I haven't spent much time baking cookies or biscuits, they always seem quite a lot of work for not so much reward. Muffins take 20 minutes to whip up and when you are done you have muffins people! Muffins! But biscuits need to be mixed and chilled and cut and baked, they can burn so easily and if you take too long cutting them when they bake their shape can warp. No no, far too much work.
And don't even get me started on decorating them. There are some astonishing cookie and biscuit decorators out there but it seems like so much work compared to a tiered cake or a batch of cupcakes.
However, I was mooching about on Pintrest and found these, they are by my digital muse Sally's Baking Addiction and they seemed easy enough so I whipped up a batch.
In my first round of cookies I actually didn't have enough chocolate in my cupboard (shocker!) so I substituted 100g of chocolate covered raisins and they were delicious, if you like raisins - which I do. I'd highly recommend these and plan on giving them a try in oatmeal cookies at some point.
They were delicious and a total success. You can't improve on perfection or so they say, but I found a way. I took out 50g of flour and added 50g of raw cacoa powder. It doesn't sound like a lot but trust me, it's enough.
Also, don't use chocolate chips (unless you have some incredible high quality super big ones) get a bar of chocolate (or 2) and chop it up.
My preferred method is to cut diagonally in one direction and then diagonally in the opposite direction. The little block demarcations (gullies?) that would help you break up the bar by hand usually crack and you get roughly similar sized pieces of chocolate. They do not have to be perfect and remember big chunks are delicious.
Also try different types of chocolate, white, milk and dark all mixed together, yum!
The original recipe called for 1 egg and an egg yolk which I did the first time around, but not the second and I'm not certain the difference was all that dramatic, so I've left it out of the recipe below.
One of my favourite things about these cookies, apart from how they taste and how easy they are to make, is how well they store. I've now made several batches, rolled them into balls and bagged them up in bundles of 12 in my freezer. This way if I need a batch they just need baking! Or if a fancy one or 2 I just break off a ball and pop it in the oven while it's heating up.
This is a surprisingly healthy thing to do. If I were to open a packet of biscuits I'd probably eat the lot but baking just a couple of cookies satiates me and they are so chocolaty that they take care of those cravings!!
I'd love to hear from you if you've tried these or have any questions.
Ingredients: (slightly modified from original)
- 230 grams all-purpose flour
- 50 grams raw cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 170 grams unsalted butter, melted
- 135 grams light brown sugar, loosely packed
- 100 grams granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 100 grams Milk Chocolate chunks
- 80 grams Dark Chocolate chunks
Instructions:
- Apart from the Sugar and Chocolate Chunks, put all the dry ingredients in one bowl
- Put the melted butter and sugar into another bowl and whisk until there are no lumps, then mix in the egg until smooth.
- Pour the wet mix into the dry mix and stir together until combined, you don't want any clumps of flour in there!
- Mix in the chocolate chunks, as evenly through the dough as you can.
- Chill the mix (yes you DO have to). Sally's recipe says 2 hours in the fridge, I cheated and did 30 mins in the freezer - seemed to work just fine.
- Roll into balls and bake on grease proof paper on a baking tray / cookie sheet for 10-12 minutes! Remember, the size of the ball will affect the baking time. The smaller the ball the faster they will cook, so keep an eye on them. One of the best tips I've ever been given about baking is that if it smells like cake (or in this case cookies) it's almost done. And it's true, when your kitchen fills with chocolaty cookie goodness you should only be a minute or two from taking them out of the oven.
- Leave them to sit on the cookie tray until they are cool. When they come out of the oven they will be very gooey and you may be tempted to cook them longer as they don't look done. Don't! They will firm up on the tray.
- Eat!
