Traditional American Chocolate Chip Cookies

 

This recipe comes with an urban myth: A woman in New York met a friend at a small coffee shop, where they ordered drinks and cookies. They liked the cookies so much that she asked for the recipe. The owner of the coffee shop said that she could have the recipe, but she would have to pay something for it. The woman agreed, and paid for the coffee, cookies and the recipe on her credit card. When she got her next credit card statement, she realised that she had been charged a massive $200 for the recipe. She was furious! She called the restaurant, which refused to refund the money, saying that it was a fair price for the recipe. The woman said that, for that price, she must have bought the copyright for the recipe and she would send it out worldwide. She passed the recipe on to everyone she knew, and asked them to do the same. So here it is; pass it on!

These are delicious, so much so, that I'm fairly sure my sister-in-law is addicted to them, you know who you are!!!!!

Makes 18 -20

Ingredients
100g Porridge Oats
125g Plain Flour
1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
50g Milk chocolate, grated
100g Butter, softened
100g Soft brown sugar
100g Caster sugar
1 Medium egg, beaten
1/2 tsp Vanilla
115g Chocolate Chips

Method
Preheat oven to 190°C and line two large baking trays with baking paper. Put the oats into a food processor or liquidiser and whizz to a fine powder , add flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt and whizz again to mix together, add grated chocolate (or break into chunks and whizz again) Put both sugars into a large bowl with the butter, cream them until light and fluffy. Beat the egg and vanilla into the creamed butter mixture.

Add chocolate chips and dry ingredients, mix well with a spoon until everything is mixed in and you have a dough. (The softer your butter is the softer your dough will be, therefore the bigger your cookies will spread out on the baking tray)

Use your hands to roll into balls the size of ping-pong balls and put them, 5cm apart, on to non stick baking paper on a baking tray, shown below.

Bake in the oven for about ten minutes. They should have a golden colour, but still look a little underdone (this is what makes the lovely chewy soft texture). If you like them crisp, keep them in a bit longer. Leave them on the tray for a couple of minutes to firm up, then use a fish slice to lift them onto a wire rack to cool.

My tip:
When the weather is a bit cooler the dough is a bit firmer so the cookies don't spread out as much (pictured below), you can gently press each uncooked cookie with a pallet knife to flatten them out if you wish before baking.