It’s true…there is always cake in my house.
I think there is nothing quite as comforting as a bite of home made loveliness – whether that’s an indulgent chocolate cake or a simple chocolate chip cookie. (You’ll notice both have chocolate… this may be a recurring theme…) For me, it has to be homemade. But, before you sigh and tut, thinking I’m just another picture perfect baker with a spotless, show home kitchen (literal giggles as I write this from my state of a kitchen!), WAIT! I believe baking should fit in with the rest of your life – your time, money and effort! The people who test my recipes are busy and claim to have no baking skills. So there’s nothing to stop you. I only bake simple, delicious cakes, cookies and desserts.
Here’s one of my all time favourite recipes. It’s a classic go-to if I find we’re out of cake – everyone loves them. Also perfect for taking to friends – housewarmings, new babies, thank yous – as well as business meetings with clients… I kid you not. There’s never a bad time for these bad boys.
Super easy chocolate chunk cookies
cookie tower… mmm…
Makes 12 small cookies
Ingredients
100g soft baking spread (or butter/margarine)
100g light soft brown sugar
1 tbsp golden syrup
150g self raising flour
100g dark chocolate chunks* (or 100g of whatever you fancy! Nuts, dried fruit, chocolate honeycomb pieces, white or milk chocolate – or a mixture – go crazy!)
*I usually use a cheap bar of chocolate and just hack it into rough chunks – cheaper than bags of chocolate chips and, I think, much tastier!
Method
- Preheat oven to 200°C/180°C fan/Gas Mark 6 and line your baking sheets.
- Beat together the butter and sugar with a hand whisk or wooden spoon until well combined.
- Add the golden syrup and mix again.
- Add about half the flour and mix.
- Add your chocolate chunks, then stir them in with a spoon – don’t use an electric mixer here as the chunks get stuck and the mixture is quite thick and dry. I find the mixer tends to struggle/blow up in your face.
- Add the rest of the flour, then stir well to combine.
- Divide into 12 equal portions. I use a cheap ice cream scoop to portion and then roll into balls with your hands, spacing evenly on your baking sheets Don’t flatten them as they will bake into perfect round cookies if left as balls.
- Bake for 10 minutes, or just as they start to brown ever so slightly. (If you want fewer, larger cookies, bake for a bit longer – 12-15 minutes.) Don’t over bake as you’ll get crunchy cookies, rather than soft.
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the sheets for five minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. They’ll flatten as they cool – this means they’ll be lovely and chewy. Don’t leave them too long though, these are gorgeous eaten hot!
I sometimes push some smarties into the tops of the cookies once they’ve come out of the oven and are still soft for an added treat. You know, cos there’s not enough chocolate in them already…
Now eat! (Or take them to your lovely friends…) Let me know how they turn out!
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