Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

To me, the perfect chocolate chip cookie is oversized, thick, soft and chewy, with large chunks of chocolate and nuts. This recipe is from The Best Recipe, a book which I love because before every recipe, the logic of the ingredients is explained.

For instance, in this recipe, beginning with melted butter, instead of softened, means that the proteins in the flour grab onto the freed water molecules to form elastic sheets of gluten, and the gluten equals chewy! The second egg yolk also acts as a tenderizer, contributing to the squishy softness of these deliciously moist cookies. Another way to ensure that these cookies stay soft is to pull them out before they actually look done. Remember, they will continue to cook on the tray thanks to the ongoing heat from the pan and the sugar within the cookies.

Instead of using chocolate chips, I like to buy chocolate bars (dark chocolate, usually) and chop them up. The chunks of chocolate contribute to an interesting texture, and any smaller shavings sprinkle through the cookies making the chocolate distribution more even.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes about 18 large cookies

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons (180 g) butter, melted and cooled till warm

1 cup light or dark brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1-1 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup of chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 325F/ 165C. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt together in medium bowl; set aside.

Either by hand or with an electric mixer, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined.

Add dry ingredients and beat at low speed just until combined.

Stir in chips and nuts to taste.

Roll or spoon 1/4 cup cookie dough into a bowl. Holding dough ball in fingertips of both hands, pull into two equal halves. Rotate halve 90 degrees and, with jagged surface facing up, join halves together at their base, again forming a single ball. Be careful not to smooth the dough's uneven surface. Place formed dough onto cookie sheet, leaving 2 1/2 inches between each ball.

Bake for roughly 15-18, reversing position of cookie sheets halfway through baking, until the cookies are light golden brown and the edges start to harden, yet centers are still soft and puffy.

Cool cookies on sheets. When cooled, peel cookies from parchment, and enjoy while still warm.

<

To the kitchen!

Foolproof One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes

I'm a huge fan of baking cupcakes, because they're so much easier to parcel out to friends. A cake split between three people is a lot less pretty than a batch of cupcakes.

These cupcakes are originally a Martha Stewart creation, and she’s usually pretty spot-on when it comes to recipes. Still, I was suspicious at first - how can something so simple be tasty? Surely there should be some whipping or creaming in there somewhere? But I'd promised my little sister something home-baked, and her friends at the boarding house were getting hungry. What better way to test out a new recipe than on a bunch of picky teenagers?

This has become my go-to recipe for a simple chocolate cupcake. I’ve made it several times now, in varying sized batches (once I needed 100!) and they’ve all turned out tender, moist, and delicious.

A tip on scooping cupcakes into liners: I use an ice cream scooper, with a lever to force the batter out. It works fantastically, minimizes the drips on the baking tray, and leads to pretty standard sized cupcakes!

Foolproof One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes

Makes roughly 24

¾ cup cocoa powder (unsweetened)

1 ½ cups plain/ all-purpose flour

1 ½ cups sugar

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

¾ teaspoon baking powder

¾ teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

¾ cup warm water

¾ cups buttermilk*

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F/ 175C. Line baking pan with cupcake liners.

In a large mixing bowl sift together the dry ingredients - cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

Add the wet ingredients - eggs, warm water, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla.

Mix the batter with a spatula until it is smooth, making sure to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl. Be careful not to overmix, as this will cause the finished product to be sort of tough and spongy, with tunnels or holes.

Divide the batter evenly among liners - fill each until it is about 1/2 full (one ice cream scoop).

Bake for about 20 minutes, rotating the pan if needed. The tops of the cupcakes will spring back when lightly touched.

Allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

Finish off with a delicious frosting! My favorite pairing is Chocolate Cream Cheese, but for this batch I was low on ingredients so what you see is a simple Cream Cheese frosting.

*If you don't have buttermilk, substitute milk with a tiny bit of lemon juice or vinegar added. Allow the milk to sit a minute or two before adding it to the rest of the batter in order to allow reaction time.

To the kitchen!

Chocolate Walnut Fudge Brownies

Growing up I thought that the only way to make brownies was by using a box mix. When I moved to Australia and wasn't able to get hold of my old standbys, I ventured into the world of brownies from scratch. I went through a lot of dry, flavourless batches before I came across this recipe. With my first bite I knew that these brownies were keepers. They're nice and tall, moist and chewy, and dense enough that they're nearly like fudge. They're incredibly rich, so a small brownie goes a long way. That's what I tell myself anyways ... All the same I usually end up eating huge brownie strips at a time!

I tend to pull them out of the oven when the top of brownies are firm to the touch, but a skewer still comes out a little wet. Waiting until the skewer comes out with crumbs means letting the bottom of the brownies burn.

Chocolate Walnut Fudge Brownies

8 oz/ 227 g unsweetened chocolate
1 cup butter
5 eggs
3 cups sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted*

Preheat oven to 375F/190C. Grease a 9x13 pan.
Melt chocolate and butter in a saucepan over low heat. Set aside.
In a mixer, beat eggs, sugar and vanilla at high speed for 10 minutes.
Blend in chocolate mixture, flour and salt until just mixed. Stir in nuts. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the top of the brownies is firm but a skewer still comes out moist.
Enjoy!

*I tend not to bother toasting the nuts, but if you have the time they do add a fantastic depth of flavor to the brownies.
To the kitchen!