Recipe: american style chewy chocolate chip cookies

Baking is a bit of a hobby of mine - there's nothing quite like a home made cake fresh out of the oven! These cookies are American style - slightly crispy on the outside and super chewy on the inside and trust me when I say that one won't be enough. 

You can use pretty much any chocolate you like for these - I went for Lindt's new Raspberry Dream dark chocolate which isn't too sweet, but has a lovely raspberry flavour to it. I find dark chocolate works best against the sweet cookie, but if you prefer milk or white (or any of your favourite chocolate bars chopped up) then go for it. The key is not to over bake them - when they come out of the oven they need to be slightly golden but still really soft. They have to cool down properly before they harden up. 

To make around 24 cookies you'll need:

225g room temperature butter (salted works best and make it real butter, no margarine here!)

325g granulated sugar

100g soft dark brown sugar

1tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg and 1 extra egg yolk

425g self-raising flour

200g chocolate of your choice, chopped into small pieces

water (as required) 

a couple of large baking sheets

1. Pre-heat the oven to 190C/375F

2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together your butter and two types of sugar. If the butter is soft, this will make your life a LOT easier. 

3. Mix in the vanilla and egg/egg yolk. 

4. Add the flour a couple of spoons at a time, mixing well as you go. Repeat until all of the flour is gone. You'll end up with quite a stiff dough and may need to add a little water (1-2 tablespoons at a time) to help bind all the ingredients together nearer the end. 

4. Mix in your chosen chopped up chocolate and stir into the dough so it's evenly distributed. 

5. Get your baking sheets and place balls of dough about the size of a tablespoon a couple of inches apart - try to make sure the chocolate is covered slightly by the dough to stop it burning. Don't underestimate the size of the gaps you need, they really spread out! I usually get 6-8 per sheet. 

6. Bake for around 10-12 minutes, keeping an eye on them after about 8 minutes. You want to take them out when they're slightly golden but not brown - they'll carry on cooking for a few minutes outside of the oven.

7. Allow to cool down until they firm up and then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool down fully (or just eat one hot, they're amazing). 

8. Repeat the baking process until all of your dough is used up. 

9. Enjoy your cookies. Yum. 

I hope you enjoy this recipe. I adapted it slightly from the 'Eat Me' baking book, which is a definite must have if you're a bit of a cake fan like me!