Chocolate Butterscotch Biscuits

I seem to be making a lot of biscuits at the moment. Mostly because they're just so handy for the large number of packed lunches and picnics I'm preparing on a regular basis, with it being the summer holidays. Oh, and of course they're yummy too!

The following recipe is an adaptation of my go-to biscuit recipe that I decided to try out following the discovery of these in Saisnbury's the other week.

For some reason I though they would be chewy and a bit fudge-like but they turned out to be quite crunchy - a bit like the middle of Daim Bars (can you still buy those? I must find out). Yum! In the absence of any chocolate chips they seemed like a good addition to a batch of biscuits together with some cocoa powder for an extra chocolatey kick.

They didn't turn out quite as I had expected as the butterscotch pieces completely melted, leaving small holes in the tops of the biscuits and little bits of butterscotch oozing out of the sides. Ignoring their slightly odd appearance though, they tasted delicious. The butterscotch pieces added lots of caramel flavour and I'll definitely be making a chocolate version again, maybe using white chocolate chips next time.

If you want to make regular chocolate-chip biscuits just substitute the cocoa powder for an extra ounce of flour and use a 100g bag of chocolate chips instead of the butterscotch pieces.

Chocolate Butterscotch Biscuits

5oz/150g self raising flour

1oz/25g cocoa powder

3oz/90g butter at room temperature

3oz/90g brown sugar

3oz/90g caster sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

4oz/100g bag butterscotch pieces

1) Preheat the oven to 180c/350f. Line a couple of baking sheets with baking paper.

2) Put the butter and sugar and beat together until pale and creamy. Add the egg and vanilla and beat well. Mix in the flour and cocoa powder until well incorporated then fold in the butterscotch pieces.

3) Spoon dessertspoonfuls of mixture onto the baking sheets and flatten slightly. Bake for 10-12 minutes. If you want chewy biscuits then it's important not to overcook them, in fact they should seem quite undercooked when you take them out of the oven. The edges should feel just done but middles will still feel quite soft.

Makes about 20, depending on the size of biscuit you make.