Hello my fellow foodies…
This month I would like to share with you possibly the quickest recipe for chocolate chip cookies ever! These cookies are the soft and slightly “gooey” type style bordering on a brownie like texture… just the thing to go with a cup of tea on a cold, damp, autumnal afternoon, or to share around at Halloween!
Chunky Chocolate and Orange Cookies
Makes approximately 12 cookies
> 150g butter (I like to use the salted variety)
> 60g soft brown sugar
> 100g granulated white sugar
> Seeds scraped from 1/2 a vanilla pod
> Finely grated zest of one orange
> 1 egg from a happy and healthy free running hen
> 220g plain white flour
> 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
> 225g orange flavoured chocolate – this time I used milk chocolate but usually I like the richer darker taste of plain chocolate – the higher the cocoa solids percentage the better for me!
> Pop the oven on to preheat at 180°
Let’s begin by creaming the butter and both sugars until the mixture looks lighter in colour and takes on a creamier texture. Next stir in the vanilla seeds, orange zest and then gradually add the beaten egg making sure you beat the mixture well to incorporate all the egg between each addition or you may well have a curdled mix to deal with.
Next, stir in the sifted flour and bicarbonate of soda and finally stir in the chunks of chocolate. As you can see from the picture I have used large chunks but it is up to you how large or small your chunks are, some may even prefer the uniformity of chocolate chips, the choice, as always dear reader, is up to you!
Now all that remains to do is to spoon the mixture directly onto a greased baking sheet. I used an ice-cream scoop to ensure all my cookies were the same size and I left the mixture in a little “heap” allowing plenty of space between the mounds as they do spread as they cook. Next, pop the trays into the pre heated oven and cook for approximately 10 minutes, but keep an eye on them as they can burn very quickly.
Once they are cooked, firm and golden brown in colour, remove from the oven but let them cool for a few minutes before moving them to a cool rack to cool completely.
Now all that remains to do is to pop the kettle on, invite a friend over and enjoy a cookie, or two, in good company!
Until next time dear reader…
