Sensational Chocolate Chip Cookies

After a week in Noosa where the closest I came to cooking was throwing together a sandwich or two or mashing up fruit & yoghurt for Chloe to eat, I was itching to get back into the kitchen & cook, more precisely to bake. So the day after we arrived home I was into it, baking these irresistible, melt in the mouth, cant stop eating them choc chip cookies from Bill Granger’s Sydney Food. Some were for my parents who were popping in for a visit after week long Chloe withdrawals & some were supposed to be for my Mother’s Group picnic which I didn’t make it to thanks to someone wanting their nap right in the middle of it. So unfortunately now I have a whole stack of cookies that I will have to gobble up myself, with a little help from Michael of course.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

125g unsalted butter, softened
1 ¼ cups tightly packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 ½ cups plain flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of salt
1 ½ cups chocolate bits

Preheat oven to 180c. Place butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until light & creamy. Add vanilla & egg & stir to combine. Stir in the sifted flour, baking powder and salt until just combined. Fold through chocolate chips.

Place spoonfuls of cookie mixture on a greased & lined baking tray, allowing room for spreading. Cook for 15-20 minutes, until they turn pale gold.

Allow to cool on the tray for 5 minutes before placing on a wire rack to cool further. Makes about 25

Choc Oatmeal Cookies

On the weekend I made yet another batch of cookies & this time disaster struck again, my mix master blew up whilst creaming the butter & sugar, it is just a cheap Ronson that I have had for about 8 years (of which it probably has only been used a lot these last 2 years) & now the question is, what should I replace it with? I would love a Red Kitchen aid but will have to think long & hard before blowing that much cash on a kitchen appliance even though it will definitely be used! Now I’m just waiting for disaster no 3, you know what they say, things come in threes and I don’t suppose last weeks disaster where our drain water started dripping through the light fitting in the ceiling down into my kitchen due to a blocked toilet counts as that I am classifying as a plumbing disaster. Anyway the biscuits were from Bill Granger’s Bills Food & were nice & crunchy, they almost tasted like a butternut snap with choc chips to me which is good as I love butternut snaps. And thankfully they still turned out seeing as how I had to half beat them by hand – those arm muscles from carrying Chloe around are coming in handy lately.

Choc Oatmeal Cookies

150g unsalted butter, softened
230g (1 cup) soft brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
125g (1 cup) plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of salt
235g (2 1/3 cups) rolled oats
175g (1 cup) chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 180c. Line three large baking trays with baking paper.

Cream the butter & sugar together in a bowl until fluffy & smooth. Add the eggs & vanilla extract & beat until smooth. Sift the flour, baking powder & salt into the bowl & mix lightly. Add the oats & choc chips & stir to combine.

Roll tablespoons of mixture into balls and place on the baking trays. Flatten the balls with a fork dipped in flour. Bake the cookies for 20 minutes, or until pale golden. Remove from the oven & cool on the trays for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool. Makes about 30.