Grandma’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies have been one of my most popular recipes because it is one of the first cookies I ever baked as a teenager and this has been a hit ever since…

Found it while scrolling through one of my sister’s recipe books and after many trials and errors I managed to get the ideal recipe.So this one’s a keeper I promise…

This cookie recipe means a lot to me because I have baked this for most of my loved ones from a very young age and has never failed to make them happy.It is so fulfilling to pass on this precious recipe to those who will keep spreading this happiness while knowing that I’m a part of it too.

Before I start on the recipe let me enlighten you on few things I have learnt about perfecting your cookie….Hope these tips and tricks will help you like it did for me.

There are few tips and tricks to getting best results when baking a cookie

• Each note depends on what kind of cookie texture you prefer so what works for me may not exactly work for you.I love chewy cookies, not the hard kind

• I’m only sharing my personal experience with you to make things a little less complicated before you actually start baking a basic cookie specially if you’re a beginner

• Use good quality ingredients : When I mean good quality doesn’t mean you buy an expensive imported brand, for example you can still buy local butter but don’t use margarine and expect a rich and tasty cookie

• Use room temperature ingredients specially when it comes to butter and eggs for best results when making the cookies dough but chilled cookie dough works best when having to actually bake the cookies.
• If you want to bring the frozen butter to room temperature,cut them into small squares and leave on a plate for about 20 minutes.
• Place cold eggs in a bowl of regular water to bring it to room temperature faster.

• Check expiry dates on your baking soda and baking powder before using because the longer it lasts on your shelf,it loses its properties.

• Do not over beat the butter with sugar.Just make sure the ingredients have incorporated well enough to create the perfect base for your cookie dough.Over beating will cause your cookie to texture to become cakey.As you can see Melted butter works really well for me in this recipe.

• Adding eggs in one at a time helps create more volume to your cookie dough.

• Use a mix of dark and light brown sugar if you like a chewiness in your cookie.

• I love using a mix of dark muscavado sugar in my cookies but using these darker sugars can surely change the colour of your cookie dough.However, this gives a rich caramel flavour…Baking times vary when using darker sugars too.
• Not available in regular stores in Srilanka but surely can be pre ordered from many online stores that have speciality products.I would usually stock up whenever I have someone travelling because this particular addition definitely produced the best cookies that I have ever made till date.

• If you like your cookies firm then use plain white sugar.This cookie remains lighter on the appearance as well.As you can see in the first image the difference between the two cookie doughs.Scroll Up to see

• You can make your own self raising flour by adding 1 tsp of baking powder to every 100g. I prefer doing this than buying the self raising flour because I don’t have to worry about whether the raising agent has expired in the flour
• LESS IS MORE.Do not add more baking soda : make sure you add level tsp

• Chop your chocolate off the chunk of a dark chocolate bar along with chocolate chips for better texture.I mean who doesn’t love biting into chunks of chocolate in every bite!!!! Be generous with the chocolate going in….Commercial Chocolate chips don’t really melt when cooked inside cakes or bakes because they are made that way for a reason, but hand chopped chocolate chunks are such a sweet surprise when biting into these discs of happiness.

• Don’t feel shy to use your hands to mix in the flour at the end.This really helps to mix everything evenly.

• Chilling the cookie dough is one of the most important things for best results.This helps develop more flavour and stops the cookie dough from spreading all over the place while baking…Now we all want nice round cookies yeah?? NO FLAT COOKIES PLEASE..
• But if your cookie dough is not too sticky you could roll them into even sized balls and freeze them in ziplock bags.
• There’s no need to thaw the cookie dough balls before baking, just pop them frozen spacing out, over a lined baking tray and bake in a pre heated oven when you want freshly baked cookies.How convenient is that??
• In fact the more it is refrigerated the better the quality of your baked cookie will be

• Cookie dough can be frozen for months in batches and used for many desserts as well.I used them a lot for the base of my regular brownies

Refer to my post on the Chocolate Biscoff Cookie Brownie

https://www.instagram.com/p/CL097jyhUUw/?igshid=11z5k15t477nr

The Link to see how I made them is at the end (scroll down)

• Weighing each cookie dough ball is another important tip to ensure all cookies on the sheet bake evenly
• You could measure them in a small digital scale if you want to be precise.I would use 45-50g of dough per cookie

• If you don’t own a digital scale you could use a measuring spoon or ice cream scoop to spoon out your cookie dough before baking.

• Study what kind of oven you have because my timings may slightly vary with each type or brand (I own an ELBA fan oven)

• Always line your baking tray with parchment paper or use a reusable silicon mat for baking cookies to avoid sticking to your baking pan.

• Preheat your oven for maximum 20 minutes before baking your first batch.The oven might be overheated if you leave it on for too long before baking.Just keep monitoring the temperature to avoid over baking the first batch.Over baked cookies can create brittleness, not nice…
• I would usually preheat the oven at 200’ for 15 minutes, then reduce to 180’ after placing the cookie tray in…

• I would usually bake batch by batch because cookies need to be baked in the centre rack, that way the concentration is only on this particular batch.
• Some ovens have hot spots,if you have that kind of an oven then rotate the tray around every 10 minutes of baking

• Baking Time is crucial for Cookies
• If you use brown sugar you might need to take them off a bit earlier than the regular sugar ones because the brown sugars start to caramelise and create crispy edges.Not everyone likes crispy edges though…We personally love it !!

• My baking time : 12-15 minutes at 180’
• Nothing more than that because I prefer my cookies this way, you do you babe!!
• They’re still soft and appear undone when removing from the oven but they will harden after a few minutes as they will still continue to bake on the sheet and that’s when you will see the the perfect cookie I promise.
• Do not attempt to remove them immediately, they will break and crumble because they are still too soft.
• Let them sit for about 10 minutes before placing on a cooling rack
• Another clever trick to maintain the shape of the cookies : As soon as its out of the oven, place a rounded water glass or even a round mini pizza cutter over the hot and soft cookie, then move it around carefully and gently to gather all that unevenness before the cookie hardens and holds that off shape.This one’s a GAME CHANGER!!

Let’s Start Making Some Cookies

You Will Need

• 200g Butter
• 1/2 Cup Dark Brown Sugar
• 1 Cup Light Brown Sugar
• Two Eggs
• Two Cups Plain Flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Two Cups Dark Chocolate Chunks
• One Cup Chopped Walnuts
• Vanilla

Step One : Sift Dry ingredients together and set aside

Step Two : So there are two ways you can use butter in a cookie.You could either melt the butter or not.Today I decided to melt the butter for this version.

Step Three : Add Sugars in…Beat till everything is well combined and light but not too much, this is not cake to beat till light and fluffy.

Step Five : Time to add eggs in one by one (made a larger batch, hence more eggs in the bowl)

Step Six : Time to add the dry ingredients gradually…

Lighty fold in the flour using a spoon and then use your fingers bring everything together.

Do not over beat the flour.Go easy while using your fingers…

Step Seven : Add Vanilla.

This dough is rather sticky because of the melted butter but don’t worry it will settle when chilled.

Step Eight : Add in Chocolate chips.

Step Nine : Don’t miss out on the nuts.I used walnuts but you can decide based on your preference or availability.

Mix Mix Mix

Step Ten : The dough is ready to be chilled.

I also made a variation using only white sugar as I mentioned earlier so I can show you’ll the difference.

For this version I didn’t melt the butter, creamed it with the white sugar to create a light mixture [Remember not to over beat though]Then followed the rest of the steps to make another delicious cookie dough.

The only difference here is the kind of sugar and the texture of the butter.

This dough has dark and white chocolate chips and lots of almond flakes.

MIX MIX MIX

This dough goes to the chiller as well.

Best if it can be chilled overnight or at least few hours before baking.

TIME TO BAKE THESE BABIES

I used an ice cream scoop to spoon out the dough.This helps all cookie dough balls to be of same weight which is very important for even baking

Oil the scoop if necessary to avoid stickiness

Space them out evenly on a lined baking sheet

I used parchment paper but you could use a silicon mat if that’s what you have

Bake in a pre heated oven at 180 for 12-15 minutes and nothing more..

Like I mentioned earlier baking time is crucial for the best results in cookies.

Scroll up and read through my tips and tricks for baking the right cookie.

Time to enjoy a warm cookie with some cold milk or if you are a coffee person just like me, then coffee it is…

I couldn’t grab a proper image of the cookies because the kids couldn’t stop eating them as soon as they came out of the oven….So addictive

But here’s an image of the Biscoff Stuffed Cookies I made using the same cookie dough : Refer to link attached below to see how I made them

Would love to see your remakes on this deliciousness.Be sure to tag me on social media or send me a screenshot if your account is private so I can re share them on my stories

Hope this cookie makes you happy !!! It certainly lifts our mood and such a life saver to have some stash in the freezer to be used when needed.I made a Chocolate Biscoff Brownie recently and that has been one of the most wanted things these days

Refer to link below to see how I made these bad boys

MORE COOKIE RECIPES TO TRY OUT THIS SEASON !!!

Double Chocolate Cookies

Classic Short Bread Cookies

Flap Jack Cookies

Peanut Butter Cookie Bars

Monster Cookies

Pistachio Cookies

Have a great day everyone !!! Keep smiling and Spread Love not Hate !!

Much Love : Nuzrath