From the Kitchen : Chocolate Chip Cookies

 

There is nothing like a classic chocolate chip cookie to perk up your day. And the smell of freshly baked ones are just simply intoxicating. Although it can be a little time consuming, making them is relatively easy. After researching a few recipes and a bit of experimenting, here is my recipe for in my opinion, some stellar chocolate chip cookies.

Chocolate chip cookies:

250 gm of butter

220 gm white sugar

220 gm brown sugar

2 large eggs

350 gm of plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract 

2 bars (100 gm each) of good quality chocolate. 

Steps: 

1. Place your butter in a saucepan or pot and and leave it to simmer under a low and slow fire. We want to brown it so it will add more nuttiness and deep flavour in the overall cookie. You can omit this step if you are rushing for time. But if you are rushing for time, I question your reasons in making cookies. 

I personally feel you should not skip this step. 

Pro tip: Keep a very close eye on this. If you leave it for too long, you may burn the butter. 

2. Let your butter cool slightly and then combine it into the sugars. Slowly add in the eggs and flour.

Closing in

Pro tip: If you are indeed going to brown your butter, leave it for about 10 mins to cool. Do not use butter that just came out of the pot as the residual heat will cook the eggs. Also, try to use free range eggs as they do give much better flavour. Do not believe me, make 2 small batches, with one using normal eggs and try it for yourself!

Look how bright these are!

3. Chop your chocolate bars into small bits and fold into the batter. I use a bar of dark chocolate and white chocolate from Lindt. You may want to use a spatula instead of a whisk for better control.  Once well mixed, leave the mixture to rest in the fridge for at least 30 mins for the ingredients to meld together. A slightly doughy mix will make for easy handling. 

Let them chill before the oven. Like seriously. 

Pro tip: Add some nuts here if you like more texture. I added in a handful of crushed walnuts. Feel free to add what kind of nuts and how many according to your taste. Go nuts on your nuts, pun intended

4. Roll then mixture into golf ball size rounds and place them on a parchment paper lined baking tray. Pop them into an oven preheated at 190C and let them cook for about 12-15 mins. 

Social distancing people!

Pro tip: like a lot of my recipes, you need to weigh it out on this one. Not only will this make your cookies look even, this will make sure their cooking time is even as well. Nobody want burnt cookies. I weighed them at 35gm per ball, which lead to 40 pieces for me.  Also make sure there is enough space between them, as they will melt and stretch out very far. 

See I told you they will stretch out!

5. Once they are cooked, leave the cookies to rest for at least 2 minutes before taking them out. Repeat process until all the batter is gone. Even though it may be tempting, DO NOT take them out immediately! When the cookie is too hot, it will be too soft to handle and you end up tearing it. Not to mention you will burn you fingers. 

Such beauties!

Simple but oh so gorgeous, the secret to good cookies is actually the secret to most cooking, which is good quality ingredients treated with respect. Farm fresh free range eggs, good quality butter and of course good chocolate chips makes good chocolate chip cookies. As mentioned above, for me I went all the way with 2 bars of Lindt, one dark chocolate and one while chocolate.  Try to omit the regular chippies when you can, especially sweet ones. Your batter already has almost half a kilo of sugar. You do not need any more. 

A relatively straight forward recipe that will easily make you smile. So why not give it a go? Your neighbours will be glad you did.