Chocolate Chunk Cookies

All hail the chocolate chunk cookie! I love baking cookies and not just because they are the best snack known to mankind… they’re easy, require no decorating; make the house smell amazing; and taste fantastic even before cooking (not that I condone eating raw cookie dough from the bowl!).

There are a few rules I follow when baking cookies:

Add cornflour for softness
Always, always chill the dough before baking
Always include some form of chocolate

Ok maybe the last one isn’t for everybody, but in my household it’s a must!

I understand everyone is different. Some prefer cookies that are hard, soft, crunchy or chewy. I always make mine soft baked (it’s just a preference) so all my recipes will be soft baked. If you’re not in to soft cookies you can still use the recipes, just bake for a little bit longer.

Cookie2

Recipe (Makes 20)

240g Plain Flour
1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
Large Pinch of Salt
2 tsp Cornflour
125g Unsalted Butter (Room temperature)
160g Light Brown Sugar
40g Caster Sugar
1 Egg (Room temperature)
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
100g Dark Chocolate Chunks
100g Dark Chocolate Chips

Method

Place your plain flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and cornflour into a bowl and set aside.
In a mixing bowl cream together your unsalted butter, brown sugar and caster sugar for approximately 2 minutes on a medium to high setting until fully combined and creamy.
Add in your egg and vanilla and mix.
Add in half your flour and mix on a medium setting until combined, your dough will be getting thicker.
Add your remaining flour by hand as the dough will get too heavy for an electric mixer. Keep folding until all your flour is mixed in. Your dough will be very thick!
Fold in your chocolate chunks and 3/4 of your chips until evenly distributed, leave the remaining chips to one side for later!
Ball up your dough and wrap tightly in cling film. Place in the fridge to chill for a minimum of 2 hours.*
When your dough has been chilled for nearly two hours, heat your oven to 170 degrees (celsius) and line 2 trays with baking paper.
Take dough out of the fridge and separate into 30-40g balls, place these on the baking trays allowing room for spreading.**
This is where you can use your remaining chips. Press 3-4 chips into the top of your cookie balls for the desired look.
Bake the trays in the centre of the oven for 10-12 minutes. The cookies may look slightly under baked when you take them out, however, when cooled on the rack they will have a soft chewy texture. Damn right!