Chewy Choc Chip cookies

 

My mission in life is to find the perfect biscuit recipe - and I think I am almost there!

This recipe is for soft, chewy chocolate chip biscuits. Sometimes I want crisp biscuits - Astrid Biscuits and sometimes I want coconut - Martha Stewart's recipe is neither soft or crisp - but delicious!

Ingredients

• 375g butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 3 cups brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla essence
• 3 eggs
• 4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup finely chopped crystalised ginger
• 2 cups walnut pieces
• 2 cups roughly chopped Whittakers dark chocolate

Method

Cream the softened butter and sugars for 10 minutes with the whisk attachment in a cake mixer - set the timer and walk away - 10 full minutes.

Add the vanilla essence and then eggs one by one. Remove the whisk attachment and put in the mixing attachment.

Add the sifted flour, salt and baking soda and just mix it long enough to combine - 30 seconds maybe - stop the second the flour is almost incorporated. Then tip in the nuts and chocolate and ginger and mix just enough to almost combine - finish it with a wooden spoon.

Bake the first tray: place dessertspoon-sized balls on a baking tray lined with silicon liners or baking paper or just greased. Flatten a little. Cook for 15 minutes at 165 degrees.

Look at how they worked: sometimes they spread far and wide and other times they stay quite tidy. Make up the next trays - usually 12 per tray - and flatten or not depending on the way the dough behaved. I like mine quite flat and thin.

Leave to cool on the trays for a few minutes to firm up and then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Dough keeps well in the fridge for overnight - improves the flavour somewhat.

NB: you can off course leave out the ginger and walnuts and do 4 cups of chocolate instead AND you can half the recipe - I cook this size because my cake mixer is a large one and creams this volume of butter of better best.