Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Anybody who tells you they don't make cookies because its a lot of work is...lying! Baking cookies is easy, however getting them right each time isn't always. But if you follow our CHEWY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE recipe carefully, you'll get the same great results we do.

I suspect the reason why most people don't make cookies is that theirs don't end up fluffy, crisp on the outside yet soft on the inside, like they should... they all run into each other, and make one big pile of dough that sticks to the sheet and you end up throwing out in a huff. There are many reasons for this.

The first one is the ingredients. The flour has to be very fresh, the butter has to be nice and chilled, the sugar has to be non-refined (or replaced in half the quantity by brown sugar) or it will melt too quickly, the chocolate should not be too dark (no more than 50 to 60% cocoa content). You can also try no-phosphate baking powder if you can find it.

The second is the preparation. The trick is to not over mix the ingredients. Cookie dough should be very stiff, barely holding together. If you over beat, you warm up the butter which will start to melt even before the dough goes in the oven, and the air that is trapped in the dough will seep out while cooking. You can keep any remaining dough in the refrigerator while you are cooking a batch. You can even keep it overnight, which makes it even stiffer. It can even be frozen, and cooked frozen (although you'll need a few extra minutes of cooking time).

The third is the cooking. Cookies don't bake for too long - 15 to 20 minutes, on a pretty low heat (140°C ideally). Don't reuse a cookie sheet right after it has come out of the oven, it needs to cool off first.

So lets get to it. Warm up your oven to 140°C. Mix the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer, and when they start to come together add the egg and mix again until the dough is uniform. In another bowl, mix together the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, chocolate chips) and the vanilla extract, and pour this into the butter-sugar-egg mixture. Mix again on low, just long enough to bring everything together. The dough should be quite stiff. Either form balls of the dough with two spoons or use an ice-cream scoop, and flatten then slightly on the cookie sheet, a couple of inches apart. (A regular cookie sheet can take 9 to 12 depending on the size).

Place in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes for large cookies, 9 to 14 for smaller ones. Once they are out, let them sit on the baking tray for a while before you place then on a wire rack to finish their cooling off. They are great a little warm with a glass of milk! M-Joy!