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Hi Bold Bakers!
I thought I would bring some Irish flavor to my desserts and share with you a biscuit that is very popular on the Emerald Isle–Homemade Chocolate Hobnobs.
They are best described as an oaty shortbread with chocolate on top. Biscuits in Ireland are not the same as the soft American biscuits, they are a cookie. However cookies can be soft and chewy where as biscuits are mostly crips and crunchy, with no softness.
Biscuit are made to be enjoyed with a cup of tea. Dunking them in your tea is what softens them. The Irish are a nation of tea drinkers.
Tea is consumed morning, noon and night in my house. Even living in the States now I still carry on the tradition and have tea time everyday around 3 o’clock. I sit down, watch my stories and have a cup of Irish tea.
I love making homemade versions of baked good that are commonly bought in the store. I have a fantastic recipe for Homemade Graham Crackers that taste just like the real thing.
Try These Recipes!
Homemade Chocolate Hobnobs
Ingredients
- 8 ½ tablespoons (125g / 4oz) unsalted butter
- ⅓ cup (80g / 3 oz) brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons golden syrup
- ⅔ cup (100g / 3½ oz) porridge oats
- ⅔ cup (100g / 3½ oz) wholemeal flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ - 1 teaspoon sea salt , to taste
- ⅔ cup (100g ) chocolate
- 2 tablespoons ( 30g / 1 oz) unsalted butter
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F /180 C and line a few trays with parchment paper.
- With a hand or stand mixer cream the butter and the brown sugar until pale, fluffy and smooth.
- Add the golden syrup and beat until it's incorporated.
- On a low speed, mix in the oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
- Once the dry and wet ingredients are evenly combined bring the dough together into a ball, wrap with cling wrap and refrigerate for 15-20 minutes.
- Roll the dough into small balls about the size of a tablespoon and flatten on the tray until they are about 2 inches in diameter. Be sure to leave a bit of room between the cookies for spreading.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown, then allow to cool on the trays.
- Melt the chocolate and butter together in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water or in the microwave.
- Spoon a teaspoon of chocolate onto the top of each cookie and spread out evenly using the back of a spoon.
- Once the chocolate has slightly set swirl your spoon across the chocolate working your way down the cookie in the shape of a figure eight. This will create that beautiful classic hobnob look!
- Allow to set before enjoying/dunking into tea.
What may I ask are porridge oats? Canada here. Quick oats, one minute oats, large flake oats, steel cut oats? I want to purchase the correct oat for best success ! Thanks very much excited to bake these! Kelly
I’ve always been a disaster at biscuit making, but this recipe was fab.. they turned out perfect! Thank you
Looking forward to trying out this recipe! Hobnobs are Scottish, though!
These are delicious! Thin, crispy, the right amount of saltiness and a hint of butterscotch. I used dark chocolate and it is hard to stay away from them. I mill my own flour and used hard red wheat berries and old fashioned oats.
Just made these. Delicious! Seriously good and really easy to make. I rolled the dough into a log, chilled it and then sliced biscuits off to bake, I made 18! I’ve not chocolate coated them this time but will try that another time.
Gemma, do you think almond flour could be substituted for the whole wheat meal?
Your wonderful response to the oatmeal confused me. For us in America, do we use Old Fashion, quick or steel cut oats in recipe? Thank you.
I truly love following your blog! I set out to make this recipe, but ended up with a few replacements: I only had 6 oz of soft butter, so added 3 T tahini, used brown rice syrup for golden syrup, coconut sugar for brown sugar, and sprouted whole wheat flour for the “wholemeal” flour. I also put choc chips in the cookie b/c I didn’t want to mess with melting. Not sure if you would still consider them “hobnobs” but my husband loves them!
Thank you for the recipe. I Love Milk Chocolate Hobnobs. I have been buying them online, but now I can make my own.
This is there second time I tried this recipe and had the same result! I measured everything and followed the recipe exactly as written.