Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are by far the best cookies I have made- or bought. A lightly crispy exterior, chewy but soft on the inside with notes of buttery toffee. What more could you ask from a chocolate chip cookie?

The recipe is from Nigella Lawson's 'Kitchen'- I modified it slightly.

I made a batch of these cookies for my brother to take back to university; because I wouldn't have time to make the cookies the day, or day before he was leaving, I decided to make and freeze the dough a few days ahead so the cookies would be freshly baked when he would take them. To freeze, I scooped the dough into the appropriate sizes onto some greaseproof paper and placed in the freezer for about 20 minutes, until the blobs were solid. I then put the blobs into a freezer bag and left them until it was time to bake- I added 3 minutes to the cooking time. (Note- more room is needed between cookies for spreading than shown above- this was just for freezing).

One of the best things about this recipe is the use of an egg yolk and the brown sugar; these make the cookies nice and chewy and toffee-y.

Feel free to use chocolate chips (as called for in the original recipe), but I always use roughly chopped milk chocolate, as it is more often to hand and I find the generous chunks are better than little chips- especially for cookies as large as these. I also reduced the amount of chocolate by about 100g, because although I love the chocolate, I actually find that 250g is always enough.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 12

Ingredients:
150g unsalted butter
125g soft light brown sugar
100g caster sugar
1 egg, fridge cold
1 egg yolk, fridge cold
2tsp vanilla extract
300g plain flour
½tsp bicarbonate of soda
250g chocolate chips

Method:
1. Pre heat the oven to 165°C/ 325F/Gas 3. Line a couple of baking trays with greaseproof paper.

2. Melt the butter and let it cool a little. In a separate bowl, mix the sugars together and add the cooled butter.

3. Beat in the cold egg and egg yolk and the vanilla extract until fully incorporated.

4. Sift in the flour and bicarbonate of soda a little at a time and mix together. Fold in the chocolate chips.

5. Scoop the dough into roughly 60ml blobs and plop onto the trays, leaving enough space for considerable spreading (about 2inches).

6. Bake for about 17 minutes, or until lightly browned around the edges. Remove from the oven and leave to cool (and harden a little)on the tray for 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to continue cooling. Store in a Tupperware for up to about 5 days.

If you are freezing the dough, scoop the made-up dough into 60ml blobs onto greaseproof paper and place in the freezer for 20 minutes, until the blobs are solid. Put the frozen blobs into a freezer bag and return to the freezer where they can stay for up to 6 months. Cook the dough from frozen- the baking instructions are the same, but with an additional 2- 3 minutes.