Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

When your toddler has run you ragged for the last 3 hours (it was only 9am!) and Grandad has now taken her to the park and to feed the ducks...what do you do? Bake some chocolate chip cookies of course. This is my 'go to' recipe for such an occasions.

You know how good those bags of fresh large chocolate chip cookies can be from the supermarket? Well, these are better, and can be frozen so you can whip some out, pop them in the oven, and wham - chocolate cookies whenever there is desperate need.

 

125g dark chocolate 
150g plain flour 
30g cocoa powder (sieved) 
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda 
½ teaspoon salt 
125g soft unsalted butter 
75g soft light brown sugar 
50g white sugar 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
1 large egg (cold from the fridge) 
200g chocolate chips/chopped chocolate (your choice of dark, milk white - ive used all three in these pictures)

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C/gas mark 3/325ºF. Melt the 125g / 4oz dark chocolate either in the microwave or in a heatproof dish over a pan of simmering water.

2. Put the flour, cocoa, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a bowl.

3. Cream the butter and sugars in another bowl (mixer is handy here). Add the melted chocolate and mix together.

4. Beat in the vanilla extract and cold egg, and then mix in the dry ingredients.

5. Finally stir in the chocolate chips/chunks.

6. Original recipe used an ice cream scoop to  make 12 large biscuits (the size of the supermarket ones) on two lined baking trays. In the pictures I have used dessert spoons and make approximately 22 biscuits. Do not flatten them.

7. Cook for 18 minutes if doing large biscuits, or 15 minutes if doing smaller ones, testing with a cake tester to make sure it comes out semi-clean and not wet with cake batter. If you pierce a chocolate chip, try again.

8. Leave to cool slightly on the baking sheet for 4-5 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack to harden as they cool

Notes:
1. These can be frozen  if you put the baking tray of cookie mix in the freezer. Leave to harden and then you can put the blobs of cookie dough in freezer bags for 'emergencies'. Cooking times may be a few minute slonger for frozen ones.

2. Original recipe had 350g of chocolate chips/chunks in the mixture but I find a bit less works just fine.
3. Recipe adapted from Nigella Lawson recipe