Preparation and cooking time for these cookies is a very short 25 minutes yet they are a really tasty and cheap treat. Use your favourite type of chocolate and add whatever nuts taste best for you and make your very own personalised version of this recipe.
125g / 4½ ounces plain flour
70g / 2½ ounces butter (softened)
1 medium egg
50g / 2 ounces soft brown sugar (Demerara)
50g / 2 ounces superfine / caster sugar
110g / 4 ounces chocolate chips (see NOTE below)
50g / 2 ounces chopped hazelnuts
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
NOTE: We used white and brown chocolate chips because they are the ideal size for chocolate chip cookies - they can be used straight from the pack. If you want to use a solid bar of chocolate, chop it up into small bits.
The butter must be soft. The best way to achieve this is to measure out the butter an hour or so before it is needed and leave it at room temperature. If this is not possible, break up the butter with a fork and beat it for a minute or so. If all else fails, put it in a bowl and float the bowl in warm water.
Turn the oven on, setting it to 180°C / Fan 160°C / 350°F / Gas Mark 4.
Next, grease two baking trays with butter, margarine or cooking oil.
Add the brown sugar, superfine / caster sugar, flour, bicarbonate of soda, butter and vanilla extract to a bowl and mix the ingredients well. We used a fork but a food processor will mix the ingredients in 5 seconds. Add the egg, chocolate and nuts and blend all the ingredients together.
Mixing ingredients for Chocolate Chip Cookies
Use a spoon to place blobs of the mixture on the greased baking try. Each blob should be a little bit smaller than a golf ball. Don't attempt to flatten the blobs at all, in fact when you spoon them onto the tray try to make the as high as possible.
Keep the blobs well apart because the mixture will spread out when cooking.
Place uncooked mixture on baking trays
Place the trays in the pre-heated oven and cook for 12 minutes until golden brown. Don't open the oven for at least ten minutes or you will end up with very flat cookies! Cool on the baking tray for 2 minutes then transfer them to a wire rack to cool for a further 15 minutes.