Easy Chunky Chocolate Cookies
Cookies have to be the easiest baked goods to make. Throw everything in a bowl and mix. Then spoon onto a tray. Bake for 10 minutes and done! Perfect when friends o family want to pop by at the last minute or you just have a craving for something sweet.
Speaking of cookies, chunky cookies are everywhere at the moment (isn’t it funny how food trends come about? Chunky cookies and Portuguese tarts seem to be the “in” things at the moment) but it is so easy to bake your own (and save yourself $5 a cookie!).
The trick to getting the perfect chunky cookie is to bake them in a muffin or patty cake tray (depending on how big you want them). Instead of the cookie spreading on a tray, it maintains its chunky shape. You can see the difference in the image above.
We’ve shared our favourite chocolate cookie recipe below:
Chunky Chocolate Chip Cookies (pictured above)
Ingredients-
2 1/4 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt (we prefer ground sea salt. It brings out the flavour of the chocolate more)
3/4 cup (170g) unsalted butter, melted & cooled
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 blocks of Lindt 70% Excellence Dark Chocolate, roughly chopped. Or you can use Nestle chocolate chips. Personally, I prefer the random hit of gooey chocolate from chopped pieces. Quality chocolate also tastes better.
Method-
Preheat the oven to 160 degrees (fan forced).
Whisk the flour, baking soda, cornstarch, and salt together in a large bowl and set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk the melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together until no brown sugar lumps remain. Whisk in the egg and egg yolk. Finally, whisk in the vanilla extract. The mixture will be thin.
Pour into dry ingredients and mix together with a large spoon or rubber spatula. The dough will be very soft, and thick, and appear greasy. Fold in the chocolate chips. The chocolate may not stick to the dough because of the melted butter, but do your best to combine them. Don’t overwork the mixture or the cookies will end up tough.
Using an ice cream scoop or tablespoon, measure out a decent scoop of the mixture (it should be about the size of a golf ball). Roll them into a ball, making sure the shape is taller rather than wide. This gives the cookie a chunkier shape.
Place the ball into a greased muffin or patty pan (using one of these pans stops the cookie from spreading and maintains the chunky, rustic shape).
Bake for 12 minutes. However, you may need to keep an eye on them, as you don’t want to overcook the cookies. Cookies are best when just cooked, so they are enjoyed soft and gooey. The middle will still look soft, but they will firm up and set once cooled. If you prefer a crispier cookie, leave them in for a few extra minutes (14 minutes max!).
Put the cookies on a cooling rack or tea towel for 10 minutes, then enjoy!
I have used some melted dark chocolate and a teaspoon to drizzle over the cooling cookies. Simply put a small handful of Nestle Melts in a cup and put it in the microwave for 30 seconds. I think it just adds a bit of interest.
NB. You can place the cookie dough in the fridge for a few hours to firm up the mixture, which gives a more formed cookie when baked. However, we prefer the rustic look.
As for chocolate, we highly recommend using quality chocolate. You can definitely taste the difference. Also, dark chocolate is much better than milk chocolate when making cookies, as it offers a stronger chocolatey taste and counteracts the sweetness of the dough. Milk chocolate will be quite sweet.
Let us know what you think!
