I was planning on doing a savory snack this week for work, but then we ended up with a whole load of huge red chocolate buttons we didn’t use for a birthday cake we baked. So to avoid us sitting around just eating them, I’ve used some of them to top a chocolate cookie.

It’s a pretty standard recipe for cakey chocolate cookies (that I adapted from a CooksCounty turtle cookie recipe, for those who subscribe): cream butter and sugar, add egg yolk and vanilla, then stir in flour, cocoa powder & salt.

The dough gets chilled, then formed into 1 tbsp balls and flattened. These get dipped in whisked egg white and coated top and sides with desiccated coconut.

Then they get topped with the huge red chocolate buttons on a lined baking tray.

These wend in a 160c fan oven, initially for 10 minutes, then for an extra two minutes as they weren’t as firm as I’d have liked. Then it was onto a cooling rack.

They taste really good! The huge red chocolate buttons were really brittle before cooking, but after then had softened a bit, so they worked well as a topping and added a nice extra hit of chocolate to the cocoa based cookie. The red colour seems to have leaked a bit into the coconut… but it’s not the end of the world!

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), softened
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 egg, separated, plus 1 egg white
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• desiccated coconut

Cream butter & sugar. Add egg yolk and vanilla and beat. Mix dry ingredients, mix slowly into wet to form a dough. Chill for an hour.

Whisk egg whites. Take 1 tbsp portions of dough and roll into ball, then flatten. Dip in egg whites then in coconut, covering top and sides. Place on lined baking tray. Top with huge red chocolate button.

Cook for 10-12 minutes at 160c fan, until firming up slightly. Let cool on rack before eating.