Easy chocolate chip cookies
- Prepare
- 30 mins to 1 hour
- Cook
- 10 to 30 mins
- Serve
- Makes 24 large cookies
Have freshly made chocolate chip cookies any time you fancy them with this clever hack. Freeze the cookie dough then simply slice and bake as and when you get the urge for cookies.
By Donal Skehan
Ingredients
- 275g/9¾oz unsalted butter, softened
- 275g/9¾oz soft light brown sugar
- 225g/8oz granulated sugar
- 2 large free-range eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 475g/1lb 1oz plain flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 300g/10½oz good-quality milk chocolate, chopped roughly into chunks
- sea salt
Method
Put the butter and sugars in a large mixing bowl. Beat together with an electric hand whisk until smooth and light in colour.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing as you break in each egg. Once the eggs are combined, add the vanilla extract.
Sift in the flour and baking powder. Mix in using a wooden spoon until completely incorporated. Add the chocolate chunks and mix again until thoroughly combined. Divide the dough in half.
Place each half onto a large piece of cling film. Roll the dough into a wide sausage shape and wrap in the cling film, twisting the ends to seal. Each sausage will make 12 cookies (but you can roll them smaller and make more). The dough can be frozen at this point. However if you wish to bake them straightaway, chill the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes before use.
Once ready to use the cookie dough, remove from the freezer and allow to thaw enough to slice.
Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4.
Slice each batch of the dough into 12 discs and place on non-stick baking trays or a trays lined with baking paper. (Alternatively, to bake the cookies in smaller batches, cut off as many discs as you need, rewrap any remaining dough and return to the freezer.) Leave plenty of room between the cookies as they will spread as they cook.
Sprinkle each cookie with a tiny pinch of salt and bake for 12–15 minutes, or until they are golden-brown on the edge and slightly paler in the centre.
Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool before serving.
Recipe tips
The chocolate chip cookies will spread quite a bit during baking, so keep your cookie dough log fairly small and cut thick slices. Make sure you leave plenty of room between the cookies as they will spread out as they cook. Cool the cookies on the baking tray for a few moments and they will be easier to transfer to the cooling rack.
The recipe makes a big batch of cookie dough, so feel free to half it to make 12 large or 16 smaller cookies.
Once frozen, the dough will take around 30 minutes at room temperature to soften enough to slice. Make sure your chocolate pieces aren’t too big or they will be tricky to cut through.
Rather than making the cookie dough into sausages for slicing, you can divide into 24 even portions and roll into balls. Place on a couple of baking trays lined with baking paper, leaving plenty of room for them to spread. Flatten lightly with a fork and bake as above. You can freeze the uncooked balls in a lidded container, with the layers separated with baking paper. Take as many as you need from the freezer, put on baking tray lined with baking paper and stand for 30 minutes before flattening slightly with a fork and baking as above.
Instead of using milk chocolate, try dark or white chocolate instead. Buy chocolate chips if you like, but it's nice to have bit bits of chocolate in the finished cookies. You can store any leftover chocolate in an airtight container – a clean jam jar works well – for a few weeks. Roughly chopped nuts or raisins also make a good alternative if chocolate isn’t your thing.
Elevate your cookies by adding 1 tsp almond extract instead of the vanilla and roughly chopped glace cherries in place of half the chocolate pieces. Drizzle with melted white chocolate once they have cooled, then sprinkle with a few toasted flaked almonds if you like. For an orange cookie, add the finely grated zest of an orange to the cookie dough and use roughly chopped orange flavoured chocolate instead of the milk chocolate.
If you don’t have unsalted butter handy, use the salted kind and omit the sprinkling of salt before baking.
For a quick and easy dessert, spoon ice cream into small dishes, break freshly baked cookies into chunky pieces and sprinkle on top. Finish with a drizzle of chocolate or caramel sauce.
How to store
The cookies will last up to a week if you store them in an airtight container. If you like a soft, chewy cookie, place on a baking paper lined baking tray and warm up gently in a low oven (around 150C/130C Fan/Gas 2) for a few minutes before serving.
