Choc Chip Heaven

 

My 'Sydney Food' (Bill Granger) recipe book falls open to page 11. It's the home of the ULTIMATE Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe. I'm not sure where you stand on Aussies calling biscuits 'cookies' but these babies ain't no biscuit.  They're lush, chocolatey, melty, chewy cookies. I hope Bill won't mind me sharing his divine recipe (I noticed that there are many, many other postings of it all over the 'net so I don't feel so bad). I've added my very helpful commentary. The bad cookie photography is all my own.

Bill Granger's Chocolate Chip Cookies

125 g. (4 oz.) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/4 cups tightly packed brown sugar (don't substitute whitey sugar as brown is the key to the divineness, me thinks)

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 ½ cups plain flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

a pinch of salt
1½ cups of chocolate bits (but, you know, the more the merrier!)


Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F). Put the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until light and creamy. Beat and beat and beat because the lighter and creamier, the better the cookie. Stir in the vanilla and egg. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and mix until just combined - this will seem like way too much flour, but just keep folding and folding, it will all come together. Fold through chocolate chips.

Place spoonfuls of cookie mixture on a lightly greased then lined baking tray, allowing room for spreading. Bill says to cook for 15-20 minutes, until they turn pale gold, but (depending on oven hotness) I say cook for no more than 11 mintues so you get the light crunch on the outside with the doughy, softy yummo on the inside. Experiment to see what you like best.

Allow to cool on the tray for 5 minutes before putting cookies on a wire rack to cool further. Makes about 16, depending on how big you go! Will keep in an airtight container for a week.

I made a double batch yesterday (that's Cappers devouring the wooden spoon in the photo above). Cook half right now and then roll the rest of the dough into a cylinder shape, wrap it in baking paper then cling film and then put it in the freezer to keep for up to a month. When it's time for cooking, just slice the dough, put on the baking tray and into the oven for 14 minutes instead of 11.

OMG, I need to go and eat a CCC immediately!