Choc Chip Cookies

Baking together is one of the pleasure of family life and I have fond memories of my older and younger children gathered around the kitchen bench taking turns stirring the ingredients for this recipe and turning lumps of biscuit dough into balls.

The size of the balls varied a lot - some favour very big biscuits, others lots of small ones - but this is one recipe that is always a hit, whether cooked till crisp (my choice) or removed from the oven when lightly browned and still slightly squishy (tops with the younger members of the family).

Many of their friends have tucked in to a box of these biscuits at bring-a-plate functions and the box always seems to come home empty.

Choc Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

125g butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 egg
1 3/4 cups self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
185g chocolate chips

(My favourite is a mix of dark chocolate bits, milk chocolate bits and some dark chocolate buttons but any mix will do, although most need to be the smaller choc bits rather than buttons to aid even mixing).

Method: 

Cream butter and sugars, add vanilla essence. Add egg and beat well (mixture should become paler). Mix in sifted flour and salt. Add choc chips and mix well.

Shape teaspoons of mixture into small balls (about the size of a walnut). Place on a lightly greased tray, leaving room between the balls to allow for spreading (so about 12 on a typical small tray, 15 on a larger one). Bake in a moderate oven for 12 minutes. Makes about 36-40 biscuits.

(The spoons of mixture my children use end up more like golf balls than walnuts and need to be placed further apart on the tray as they spread while cooking - and they never seem to end up with more than about 24-30 biscuits).

Whatever the size, the biscuits are ready when the tops are lightly browned. The biscuits become crisper when they cool down so do not need cooking till crisp. Experiment with cooking time to find your favourite degree of doneness. Experimenting when cooking is half the fun - the other half is eating the results.

PS I'll try to add a photo next time I make a batch.