I have had some hits and misses with American cup size measurements. In a scone recipe I adapted, I ended up dumping half a bag of flour in the dough just to make it bind. Yet, I’ve made a batch of Cappuccino Cookies that ended perfectly; crisp chewy and perfect. I think it may come down to my basic failure to ‘do maths’. I realise it is a skill that is required pretty much everywhere, but when tasked with halving a measurement then tripling, I become confused and end up with cakey scones or bread-like cookies. So my (rather obvious) brainwave has been to purchase a nest of American cups in bright colours to make my guesswork a thing of the past. Because I post in grams on my blog, I have painstakingly weighed each cup to convert for your reading pleasure. You are welcome.

My first cup-converting experiment has luckily been a success. After a day of freelancing (business lady Victoria reporting for duty) I decided a little therapeutic baking was in order. Like one of those baking miracles I talked about in this post, I had every ingredient in. Bright flashes of green in these cookies add a little welcome colour to dark deep chocolate. Do not be put off by the rock salt topping; salt brings out the flavour in chocolate beautifully and pistachios will always be perfect with a little sodium chloride. Stack and serve after a long day of work. They are worth it I promise. I should know, I’ve done the maths.

Adapted from Joy the Baker and Smitten Kitchen

 

You Will Need

110g softened butter

100g caster sugar

100g soft light brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla paste

195g plain flour

½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

¼ teaspoon table salt

100g good-quality dark chocolate

75g pistachios

Rock salt, for topping

Using a stand mixer (or a hand mixer and a large bowl if you don’t have one) beat the butter and sugars together until pale and fluffy. With the mixer still running, add the egg and then the vanilla paste. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and table salt with a fork, then add all at once to the wet mix. Combine with the mixer on a slow speed and set aside.

Using a sharp knife, chop the dark chocolate into irregular chunks. Then chop the pistachios the same way, making sure there are some powder-like smithereens of nuts but also thicker chunks. Stir the chocolate and pistachios into the cookie mix, then cover the bowl with clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

When you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 150oc/130oc fan/Gas Mark 2. Line two large baking sheets with baking parchment and scoop tablespoons of cookie dough spaced 2 inches apart on the sheets. Sprinkle with rock salt and place in the oven to bake for 18 minutes, or golden brown.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the trays for 5 minutes before cooling completely on a wire rack.