Vegan hazelnut cookies

A guy in my team at work celebrated his seventh year with the organisation recently. When I remember to cook, I normally bake a little treat to acknowledge their hard work. This occasion represented a new challenge. When I first started at my new job, he joked that he was the 'V' word. Being the most inappropriate supervisor around, I automatically asked if he was a virgin. No Emma, not a virgin, but a vegan. Phew.

The three Cs: cherry, coconut, chocolate

Do you remember when the icecream-version of chocolate bars came out? In Australia, two of the most celebrated chocolate bars are the Crunchie and the Cherry Ripe bar. I distinctly remember the day Sarah and I stumbled upon the Icecream Crunchie in the local milk bar. She declared it the best icecream ever made. To this day, it ranks up there with Light and Tangy chips as a game-changing snack food (there's such a thing in the Bennetto household. We also have a deal-breaking spag bol, if you must know.)

The Cherry Ripe icecream was not met with such adulation. It was good - don't get me wrong. But the key to a good icecream crossover is to be better than the original. That's a big ask with the Cherry Ripe. This chocolate is hard to top. Even though the chocolate was dark (a big no-no to our teenaged tastes), the cherry and the coconut was such a cracker combination we couldn't pass it up.