OMG guys. I found the ultimate chocolate chip cookies. They’re as big as your face and swimming in puddles of dark, rich chocolate. I can’t even explain to you how yummy they are! There are no chocolate chips in this recipe, just big fat chunks of dark chocolate and you don’t even need a mixer, so it’s easy for everyone. What I would say is (if you can hold off for a little longer) pop your dough in the fridge overnight. This will help the flavours marry together and allow the flour to absorb all the goodness of the liquids. You’ll end up with a far more caramelly, distinctive flavour and a brighter colour. I get it though. If you can’t wait, bake one for immediate satisfaction and save the rest of the dough for the next day.
I woke up this morning to pouring rain outside my window. It honestly sounds so gross out there but that’s London for you in late September. I guess we’ve been super lucky that the weather’s been so kind to us recently. Even though I am definitely not looking forward to a wet, windy and grey commute into work, London is still super pretty in the rain. There’s something about being warm and cosy indoors while the heavens open and hearing that sticky sound of car tyres on wet tarmac. It allows for the perfect excuse (although truly, who needs one?!) to demolish one or more of these bad boys along with a cup of English breakfast tea, or Earl Grey. Remember when everyone was talking about hygge? I feel like this could be the epitome of that. Or as my German grandma would have said: gemĆ¼tlich – which generally translates as feeling warm and snug.
Even if these cookies took forever and a day to make, they’d still be worth it. My pet hate with shop-bought cookies is that so many of them are near-raw in the centre in an attempt to be squidgy. These however, with their crackly volcanic humps, stay crisp on the edges and chewy on the inside without being underbaked. I might also be a little too obsessed at the moment with sprinkling sea salt on EVERYTHING. I obviously had to add some to these to balance out the sweet, caramel flavours. The salt was, of course, the thing that most people commented on. The generous chunks of chocolate were next on that list.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes 20 big cookies
415g plain flour
1 1/4tsp baking powder
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 1/2tsp salt
225g unsalted butter, chopped
160g light brown sugar
160g dark brown muscovado sugar
100g granulated sugar
2 eggs
2tsp vanilla bean paste
340g 70-90% dark chocolate cup
Flaky salt for sprinkling
- Preheat your oven to 360F/180C. Line two baking trays with parchment paper.
- In a medium saucepan over
a low heat, melt the butter. You want to be really careful you don’t burn it soa low heat is essential here. Even if it’s not all melted, take it off the heat the rest will melt naturally if you give it a swirl. - Chop your chocolate in big chunks and set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix together your dry ingredients: the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, and salt, then set aside.
- Pour the melted butter into another large bowl and whisk in your sugars. It might look a little clumpy at first, but keep mixing and it will smooth out. Once everything’s nicely combined, add you eggs one at a time. Whisk briskly after each addition until just combined. Add in the vanilla bean paste.
- Add your dry ingredients to the butter and sugars and mix together using a spatula. Once everything is combined, add your chopped chocolate to the dough.
- Wrap the dough in parchment paper or plastic wrap and let it rest for at least 10-15mins in the fridge, or preferably overnight. This helps the flavours soak up!
- When you’re ready to bake, create golf-ball sized balls (around 75g dough per cookie) and bake for 10-14 minutes, rotating the pan half-way through baking. You don’t need to flatten them – this will happen as they bake. The colder dough will take a little longer and the cookies should have a nice golden outside (not brown) but still have tiny cracks and a softer centre.
- Leave the cookies to cool on the baking tray for a few minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.
- The cookies can be kept in an airtight container for a week – but let’s be honest here, these are going to be eaten in a heartbeat!
Adapted from Tara O’Brady‘s recipe from Seven Spoons baking book
