Snowballs

It's Christmas biscuit time around here and since this really isn't an english tradition, I end up feeding all my friends. They repay me in minced pies so you won't find me complaining. I love the snowballs because they are easy, fast and taste amazing. They are also really pretty,which I often find quite difficult to achieve. Definitely a plus if you are making huge batches (and trust me, I am. They still seem to be evaporating overnight.)

100 dark chocolate
50 g butter or margarine
70 g icing sugar + some extra for rolling the biscuits in
100 g flour
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 egg + 1 eggyolk
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 of a tsp baking powder

First, break the chocolate into little pieces and melt together with the butter, either in a microwave or on the hob. On the hob, don't turn it too hot and keep stirring. If you want to be safe, melt it over hot water. In the microwave, use 20 second intervals and stir inbetween. I burnt mine on the first attempt and let me tell you burnt chocolate smells terrible. Here's an exhaustive explanation on how to melt chocolate if you also have trouble with it.

Once the chocolate and butter are safely melted, mix in all the other ingredients except the extra sugar. Don't worry if the dough comes out quite liquid, just put it in the fridge for an hour or so until it has set.

Then, preheat the oven to 170 C. This is important as otherweise the snowballs won't crack as prettily.

Take your dough out of the fridge, form little balls from it and roll them in powdered sugar. Mine tend to be about 3 cm in diameter or so. They rise in the oven so don't make them too big. Place your coated dough balls on a tray lined with baking paper and bake for 12-14 minutes.

Enjoy! :)