when hot, but become crunchy when cooled. You can also microwave them for a minute and then cool. They become very crunchy.

So, I have learnt two things today:

1. It is not easy to melt chocolate.

2. Failure is the stepping stone to success.