Quiche Lorraine » »
This week I am in need of some serious comfort food. The only thing I found myself wanting was some good chocolate chip cookies so I dragged myself into the kitchen to whip up a batch. Chocolate is always comforting but there’s something especially comforting about a stack of chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk, don’t you think?
The nice thing about these cookies is the crispy exterior and the almost truffle-textured interior that is also slightly chewy. This texture is achieved by the use of two kinds of sugar: the white (granulated) sugar creates the crisp exterior and the brown sugar aids in making the cookie chewy by absorbing (and retaining) plenty of moisture.
The cookie dough is very sturdy. I whipped up the batter on Tuesday afternoon, measured the cookies out on Wednesday morning, and finally baked them on Wednesday afternoon. The cookies are in fact better if you bake the dough from a thoroughly chilled state. You could probably keep the dough in the fridge for just under a week and bake fresh cookies every day if you wanted to! Freezing the shaped dough would also work, I’d defrost it in the fridge overnight before baking. If you wanted to get really fancy, you could roll the dough into a cylinder and then cut off cookies as and when you wanted to bake. I’ve never managed this successfully – maybe I need a magic knife from one of those TV infomercials that will Cut Anything!
Chocolate Chip Cookies
My recipe was procured from eGullet eons ago. I’ve tried looking for it online but things seem to have changed around there and I can’t find a direct link (or indeed, anything). I have, however, been entirely faithful to it since I stumbled across it and I hope the original author doesn’t mind me reproducing it here.
Yields approx 17.
300g plain (all-purpose) flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1 teaspoon fine salt
170g unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
215g light brown sugar
120g granulated white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
300g milk chocolate chips
Variation: Use dark brown sugar and plain chocolate chips for a more adult flavour. This is what I normally do, but I can’t seem to find plain choc chips anywhere at the moment….
Sift together flour, bicaronate of soda and salt. Set aside.
Stir together melted butter, brown sugar, sugar and vanilla. Add egg, then the yolk. Beat well to ensure that egg is evenly distributed. Stir in dry ingredients, then fold in chocolate chips until incorporated. It will look as if there are too many chocolate chips but the dough will be able to hold them all. Cover with clingfilm and chill dough until firm. At least 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 190C/Gas Mark 5.
Drop 1/4 cup sized “hockey puck shaped” mounds of dough onto a greased baking sheet. You can use a silpat sheet instead of greasing which works very well. I use a 1/4 measuring cup to both measure and shape the dough which works perfectly.
Bake in preheated oven for approximately 10-12 minutes or only until the edges begin to turn golden. (They’ll look and feel underdone but they’re ready.) Cool on the sheet for 1 minute and remove with a wide spatula to a cooling rack. Cool thoroughly and enjoy!
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ive just baked these for my four children and HONESTLY i have never had such a quiet house, no arguing, shouting or tantrems, pure bliss, they are absolutley amazing and trust me they are all very very fussy children, thanx a million xxx
I have just come back from travelling for 6 months and one of the first things I had to cook on my return were these cookies. They are always amazing but taste even better after a 6 month break!
Hi,
I’ve cooked these a few times now and they always taste really good, but I don’t think they’re baking to their full potential.
Though they still have a great flavour and do have a soft chewiness in the centre, they really flatten out just before the time is up and almost get too toffee-caramalised-sugar-like.
Is there anything I can do to improve this?
Hi Jesse, I’d suggest turning your oven down by 5 or 10 degrees. That should help with both the spreading and over-caramelising. Also, are you baking them when well-chilled? That should help, too.
Success!
Awesome cookies! Just awesome.
I turned the temp down to 180 (in a fan forced oven), but I think one of the key factors was that I chilled the dough overnight. I had chilled it for two hours before and they still turned out like cow-pats, but after a day of refrigeration the dough was much firmer and they spread more slowly and evenly in the oven. The only other thing that may have helped was that I electric-beat the eggs into the mixture, rather than manually doing it.
Thanks for the tips. Amazing cookies and the first I have ever made successfully!
Thankyou so much for this. Ive used this recipe for ages, much to the delight of my friends. I came to look for it in my recipe file today and it’s gone missing. I havent been able to find the original site that I got it from so I really appreciate you reproducing it. I can promise anyone who hasnt tried it that this is the absolute best cookie recipe in the world, my friends BEG me to make them.
I have made numerous cookies from various recipes and these have to be the best. The only problem was I used Almond essence by mistake, but try it as they are great, chocolate and almond a great match…..
OH MY GOD. Wow. Thank you so much these are incredible! Historical moment for the oven….. best cookies ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Munch on…
Hi!
Just wanted to say a quick and most gratefu;l “thank you” for this fab cookie recipe. I came across your site a few years ago, fell deeply in love with those cookies and have been baking them ever since. They are loved by EVERYONE …and some of the recipients are snooty snobs when it comes to food. LOL.
Anyway, many thanks for sharing – really appreciated!
Warm regards
Michaela
Devon/UK
Thank you so much for this recipe i stumbled upon it a few months ago and now i always use it, everytime i have made these cookies people always say how wonderful and brilliant they are