Copycat Chocolate Spelt Hobnobs
These copycat chocolate spelt hobnobs are my take on the British oat cookie classic. There’s nothing quite like a Hobnob, but these come very close. Crunchy, oaty cookies are topped with a silky dark chocolate ganache and can be made with either all-purpose or spelt flour.
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This recipe for homemade chocolate spelt hobnobs was originally posted on my former blog, The Culinary Jumble. It has been amended to include spelt flour and the photos have been updated.
Look at these beauties. Just look at that silky dark chocolate topping. One of these is never going to be enough.
What are Hobnobs?
First things first, let me fill you in about the world’s most delicious cookie. Or, as we would say in the UK, biscuit. High praise indeed, but totally warranted.
Hobnobs are quite simply a British institution. If you haven’t been lucky enough to try one before, they are a deliciously moreish cookies made with oats and golden syrup instead of sugar. This gives the cookies a gorgeous crunch, allows for a deep caramel-like flavour that is not overly sweet.
I can’t hide my love of a good old ‘nob. However, without blowing my own trumpet too much, these are better. My lovely family (albeit a little fussy and way too honest for their own good) agrees.
The art of dunking
One of Britain’s favourite pastimes is dunking biscuits in tea (or coffee), but there’s an art to it. You need to find a biscuit that doesn’t deteriorate in nano-seconds, but you don’t want one that stays rock solid even though you’ve held it down in a hot liquid for ten minutes. Here’s where Hobnobs come in, and perhaps why they are the one of the nation’s favourites. They fall somewhere between the two. They won’t drop to the bottom of your cup in a soggy mess, but they soften beautifully.
I wondered if dunking, also known as dipping, was also popular in the UK, and while it seems as though dunking a cookie in a glass of cold milk is popular, doing so with a hot beverage, not so much. Believe it or not, dunking has been around since the Roman times, when they would soften their bread in wine. Later on, sailors would use beer to make their rock hard biscuits more palatable.
However, it appears that dunking is uncouth and doesn’t follow the rules of etiquette. King Charles would never dunk, and he wouldn’t ever eat more than one biscuit with his tea. Poor bugger. I bet you he does in secret. Especially if he’s eating Hobnobs.
Making homemade Hobnobs
I’ve been making gluten free oat cookies for years using honey as the sweetener. However, for these chocolate spelt hobnobs I wanted to go for a more traditional, proper, Hobnob taste and used syrup rather than honey.
The oat cookies are simple to prepare, with nothing more strenuous than mixing everything together. The chocolate topping is optional. In the past I’ve used milk chocolate, but it sets a little hard. I prefer dark chocolate with some honey to sweeten it, and a little butter to give it more of a ganache feel.
Since the original post back in 2016, when I used all-purpose flour, I’ve now added a spelt version to my repertoire. Because the oats are the king of the show, it doesn’t make a lot of difference which flour you use. I think you could also easily get away with using a ready mixed blend of gluten free flour.
More spelt cookie recipes
If you like these copycat spelt chocolate Hobnobs, you are going to love these other spelt cookie recipes:
- Blueberry spelt butter cookies
- Raspberry thumbprint cookies
- Dark chocolate olive oil cookies
- Caramel thumbprint cookies
- Kolasnittar (Swedish toffee cookies)
- Swedish spelt pepparkaka (gingerbread)
Homemade Chocolate Spelt Hobnobs (Oat Cookies)
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 100g (¼ cup + 3 tbsp) butter
- 100g (½ cup) brown sugar
- 1 tbsp milk
- 3 tbsp golden syrup (or any other light coloured syrup)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 140g (1 cup + ⅙ cup) spelt flour (see notes)
- 140g (1½ cups) oats
Topping:
- 100g (3½ oz) dark chocolate
- 2 tbsp golden/light syrup
- 15g (1 tbsp) butter
Instructions
Cookies:
- Pre-heat the oven to 150°C (300°F) and line a baking tray with grease-proof paper.
- Cream the butter and sugar, then beat in the milk and syrup.
- Mix the baking soda, oats and flour together and then add to the wet ingredients, stirring well to combine.
- Take roughly one tablespoon of dough and form into a ball, then place on the baking tray.
- Using the palm of your hand, flatten into a rough round shape and do the same with the rest of the dough (they will be a very rustic circle, so don't worry too much about getting it too neat). Leave space in between as they do spread when baking.
- Bake for around 15 until they are golden (they will feel very soft, but that's fine). Take care not to overcook them as they burn easily - err on the side of caution and remove them a little earlier rather than later. Remember that if you make smaller cookies, they will need less time, so keep an eye on them.
- Because they are so soft, let them sit on the tray for around ten minutes and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Topping:
- Melt the chocolate and syrup in a Bain Marie, stirring frequently as it melts.
- Then, quickly beat in the butter.
- Spread over the cooled cookies. Enjoy!
Notes
- You can use spelt, all-purpose or a gluten free blend to make these cookies. Just use the same amount as indicated.
