Double chocolate chilli cookies

I take after my father when it comes to my feelings on biscuits. And those feelings - hatred.

It's quite the feat if Dad manages to refrain from cursing when the response from Nana to his favourite statement "I'm hungry" is "have a biscuit".

The daddio and my lovely Nana

And biscuits are everywhere - including my pantry - but that is ALL Elliot (and Chocoades... come on). I can't even escape them at work.

When the lovely tea man at work first offered me a biscuit for afternoon tea and I responded "I don't like biscuits" you would have thought, judging by his reaction, that I had just insulted his own mother.  And then when he thought he could win me over on "chocolate biscuit Friday" and I sadly had to see that look all over again, well, I should have just eaten the Tim Tam.

But these tasty habanero chocolate morsels have changed my view. Well, I won't be partaking in Elliot's nightly ritual of a Collision after dinner, but we are getting there...

These cookies are chocolately, soft in the middle, crunchy on the outside and really are rather spicy.

Not really being a baker, and therefore not having an arsenal of standard biscuit, cake and pastry recipes up my sleeve, I scoured the internet for what I thought sounded like a good start point for my cookies.

Then I needed to decide what form of chilli to put in the biscuits and decided on the habanero as it was my favourite chili we grew due to its flavour. You get the sweet flavour of the chilli before the ridiculous heat takes over and makes you hate yourself for putting it anywhere near your mouth.

They look harmless enough, but are crazy hot

So Elliot ground a couple of habaneros into powder and away we went. Now, this batch only makes about nine medium-sized biscuits as I made the batch quite small as it was a trial batch due to really not being sure about how much of the habanero powder to put in. It turns out, however, they were rather perfect in heat level, so just double the recipe if more are required - and trust me, they will be.

Habanero powder

You could also try this with normal chilli powder if you wanted a milder heat (and/or don't have habanero powder).

• 1 c plain flour
• 1/3 tsp baking soda
• 1/3 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp habanero powder
• 1 small egg
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1/3 c (78g) butter, softened 
• 1/2 c brown sugar
• 1 Tb caster sugar
• Handful of milk chocolate drops (just as many as you like really)
• Handful of dark chocolate drops

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and habanero powder into a bowl.

Beat the butter until light and fluffy. Add the brown sugar and caster sugar and beat until combined. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until creamy.

Slowly add the flour mix until combined well.

Mix in the chocolate drops with a wooden spoon.

Rest the dough in the fridge for at least an hour (and try not to eat it all).

You can even see the scary little red specks

Roll into balls, flatten slightly and place on a baking paper-lined oven tray (making sure they have enough room to spread a little).

Bake at 165C° for about 18 minutes - until slightly brown on the outside but still soft in the middle (keep an eye on them after about 15 minutes).

Cool on a wire rack.

Devour (especially when still warm - delish!). The best thing about these cookies is how the heat doesn't hit you right away. You bite into them and get the chocolately goodness and then the heat slowly kicks in. The habanero's sweetness can really be appreciated too.

Unfortunately Dad is a bit of a lightweight when it comes to spicy food so I'm not sure he'll join me on the biscuit-loving dark side just yet...

Jalapeno, cheddar and chive scones

Wanting to always be the consummate host (well, patient recovering from surgery that may have visitors pop round), I figured I should have something on hand for any impromptu afternoon teas - and I am so freakin bored I needed something to do that wasn't watching rom-coms and doing Woman's Day crosswords (the cryptic ones, naturally).

So I managed to drag myself up from the lazyboy (trust me, quite the feat) and shuffle around the kitchen (with Elliot's assistance) to make these scones which are light and fluffy and deliciously cheesy with a touch of spice.

Scones are something people tend to tell you are hard to get right - I've never had a problem with them and they are great to whip up quickly as the ingredients are things most people have in the cupboard and only take 10 minutes in the oven.

Disappointingly, I have not yet made my own jam - that will come one day (I'm sure the goals then to follow will be to produce my own cream and cheese...) but was able to use homegrown and home-pickled jalapenos and chives from the garden.

I am not much of a sweet tooth but if I was going to choose something to tingle that particular part of the palate, it would quite possibly be a scone with jam and cream, so I decided to chuck a half batch of plain scones in too (well it was actually meant to be half a batch of plain, half a batch of jalapeno/cheese until Elliot had, um, well, issues halving ingredients).

We had the last few jalapenos of the season picked from our plants but decided to use pickled jalapenos as I find fresh jalapenos quite hard and bitter and figured the pickled ones would work well in these scones.

We have grown some epic chives in the wheelbarrow garden since moving - the best I've ever grown. Most tend to be sad, limp looking things that are pretty sad flavour-wise, but this variety were nice and big and tender (can a chive be tender?) and full of flavour.

I used the Edmonds recipe for the plain ones and as a base for the jalapeno ones.

Plain scones (makes 6):

• 1 1/2 cup plain flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 37.5g butter
• 1/2 cup milk

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Cut in the butter and use your fingers to combine until you get the consistency of fine breadcrumbs.

Before he was put on the job of whipping cream which was met with the question
"How do you whip cream?"

Add the milk and mix until just combined. Turn out onto a floured board and knead until it comes together.

The key to getting light, fluffy scones is to not over mix the dough. It is very tempting to over knead (I never want to massage humans, but something about this elastic, gooey dough feels so good between your fingers), so once you add the milk, mix it in until just combined and then knead it only a couple of times until it just comes together.

Cut into six even sized pieces, brush with milk and bake in a 220°C oven for 10 minutes.

Serve hot with lashings of jam and cream.

Jalapeno, cheddar and chive scones (makes 12):

• 3 cups plain flour
• 6 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 75 g butter
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup grated tasty cheese
• 1/3 cup chopped pickled jalapenos
• 2 Tb chopped chives
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper

Sift the flour, baking powder, cayenne and salt into a bowl. Cut in the butter and use your fingers to combine until it's the consistency of fine breadcrumbs.

Add the chives, cheese and jalapenos and mix through.

Add the milk and mix until just combined. Turn out onto a floured board and knead until it comes together.

Cut into 12 even sized pieces and place on a baking paper lined tray. Brush with a touch of milk, add a little grated cheese to the top and a couple of chives.

Bake in a 220°C oven for 12-14 minutes.

Serve hot with butter. And try and eat just one.

Fried sweet chilli chicken

I have a confession to make. On Saturday mornings I love nothing more than to sit for two and a half hours and watch the Come Dine With Me omnibus. There, I said it.

Elliot pretends he doesn't care for it, but when the snarky commentary guy burns someone right and good I hear a snicker or two and sometimes even get a couch companion.

I watch it also to snicker and mostly to mock what is mainly atrocious cooking skills and recipes (and don't even get me started on how many people cook with cats on their benches).

I did however get inspiration from one of the most fussy and annoying people to ever be on that show (you know, the "I don't like seafood, I can't eat white sauces, I hate cheese, I'm not a dessert eater" type). She won too. Maybe it was the Moet she plied everyone with.

Said fussy eater did like two things. Chillies and chicken. She made a sweet chilli sauce and added it to fried chicken atop a salad for her starter.

With homemade sweet chilli sauce in the fridge (recipe here http://sunsetchillies.blogspot.co.nz/2013/05/rice-paper-rolls-with-sweet-chilli-sauce.html) and chicken of some description on the menu planner for tonight, I thought a take on this dish would go down well.

It was easy really - crumb strips of chicken in panko breadcrumbs, fry in some vege oil, mix into a couple of tablespoons of the sweet chilli sauce (watered down slightly so it coats the chicken better) and some toasted sesame seeds.

Just a wee tip from me to you - toast sesame seeds by putting them in a dry frying pan over medium heat for 5-10 minutes, tossing occasionally so they don't burn. They are ready when are shiny and slightly brown and fragrant.

I eat a lot of sesame seeds so this many won't last long. However, I am still going on a 1 kg bag of sesame seeds from Moore Wilson's in Wellington that I bought over three years ago. Yes, I moved them intercity with me. And no, I don't believe in expiration dates.

I added the chilli-coated chicken to a wholemeal wrap with some cos lettuce from the garden, some red onion and tomato, a dollop of lime-infused lite sour cream and some torn coriander on top.

You could also have it with some rice or some stir-fried Asian greens or serve as finger food or just as a big bowl of fried chicken spicy goodness.

Yummy. And easy.

If you don't think you'll make homemade chilli sauce though, maybe this recipe isn't for you. Don't use supermarket sweet chilli sauce. You know my feelings about it. We've been through this.

In other news, the deck garden is flourishing. Elliot added some carrots, shallots and mesculin to the mix and nothing has died from the drop in temperature. The lemon and lime trees are going strong and I have been using the lettuce everyday.

The herbs have been delicious in slow cooker beef, lamb and chicken dishes and easily jazz up a meal by just adding some finely chopped at the last minute (added some to the instant gravy last night to go on top of steak and roast potatoes). Chives always come in handy too.

The fish are well (well, four out of five ain't bad). The only original fishie from Sunset Road (aptly named Sunny) died last week but the other four have not taken the loss too hard and even finally got names (Rocky, Apollo, Fanty and Glenn - best fish name ever).

They now have a nice clear tank thanks to a UV filter which got rid of the algae and Elliot is great at cleaning the glass and the gravel every week or so.

It is also not too far away from chilli season two. We will soon work out what we want to grow and suss the seeds and then start the propagating and growing cycle all over again. Fun and spicy times ahead.

Rice paper rolls with sweet chilli sauce

Despite the inclement weather, I had a hankering for rice paper rolls and the nasty rain and drop in temperature meant a day indoors was on the cards, which is perfect for these rolls as, while they are easy to make, take a while to prep and put together.

The first thing to do for the prep is to cook the vermicelli noodles. All you need to do is cover the noodles with boiling water for about five minutes and then drain and run some cold water over them. Leave them to completely cool which gives you time to make a dipping sauce and prepare the other ingredients for the rolls.

I made my traditional dipping sauce which perfectly balances the sweet, sour, salty and spicy notes that  a lot of Asian cooking is based around.

For this all you need to do is mix together:

• The juice of one lime 
• 2 tsps of fish sauce
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 2 medium red chillies, sliced finely

Mix well until the sugar dissolves. Put in the fridge until needed.

That makes just enough for about six rolls, so just adjust the measurements to suit. You may also wish to adjust it to suit your taste buds - whether you find it too sweet or too limey, just adjust as you see fit but this combo is perfect for me.

Prep for the rest of the ingredients is easy - grate some carrot, finely shred some lettuce and cabbage (I like savoy), chop some spring onions, coriander and chop up the vermicelli noodles so they're not too long.

Roughly chop some toasted peanuts, get some toasted sesame seeds ready (always handy to have in the cupboard) and your meat of choice (although with so many yummy fresh ingredients and flavours, these are just as yummy meatless).

I used prawns this time (and a couple with surimi which I love but understand it's not everyone's cup of tea). I have also made these with pork (pork and prawn are awesome and a favourite Vietnamese combination), a pork larb-type mince is also really yummy. But you could put what ever takes your fancy in them.

Mams first made us rice paper spring rolls after one of her two ventures to Vietnam some many years ago before Vietnam was the place to holiday and before Vietnamese food was in vogue. We were lucky enough to have what we referred to as a "Vietnamese Feast" once in a while which was a stunning array of spring rolls, chicken balls with peanut sauce, whole fish with chilli and my mouth is drooling while typing...

Anyway, I have adapted these rolls over the years. Also, Mams lightly fried the ones she made us which are SO good but I have left these ones un-fried (hence why Elliot won't eat them).

So get all your ingredients ready to go then put some hot water (not boiling, but hotter than warm) in a big dish and place the first rice paper sheet in it.

Rice paper sheets come in various sizes and shapes and are readily available in supermarkets. Big, small, mini, square, round - I prefer round and big - big mainly because you don't have to fiddle around making dozens and I put so many ingredients in I need a big one to hold it all.

Once the rice paper sheet becomes soft and workable (takes a couple of minutes) take it out of the water, shake off excess water and place the next one in the water (you may need to add more hot water as you do more to keep it warm enough). Place it on a chopping board.

Place your fillings on the rice paper roll - just below half way, leaving room on either side. If you are making these for others and want to make them nice and pretty you may have to think about how you layer your ingredients - for example, the rolls look nice and pretty with the prawns nicely showing on the top once you roll them so you would need to start with the prawns on the bottom and build from there.

Once the filling is in, fold the bottom edge of the paper over the filling and then fold the left and right sides towards the middle.

Then roll it up. Easy peasy. The rice paper sheets are actually a lot less fragile than the look so don't be too scared of them.

For super pretty presentation, just before you roll the last bit over, place some nice looking coriander leaves against the rice paper and then make the finally roll - rather impressive for a entree or light lunch and something that can be made in advance and kept in the fridge.

I then remembered we had the last of the Thai chillies off the plant that needed to be used and some ones sitting on the bench which were so very close to being past it, so I decided to try a homemade sweet chilli sauce.

I am a store-bought sweet chilli sauce hater. And if anyone puts that crap on a fine bowl of wedges and sour cream - well, that's sacrilege. Store chilli sauce tends to be sweet rather than chilli and well that just doesn't work in this house.

So, I made my own using:

• 200g red chillies (I used what we had of the Thais, red jalapenos and cayennes and also put a deseeded half of a super hot Bhut Jolokia - just to make sure it was hot enough)
• 1 cup white vinegar
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 1 large clove garlic

Cut off the chilli stems and deseed about a third of them (more to make sure the sauce isn't overloaded with seeds and less about the heat factor).

Cut roughly and put in a food processor with the garlic clove and a little bit of the vinegar. Process until finely chopped.

Put the chilli mix in a saucepan with the rest of the vinegar and sugar. Mix over a low heat for a few minutes until the sugar dissolves.

Bring the mix to a boil and then turn down to a medium heat and simmer until the sauce is thick - about 30-35 minutes.

Pour the sauce into a sterilised jar.

I was very impressed with the result. I had really taken a stab in the dark with the quantities and had no idea the heat level from those chillies, but it is pretty close to perfect.

It thickened a bit too much once it cooled so when I spooned it out to dip the rolls into I just mixed a teaspoon of warm water in to make it more saucey.

It is very spicy but nice and sweet and has a funky red colour. Overall a great success.

Dip rolls into either sauce and enjoy, enjoy, enjoy (Hoisin sauce is also very yummy with these).