Cutter & Squidge has been delighting the City of London with its all-natural baked goods since opening at The Royal Exchange in February 2019. The artisan bakery was founded by sisters Annabel and Emily Lui, who loved to bake together growing up. Never ones to follow a recipe, the pair invented Cutter & Squidge’s signature ‘biskie’ – a cookie, cake, biscuit hybrid – and opened their first café in Soho in 2015.

Handmade in London using British ingredients and producers, Cutter & Squidge’s delicious creations keep the fat and sugar content to ‘just as much as needed to make something delicious’, with recipes that range from classic favourites to inventive new flavours.

‘We have never followed trends or traditional recipes and have always been far more interested in making cakes that are bright, energetic and bursting with character,’ says Annabel. ‘This is what our customers love discovering about us and what makes Cutter & Squidge so unique.’

Cutter & Squidge founders Annabel and Emily Lui

Cutter & Squidge’s regular cake decorating masterclasses at The Royal Exchange have been very popular, encouraging attendees to adopt the duo’s playful approach and have fun with their creations. And now the duo has released a recipe book, Afternoon Tea at the Cutter & Squidge Bakery, which contains more than 65 recipes to try at home.

Annabel’s top tip for home baking is to ‘be relaxed and creative, and don’t feel the need to stick to tradition. The Cutter & Squidge approach is about breaking the rules and having the confidence to have fun and experiment with the ingredients to add some real personality.’ With the recipe below, for example, she suggests that ‘you can easily switch up the flavour of the cookie dough by adding fruit or nuts’.

An incredible combination of fudgy brownie topped with sweet, salty, chewy cookie dough, Cutter & Squidge’s cookie dough brownies are a customer favourite you can now create at home. Here’s the recipe, but feel free to experiment and add your own twist.

COOKIE DOUGH BROWNIES

INGREDIENTS

For the brownie base:

40g unsalted butter*, diced

85g dark or bittersweet chocolate, broken into pieces

160g caster or granulated sugar

3 eggs*

80g plain or all-purpose flour

40g cocoa powder

For the cookie dough:

125g unsalted butter*

250g plain or all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon fine salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

85g caster or granulated sugar

85g soft light brown sugar

100g dark, or bittersweet, chocolate chips

1 egg*

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

50g crispy chocolate covered balls, such as Maltesers

23cm/9-inch square baking pan, 5cm/2-inches deep, lined with greaseproof baking parchment

* Make this recipe vegan by substituting the eggs with flax seeds (hydrate 20g with water for 1 egg equivalent) and using vegan butter. The Cutter & Squidge recipe book also contains plenty of vegan and gluten free recipes.

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 180c/fan 160c (350F) Gas 4.

For the brownie base:

Melt the butter and chocolate until liquid. Leave to cool slightly.

Put the sugar and eggs into a mixing bowl. Whisk together with a hand-held electric whisk (or use a stand mixer with the whisk attachment) at a medium speed until light, thick and the mixture can hold a figure of eight.

Slowly add the chocolate-butter to the egg mixture, whisking until combined.

Sift together the flour and cocoa powder and slowly mix into the chocolate mixture until combined.

Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking pan and spread out evenly.

Now make the cookie dough layer:

Melt the butter and leave to cool.

Meanwhile, sift the flour, salt and baking powder into a mixing bowl.

Add the caster, or granulated sugar, soft light brown sugar and the chocolate chips and stir by hand with a wooden spoon until evenly distributed.

Add the egg, cooled melted butter and vanilla extract and mix until evenly combined.

Spread the cookie dough on top of the brownie mixture as evenly as possible and sprinkle over the crispy chocolate-covered balls.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20–25 minutes until lightly golden but still wobbly in the centre.

Leave to cool completely in the pan before turning out and slicing into nine squares to serve.

Enjoy!

Keep an eye on The Royal Exchange website for news of when the Cutter & Squidge bakery will reopen for takeaway treats, afternoon teas and cake-decorating classes. Treats are still available online for delivery both nationwide and around greater London for only £9. For further home baking inspiration, the Afternoon Tea at the Cutter & Squidge Bakery recipe book is available to order online here.