Since landing back in London after a wonderful time back home in Canada for the holidays – I have been craving chocolate chip cookies. In fact, while I was in Canada I took out the butter multiple times thinking I would be able to bake but then I got sick multiple times and was unable to bake much.
Nevertheless, this craving persisted, and after spending way too many precious pounds (both money wise and weight wise), on buying cookies outside I have decided enough is enough. I am going to make the most delicious chewy chocolate chip cookies ever. And that is exactly what I did. The best part about this recipe is that everything can be made in one bowl, there is no need to take the butter out the night before, and you can make the cookies with the bare minimum utensils (i.e. a spoon). I’d say all things considered – this is a winner of a recipe. Interested in other cookie recipes? Check this link here 🙂
CRAVINGS AND BAKING
Back home in Canada, I could bake whenever I wanted. I had my beautiful stand-mixer, all my measuring cups, and more importantly my beautiful plates and bowls from anthropologie so that I could decorate and plate my baked goods to photograph for the blog. Here in London, I have nothing. Well practically nothing. What I don’t have are my fancy gadgets, which really puts into perspective how lucky I was back home. I don’t even have a hand mixer. I made the cookies using a spoon and then a fork LOL.
Another sad part about baking here in London is that in order to get the proper lighting to photograph my food – I have to bake on the weekends when I have time and light. It get’s so dark here (much like Canada), but I am in school 5 days a week till 5 pm so by then there is no light. However, I am an optimist (and a glutton), and I will persist when it comes to overcoming baking related challenges.
This cookie recipe calls for all your basic ingredients – except for two items that not many people (let alone students) may have in their pantry. Bread flour and almond essence. You can easily omit this. I personally find that the bread flour is helpful in the development of a more chewier cookie due to the higher gluten level. Plus, flour is quite cheap in London. In fact, most of the ingredients are cheap in London except for the chocolate! Sadly, I pay about£1.50 (almost $3.00) for 100g of chocolate – and the whole bar went into my cookies LOL. Oh well, it is totally worth it. And after you make these cookies you’ll think they are worth it too!
CHEWY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
decadent. chewy. chocolatey.
As a side note, these cookies need to rest for at least 30 minutes or ideally overnight. Now, I am the last person who has the patience to wait 24 hours, let alone 30 minutes. I baked one cookie (as a trial) straight after mixing the ingredients. The batter will be quite liquidy (sticky) and you can’t form it into a ball. I just dumped a spoonful onto a baking tray. It turned out great! After 30 minutes the dough is set and can be rolled into balls. Bake all of them or freeze them for whenever the craving hits!
Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
These cookies are all made in one bowl. Bake them immediately or freeze them for later. Or eat all of them. Do whatever you want!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup cane sugar
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup butter, melted (you can even brown butter this if you want!)
- 2 tbsp water
- 1 egg
- 1/4 tsp almond extract (optional)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup bread flour (substitute all-purpose flour if need be)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate, roughly chopped (go ahead and add more chocolate, or whatever chocolate you like!)
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350F/180 C. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugars, salt, water and butter until a paste has formed with no lumps. You can use a spoon for this.
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Whisk in the egg, almond extract and vanilla, beating until light ribbons fall off the whisk. I switched to fork since I live in student accommodation and a whisk is a luxury.
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Sift in the flours and baking powder, then fold the mixture with a spatula (or a spoon). Do not to overmix too much. If there is still some flour leave it!
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Fold in the chocolate chunks evenly, incorporating the rest of the bits of flour. Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes.
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Scoop the dough (golf ball sized or bigger!) and leave space between each cookie. Bake for 10 -12 minutes and remove. They will look a little undercooked. That is OK! Let the cookies rest on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring them on a wire rack to cool. Eat all of them.
Recipe Notes
* Chill the dough for 30 minutes so that you can spoon them into balls. You can also spoon them immediately without chilling the dough but the mixture will be very soft and sticky. Do not think of adding more flour - I know that's what you want to do but do not do it! You will end up with cake cookies and that will be your fault not mine. And then you won't think they are the best chocolate chip cookies ever.
** I use a gas oven with a fan and my oven cooks super fast for some reason so 10 minutes is perfect. If you open the oven and the edges are not brown, leave it for 2 minutes. Once you take it out it will continue to cook on the pan! You want the edges to be slightly brown 🙂
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I AM NOT GONNA LIE, I AM PRETTY PROUD OF MY ABILITY TO MAKE SUCH TASTY COOKIES WITH THE BARE MINIMUM OF UTENSILS. I LIKE THAT I CAN FREEZE THESE AND BAKE THEM WHEN THE CRAVING HITS. ARE YOU GUYS MORE OF A DARK CHOCOLATE OR MILK CHOCOLATE TYPE OF COOKIE PERSON?
This post just made my day. I absolutely adore cookies of ALL KINDS. I love this recipe as well. I will use this and the others you have on here and pin too. You have a fan.
Thanks so much Diana! I’m a huge cookies fan too. I love how I can freeze the dough and bake them when I want. Thanks for the love <3
I didn’t realize how simple the ingredients are for making chocolate chip cookies, I actually have all of this in my pantry/fridge!
It’s super simple! In fact the more simple the better. The real magic happens in terms of mixing the dough and then letting it rest. Give this a shot and let me know how it goes 🙂