Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today is a day for having plaited pig tails, I already only look about 14 today, so I figure I may as well add to the effect. I've been being good though, and have been making smoothies in an attempt to increase my fruit and veg intake. I think I'll just eat lots of fruit and then peas. But it's ok my mum will be cooking for me for a week! 

Still watching Ella Enchanted. Such a fun film. Utterly tongue in cheek and Westley from The Princess Bride is in it as a maniacally evil uncle. 

This recipe is from a lovely website, with no changes. These are just brilliant. All the things that a cookie should be (in my humble opinion), they're just crunchy and chewy and soft and they don't fall apart (frequently an issue with my own personal recipes as I go for too much squidge and not enough structure)

Ingredients

9 oz/250 g plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarb of soda
1/2 tsp salt
6 oz/170g butter, melted
7 oz/200g brown sugar (I use 5oz of soft brown or muscavado, 2oz of demerara)
3.5 oz/100g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg and 1 egg yolk
10 oz/300g chocolate chips (milk, white, dark, a mix of all three, whatever you're in the mood for :))

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325F/165C/Gas Mark 3.
2. Grease baking tray or line with greaseproof paper.
3. In a bowl sieve the flour, baking soda and salt together.
4. In another bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and caster sugar until light and fluffy.

5. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy.

6. Mix in the dry ingredients until just blended.

7. Stir in the chocolate chips.

8. Place dessert spoons full of cookie dough onto the baking tray, spacing them about 6cm apart.

9. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly browned.

10. Cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes then transfer to wire racks to finish cooling.

I just realised I hadn't put in the most important instruction.... Cookies carry on cooking after you get them out of the oven - those ones are just slightly over! So, take them out as soon as they're slightly brown around the edges and don't leave them on the baking tray more than 3-5 mins or they'll stop being chewy and turn into (still tasty) but crunchy cookies.

I put a second egg yolk in because it was lying around, so my mixture was slightly stickier, but it should look pretty much like the photos. The reason for the egg yolk is that it makes the cookies squidgier. Egg whites make them drier, but add structure, hence why many recipes call for 1 egg and 1 egg yolk. Make a little bit of meringue or something with the egg white ;) 

If you want to branch out, reduce the choc chips to 200g and add 100g frozen raspberries (I usually use white chocolate with rasps) broken up a little bit, but not too much. If you add them defrosted they just fall apart and you end up with green cookies, which is fun, but mildly disturbing. 

Equally, change the type of chocolate, add nuts, dried cranberries, raisins, sultanas. The world is your oyster when you have a good basic cookie recipe :) Unfortunately it doesn't translate particularly well to triple choc chip, I'm still working on that one, I'll let you know when I get anywhere!

Thanks to anyone who reads this, and do let me know if you make any of the recipes!