Sue says: “Most of us think of spent coffee grounds as a useless by-product of our daily brew – but these magical cookies prove otherwise. They’re absolutely delicious, intensely flavourful and moreish. You can save the grounds until a cookie urge strikes. Just tip them into a ziplock bag and freeze, then defrost before use.”

Leftovers: coffee grounds
Makes about 20
Preparation: 15 minutes plus 1 hour chilling
Cooking: 12 minutes

Ingredients

180g (1⅓ cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
40g (¼ cup) skinned hazelnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
50g (½ cup) cocoa powder
60g (2¼oz/10 tsp) spent coffee grounds
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
A good pinch of fine sea salt
100g (scant ½ cup) softened butter
80g (scant ½ cup) soft light brown sugar
100g (generous ½ cup) caster (superfine) sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Method

Put the flour, nuts, cocoa powder, coffee grounds, bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) and salt in a medium bowl and stir well with a fork to combine.

Using a stand mixer or hand-held electric beaters, beat the butter and sugars together until pale and creamy. Gradually beat in the egg. Stir the dry ingredients into the butter mixture – it may seem too dry at first but keep mixing to make a stiff dough. Chill for at least one hour.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/350°F/Gas mark 4 and line a baking sheet with baking paper.

Pull off pieces of dough and roll into balls the size of large walnuts. Arrange on the prepared baking sheet about 7cm (2¾in) apart. If you need to bake in batches, keep the unused dough in the fridge.

Bake for 6 minutes, then turn the baking sheet around and bake for 6 minutes more. As soon as the cookies come out of the oven, press down gently on each one with the bottom of a glass, just enough to flatten the top slightly. This results in a desirably chewy rather than cakey cookie. Leave on the tray for a few minutes to firm up and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Try …

Using different nuts in the cookies, such as almonds or pistachios.

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