A sheet of hot chocolate cookies for Marta's March table

As I write this, the weather outside is atrocious and all I can think of is how I would welcome a piping hot mug of tea and one of these cookies. Instead, I have freezing hands, runny nose, a post to write and a book to continue. Also have a few teasers to design for my published works, ree online images to search through, this post to write, and so much more work that involves going out in the rain a couple of times all I really want to do is lie down on my sofa with my tablet and read the novel I dove into just yesterday.

But I know I won't do that, and I know I will persevere, even if the amount of work seems daunting to me. I will try to organise myself and my thoughts - always brimming with far too many ideas for me to be able to settle for one alone - and I will work my ass off, as I usually do. Even when it turns out that all my hard work is for nothing, I do it again and again and again because I'm a stubborn cow. These cookies are a product of my stubborness, see. I had the idea for them ages ago, hot chocolate cookies that mixed cocoa and milk in flavour and tasted like a soft, munchy hug of goodness. I tired my husband down to the ground until he caved in and baked these babies.

Marta's ingredient of this month is chocolate, and although I do have like a ton of recipes using chocolate to its best in this blog, I wanted to add a few more to the list. These cookies, which I had forgotten in a folder and managed to retrieve after my computer disaster of two weeks ago, came in very handy after all. This was the kind of post I had been saving for a rainy day, and seeing it's pouring outside, it couldn't have come at a better time. The fact they fit into Marta's table so perfectly is an added bonus. Because these are very good cookies, indeed, and you'll be dipping your hand into the cookie jar once and again, for one more cookie, only one more cookie, you'll say, and know it's a lie.

So without further ado, here's how you bake yourself a few of these pretty babies - I do love the marbled effect, don't you?350 gr flour250 gr cold butter175 gr dark muscovado sugar3 tbsp raw cocoa powder3 tbsp powdered milk1 egg1 tsp baking powderMix the baking powder and flour together. Pour over a clean, cold surface and prise a hole in the middle. Add the sugar, butter, and egg. Combine all ingredients into a dough. Knead it very softly, until you have a silky dough. Now sprinkle the powdered milk and the cocoa, kneading a little bit more. You don't want to overdo it, what you want is to make sure you combine these new ingredients to the rest of the dough and get that marbled effect on it. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate it for half an hour at least. Then bring the dough out and roll it quickly over a floured surface, cutting it into the shapes you want. Transfer cookies to a baking tray lined with baking parchement and bake in the oven for about 12 minutes at 170º. Serve with a tea, or a cup of hot chocolate!