Chocolate Crunchies

A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand.

~ Barbara Johnson ~

I must admit, I have never been satisfied with just one cookie. Life just seems more complete if you have one in each hand. I am sure that’s why the cookie recipes from Kook en Geniet produce dozens of cookies. But let’s be honest, having a cookie tin full of cookies is like a siren calling to you promising love and happiness, but causing ruin. Okay, I might be getting carried away, but that’s just the problem. When there are cookies in the house I get carried away! So when I saw a traditional South African crunchie recipe on Foodies of South Africa promising a yield of 12 to 15 squares, I decided to try it! My tried and trusted Kook and Geniet recipe produces 6 dozen little golden “sirens” calling me! It was time to modernise!

Where does the chocolate fit in?

“Crunchies” is a very descriptive name for the cookies I am talking about, but most cookies are crunchy, so what does this mean? South African Crunchies are square biscuits made with oats, desiccated coconut, butter, sugar and golden syrup. It is a favourite in many households and the stuff of childhood memories. So where does the chocolate fit in I hear you ask? Chocolate in crunchies are not traditional, but I have invented something wondrous: Chocolate Crunchies! The Foodies of South Africa Crunchie recipe calls for half a cup of sunflower seeds. I really thought I had some in the cupboard, but it turned out to be a packet of pine nuts. So I dug around and found exactly half a cup of mini dark chocolate chips. And a star was born!

Chocolate is the spice of life

So these Chocolate Crunchies are just a variation on a basic Chruncie recipe. The chocolate chips gave the cookies a chocolate flavour, but as it was dark chocolate chips, it didn’t add sweetness. Thinking about it, I am sure half a cup of cacao powder will have the same effect as that isn’t sweetened either. The original recipe with sunflower seeds will still have to be tried (once I’ve worked off the kilos gained from this batch). And if you don’t want to sell your soul to chocolate or simply don’t have mini dark choc chips at hand, you can add an additional half a cup of oats and leave out the chocolate. The only thing left to say is that following Foodies of South Africa on social media is definitely worth it. They have South African favourites, with South African ingredients and lots of new ideas.

Print Recipe

Chocolate Crunchies

A chocolaty version of South Africa's favourite Crunchies

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Course: Baking

Cuisine: South African

Servings: 20 squares

Author: Adapted from Foodies of SA by Melby

Ingredients

• 2 cups raw oats
• 1 cup cake flour
• 1 cup desiccated coconut
• ½ cup mini dark chocolate chips
• 1 t ground cinnamon
• 2 ml salt
• 2 tbsp syrup
• 187 ml golden brown sugar
• 225 g butter
• 1 t bicarbonate of soda
• 2 tbsp milk

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease and line a 20 x 30cm baking tray.
• Mix together all the dry ingredients except the sugar and bicarb.
• In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and add the sugar and syrup. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture starts bubbling.
• Dissolve the bicarb in the milk.
• Mix the butter mixture and the milk mixture into the dry ingredients.
• Spoon into the prepared baking tray and flatten.
• Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. If the cookies brown too quickly, turn the oven down to 160°C.
• Once baked, cut the cookies into squares and let cool down before you transfer them to an airtight container.½

Notes

• As mentioned before, you can replace the half a cup of chocolate chips with half a cup of unsweetened cacao powder.
• I have used a bit less butter than in the original recipe.
• I used traditional large oats as that is what I had in the house, but any normal porridge oats will do.