Cookies, How do you like yours?
I like my cookies, thick, chewy, soft, buttery, gooey and loaded with chocolate!
This is THE BEST COOKIE RECIPE EVER!!!!
Chocolate chip cookies are the Nation’s most popular cookie, invented in 1930 by Ruth Graves Wakefield, baking chocolate was substituted for milk chocolate and the rest is history.
Cookies are one of the most versatile recipes, I remember when I was 15 at secondary school baking Mars Bar cookies to my class’s delight, they tasted amazing! I have always loved experimenting with different flavours and fillings and cookie recipes, so feel free to perfect the recipe and then add or substitute some of your favourite flavours.
Cookie recipes can vary enormously and the main difference in the outcome is the cookie texture. How do you like yours?
Dependent on the ingredients you use, these can affect the outcome of the bake enormously.
Flour
Let’s begin with flour, this provides the structure and is the main binding agent of a cookie, the addition of bread flour can alter the cookies texture leading to a change in texture. It can absorb much more liquid because of it’s higher protein count; more moisture will stay in the cookie making the cookie chewier. Using plain, self-raising, or cake flour will give a tender, puffy cookie.
Sugar
Sugar adds sweetness and I believe a mix of both demerara and granulated sugar are a great combination for the perfect soft but with a slight chew cookie. To avoid cracks in the cookie, caster sugar is preferred. Granulated sugar produces less spread than brown sugar when baking. Granulated sugar will make your cookies crispier whereas brown sugar will give a softer cookie with a chew.
Fats
I use butter in all my cookie recipes as it tastes great but using alternative fats such as margarine or lard work just as well, however the addition of butter in cookies causes flatter cookies. To combat this, I freeze the cookie dough once the balls have been formed. Baking them from frozen allows the cookies to hold their shape and result in thicker cookies.
Eggs
I recommend using use whole eggs and not egg whites as they have a tendency to dry out the mixture, whereas whole eggs gives a creamier consistency to the dough.
Leaveners.
Baking powder and baking soda are the classic leaveners in all cookie recipes adding puffiness to the cookies whether by being used together or each independently.
Through many bakes and experiments with all the above, I have chosen a cookie recipe that results in thick, chewy, soft, buttery, gooey, loaded with chocolate cookies. I promise this is a recipe you will come back to again and again and again!!! I LOVE it!!!
Lets bake!!
Ingredients
110g butter
150g Demerara sugar
50g sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
240g Plain Flour
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp baking powder
150g chocolate chips + extra for decorating
Method
Step 1
Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper, set aside.
Step 2
In a large mixing bowl add the butter and sugars. Using a hand or stand mixer cream the butter and sugars until fluffy.
Step 3
Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix until combined.
Step 4
Add the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix until combined.
Step 5
Pour in the chocolate chips and use your hands to mix them together, this will bring the dough together.
Step 6
Being careful not to over work the dough form 7 equal size portions and gently shape into balls. Place on to the baking sheet leaving equal spacing between the cookies for baking.
Step 7
Freeze the cookie dough balls for at least 2 hours ( you can leave them longer)
Step 8
Preheat the oven to 175degrees. Bake the cookies for 16 – 18 minutes, the cookies will be slightly brown around the edges.
Step 9
Remove the cookies from the oven, after 3 minutes add extra chocolate chips to each cookie ( the more chocolate the better! ) After 10 minutes move the cookies to a cooling rack to continue cooling. The cookies are best served warm, so the chocolate oozes from the cookie, yum!!!
Tips
You must freeze the cookie dough before baking to minimise the spread when baking.
You must work with the dough gently to create a thicker cookie.
Use a higher proportion of brown sugar than white to create a gooey, buttery, soft and chewy cookie.
Feel free to adapt your fillings from smarties, rolo's or nuts and raisins.
Enjoy baking!!