Chewy Chocolate Chunk Cookies

An easy recipe for super chewy, soft, and perfect chocolate chip cookies.

There are literally hundreds of chocolate chip cookie recipes out there and everyone has their favourite! This recipe I’m about to share really stands out though for baking the chewiest of the chewy, the softest of the soft buttery cookies! The dough has a centre that has that slightly under-baked texture (it isn’t though) and the edges have a beautiful chewy and moreish taste.

WARNING: These cookies require either a tall glass of cold milk or a delicious hot chocolate!

This recipe is quite standard but I think the ratio’s are what make it slightly different.  I do cream the butter and sugar, but I use the butter far softer than I normally would. In fact it works better if you blast it for 10-15 seconds in the microwave just so it reaches that stage where its about to melt completely.  Don’t worry though, the quantity of flour used ensures that the melted butter doesn’t bake greasy.

I used my mixer for this recipe, but its perfectly fine to mix by hand too.

One VERY important point is that you must fridge the cookie dough – I can’t stress this step enough.  Chilling the dough allows the ingredients to settle together and the longer it’s chilled the thicker your cookies will be.  I made two batches from this recipe (around 18 cookies) and the first was made after being chilled for 6 hours, the second batch for 3 days! You can actually freeze the dough and cook from frozen too, just add an extra minute on your cooking time. A tip I’ve just thought of is that you could actually freeze the dough in it’s rolled balls, then just take one or two… or maybe three if you’re like me… out the freezer when you need a quick cookie fix!

When you remove the cookie dough from the fridge it will be quite crumbly, but it will roll together easily from the warmth of your hands.

I mentioned previously that this recipe will make 18 cookies but what I forgot to say, and I think it’s pretty vital – these cookies are large! I mean who wants a tiny cookie anyway? Monster cookies all the way I say. They will spread as they bake so make sure you space them well.  Each rolled ball is about a golf ball size…  and try to get them taller rather than wide too, they don’t have to be perfectly round.

These cookies take around 12 minutes to bake.  They will come out very soft, but don’t panic they are baked, they actually carry on baking for around 8 minutes once removed.. clever little cookies they are 😉 So, whatever you do, don’t over bake.  Oh, and if you did want smaller cookies then don’t forget to reduce the baking time too.

RECIPE

240g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1tsp sea salt
150g unsalted butter
160g soft brown sugar
100g caster sugar
1 large free range egg
1tsp vanilla bean paste (extract is fine too)
250g good quality chocolate – I used Callebaut Milk and White chocolate for these

METHOD

1. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl and set aside
2. Using an electric mixer or wooden spoon, cream the butter and sugars until pale and fluffy
3. Add the egg and vanilla, and beat until it is all smooth. Add the flour to the bowl, and combine gently
4. Add the chocolate chips and stir as little as you can to incorporate
5. Cover the bowl and chill as long as you can but ideally 12-36 hours
6. Roll golf ball sized pieces of dough onto lined baking trays (remember what I said about keeping them tall rather than wide)
7. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180ºC (160ºC Fan Oven / 350 F / Gas Mark 4) for 12 minutes (depending on the size you’ve made them) or until light gold

Enjoy! Please do let me know if you use this recipe, all feedback is appreciated.