Happy Solstice and Basler Brunsli

I love deep midwinter and proper dark - I wouldn't mind it being a bit colder but at least it; 's saving me some money on heating, and the solstice seems like a natural time to celebrate - more so this year as my day off has fallen on it. I've been sorting out the last bit of Christmas preparation and that feels right too - this year's business is essentially wound up for me now (personally, not at work sadly).

I might read the first chapter of The Dark Is Rising tonight and follow it through in real time again, or I might not - I'm not putting any pressure on myself to do anything more than deal with the day job until New Year. 

The biggest job of the day has been bagging up all the Christmas biscuits I've been making over the last week or so ready to be given out to people over the next couple of days - lots of them for work. I was having a quick bedtime look through Anja Dunk's Advent book last night (for the rum and oatmeal truffles that a friend really liked and which I made today but not very well I think, I don't love them) when I saw the recipe for Basler Brunsli/ spiced chocolate hearts, an originally Swiss biscuit that has apparently been adopted with enthusiasm in Germany.

I can see why. I made them because they're gluten-free, something my repertoire lacks. I'm going to be adopting them with enthusiasm too. They're quick, simple as long as you have a food processor, delicious, and they keep well.

You need 200g of dark chocolate, 250g of ground almonds, 75g of light brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1 tbsp of Kirsch or brandy, 2 egg whites, a pinch of fine sea salt, about 2 tbsp of demerara sugar, and some icing sugar for rolling them out with.

Blitz the chocolate in the processor until it resembles coarse sand, and everything else apart from the demerara and icing sugars, and mix until the dough comes together. This is a sticky dough but it doesn't need much handling so it could be worse. Divide your dough into 2, generously sprinkle some of the demerara on your work surface and roll the dough to about 1 cm thick. Cut with a smallish heart cutter - Anja's recipe says it makes 50, I got 30 so I think I was using a larger cutter but I'm okay with that, and place on a baking tray about 1cm apart. They don't spread much which is also nice. Carry on with the second half of the dough and then the leftovers. 

Bake for about 15 minutes at 130C fan oven (which is what I have) 150 conventional. They're ready when they feel dry-ish to touch but are still soft. They firm up as they cool. This is a chewy, crunchy, biscuit with a deep chocolate flavour nicely complimented by the cinnamon and fudgy demerara notes. They're not overly pretty and I like them as a potential mince pie alternative if mince pies aren't your thing but you still want to do a bit of baking. Mostly though they're great with my coffee and looking forward I see this as the fate of any plain easter chocolate that comes my way.