I found the remains of a tin of condensed milk in my fridge. What to do with it? It was in danger of becoming a permanent fixture.

The solution was to make these cookies. They couldn’t be simpler.

Recipe for condensed milk cookies

Makes about twenty

Ingredients

• 100g/4 oz plain chocolate chopped, or use chocolate chips – keep in the fridge until the last minute
• 150ml/½ cup plus two tablespoons condensed milk
• 330g/2¾ cups self-raising flour (or plain flour plus four tsp baking powder)
• 200g/7 oz butter
• 170g/¾ cup golden caster sugar

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. In a big mixing bowl cream the butter and sugar together using an electric whisk. Add the condensed milk – the whole thing should be light and fluffy.
3. Mix in the flour and form a dough.
4. Add in the chocolate chips, spread through the dough.
5. Break off pieces of dough about the size of a walnut, form into a ball and put on a greased baking sheet – make sure you leave a lot of space around each one as they spread. Flatten the balls down gently with the palm of your hand.
6. Bake for about twenty minutes until golden – but if you have an aga turn the baking sheet around after ten minutes. They will seem very soft – don’t be worried, they will harden a little but they are intended to be sublimely gooey.