MIKEY BELL

Adapted from my eBook Kitchen Instinct which you can download for free here. 

There’s something to be said about the fact that Monica Gellar from Friends so badly wanted to be known as ‘the mom who makes the best cookies’.

Cookies say I love you.

Cookies say I’m homemade.

Cookies say sure, you can have one more and you won’t be judged – I’m only small.

In short, cookies are the easiest and quickest way to put a homemade sweet treat on the table and give someone a hug at the same time.

That’s why they were my first choice to take as a little sweet snack for the hosts of daytime chat show, Prynhawn Da, when I stopped by the studio this week to talk about my book, How an Egg Changed My Life.

The method is lovingly borrowed and adapted from Alison Roman (from her 2017 book Dining In) where the body of the cookie takes on that of a shortbread biscuit, studded with hunks of smoky, sweet chocolate.

It is the perfect cooking recipe… full stop.

This is why I have no issues with borrowing (and of course crediting) Ms. Roman for her masterpiece here, because I don’t think there is a chocolate chip cookie that is better. Yes, it’s more shortbready in it’s snap and bite than the average tender-tummied cookie, but me, personally, will always want a crunchier texture in a cookie than something soft.

There are a thousand things I want to tell you about this recipe, but here’s the main things for me:

Swaps – go to town. You could absolutely make these cookies as you see fit once you have the method sorted. Swap out the chocolate for white chocolate, some sour, dried cranberries and some hazelnuts and BAM… you got yourself a Christmas cookie. Put in Smarties? Use all milk or all dark or all white chocolate? Use NO chocolate. The world is your cookie, babes.

Freeze – the dough can easily be frozen. When you need them in cookie emergencies (we’ve all been there) you can slice what you need and bake in the oven but add an extra 10 minutes on the cooking time.

I’ve made a change – a step I omitted from Roman’s original recipe was her addition of egg wash. I didn’t omit it because I felt it was unnecessary, I’m just lazy (I’m sure it has its benefits, sorry Alison) I will however note that once your dough is chilled, Roman recommends brushing the dough with some beaten egg and then rolling the dough cylinder in some crunchy brown sugar before slicing and baking. It is a very delicious step, but I didn’t feel it was essential.

That’s it.

Follow the recipe as is below and I promise you’ll struggle to make a cookie any other way.

I so wish Monica had this recipe, she would have been fine.

Makes 12 cookies

125g butter
55g caster sugar
30g soft brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
50g dark chocolate / 50g milk chocolate (or 100g of one)
170g plain flour
A generous pinch of sea salt flakes

1. In a big bowl, drop in the butter, sugars and vanilla extract and beat together until they’re fully mixed. Beat as long as you have energy for. The fluffier the better.
2. Using a knife, chop your chocolate into a mix of chunks and dusty chocolate rubble. Add this into the butter along with the flour and mix. You’re trying to create a firm dough, so it may seem slightly tough, but don’t worry, that’s what we want. Once the mix starts coming together, it’s much easier to get your hands in and form until all of the buttery and flour lumps are gone.
3. Snap the dough into two equal chunks and wrap them each in cling film. Roll these dough balls into long but thick cylinders and pop in the fridge to chill.
4. When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 180°C and line a baking tray with some parchment. Grab your dough and bang each end on the counter to flatten the ends. Unwrap and slice the dough into disks roughly the thickness of a finger.
5. Place each cookie on the sheet, sprinkle with some sea salt and bake for 15 minutes. You may need to do this in two batches depending on how big your roasting tray is.
6. Let them rest on the tray for 10 minutes if you can before devouring,