Seema's Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

A little decadence is always a good thing!

Ingredients:

100 gms dark chocolate

125 gms unsalted butter, softened

90 gms dark brown/muscavado sugar

35 gms caster sugar

4 heaped tbsp cocoa powder (not the Cadburys variety – that’s too sweet!)

100 gms dark chocolate chips

140 gms plain/self-raising flour

2 tsp – vanilla essence/vanilla extract

1 egg

1 tsp soda bicarb

Pinch of salt

Keep at hand – 25 mls of milk

You could add:

-25 gms instant coffee powder if you’d like to flavour the cookies. Adjust the sugar quantity if adding this depending on how dark/sweet you like the cookies

-Chopped walnuts instead of chocolate chips (or with them)

-Orange essence to make choc and orange cookies - in this case, make sure to add the zest of a large orange too.

Procedure:

1. Heat the oven at 170 C.

2. Melt chocolate in a bowl – usually this should be done using a water bath but I’m lazy so I microwave it on the lowest setting the machine has for about a minute or two until melted.

3. In another bowl, mix softened butter with the two sugars and cream together till well blended, pale and fluffy. I find it best to use an electric egg beater- makes the whole process so much easier (unless of course you have some fancier gadget to make dough etc).

Note: I wonder what would happen if we were to use softened goor instead of the brown sugar? Perhaps need some more of the white sugar to balance the dark flavours? Must try

4. Add the egg and beat for 2 minutes. Add in the melted chocolate and vanilla and beat for another minute.

Note: When I make anything using melted chocolate, I hate to waste any that’s stuck to the bowl and won’t come off. At this stage, I am feeling pretty virtuous and want to use all the chocolate in the cookies instead of licking the bowl dry. In which case, I add a splash of milk and stick it back in the microwave for 20 seconds on a low setting or in the water bath till I can mix it altogether and add it to the cake/cookie mixture. Sometimes I just drink the mixture. 

5. Sift together the flour, soda bicarb, salt and cocoa powder into the egg-chocolate mixture and mix all ingredients together for 3-4 minutes. Add the chocolate chips and mix together lightly with a spoon. The mixture should be pretty grainy, not pourable like cake batter, but thick and gloopy. If the mixture is too runny for cookie dough, add some more flour till it gets drier.

6. Line a large baking tray with greaseproof paper. Use a rounded spoon or a melon baller and butter knife to make the cookies. Scoop a small quantity of the dough and drop a rounded ball on the greaseproof sheet – this does not have to be 360 degrees, just a small mound. Do not flatten. Use a knife to scoop off the spoon or melon baller to make life easier. Make more of these small mounds about 6-7 cms apart – this is necessary since the cookies will spread during the cooking process.

7. Bake for 18-19 minutes. The cookies are ready if a fork comes out cleanish. Remove from oven and let cool for a minute of two. Then remove on a plate or a large tin and let cool for 30-45 minutes. These will harden as they cool.

8. Serve with milk and receive gracious compliments!

9. Notes: If adding coffee, do so at stage 5 with the dry ingredient. If adding orange, reduce the quantity of vanilla to a quarter, and mix together in stage 4. Add zest at the end with the chocolate chips. If using walnuts, mix last instead of the chocolate chips.