May 22, 2016 — American

Chocolate Chip Cookies

  • 40 minutes
  • 9 PEOPLE
  • easy

‘Here’s one to try with the kids or grandchildren! They take less than an hour an easy enough for the little ones to help out. Dad’s cookies from the past, inspired by his childhood in America. They’re soft, gooey, chocolatey and yummy!’

'Sometimes you just need a gooey biscuit to snack on... what better biscuit to have than an American inspired chocolate chip cookie!'

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Share this yummy recipe with a friend on WhatsApp

Follow us on Instagram — @WhatDadCooked

What you need

100g butter

80g demerara sugar

50g soft dark brown sugar

1 large egg

135g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

50g walnuts pieces

50g raisins

100g 70% chocolate – buy good quality chocolate in a bar and chop with a knife into pieces

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Dad's Recipe Tales

You can’t get a better cookie than an American chocolate chip cookie.

Okay, Britain also make chocolate chip cookies, but they are small, dry things that bear no resemblance to the large, chewy and moist American cookie. There’s something of a stereotypical character about the two: the British biscuit is restrained, unassuming, and rather plain and dry, whereas the American cookie is big, moist and lavishly loaded with nuts and chocolate. Clearly, it was only a matter of time before UK consumers would demand American style cookies – indeed, they’re already here and threatening to push the humble ginger snap and rich teas off our supermarket shelves.

Americans love their cookies

Cookies are taken to family picnics or Scouting Jamborees; they feature on Sunday School refreshment tables and appear in American lunch boxes everywhere. Cookies can be made with molasses, apple sauce, butterscotch and chocolate, they come in all shapes and sizes and can be decorated or frosted. Favourite cookies include ridged peanut butter cookies, cracked ‘sugar’ cookies and the ubiquitous refrigerator  cookies… There are cookies with funny names: the ‘sand tart’, ‘wasps’ nest’ and ‘snickerdoodle’. My copy of the classic American cookbook, Fannie Farmer lists over 60 different cookies – and that doesn’t include tray bakes, bars and brownies. It’s no wonder the Muppets’ ‘Cookie Monster’ was such a popular character. Most American kitchens have a large cookie jar (and their own in-house cookie monsters). The jar is usually full – hardly surprising considering that most home-cooked recipes for cookies will yield around four to five dozen cookies.

Cookie traditions

Americans also love to make cookies. It’s a quick way to bake something homemade to offer to family and friends. So when guests arrive, out will come the usual treats – coffee cake, cinnamon buns, angel food cake and of course chocolate chip cookies.

However, whatever the social occasion, the one thing you will never see an American do, is dunk a cookie into a cup of tea. Why would they? Cookies are already moist! Therefore, so long as the tradition of the great British tea break exists, the demure ginger snap and rich teas’ place on the supermarket shelf will be safe from any swaggering American interlopers.

How Dad Cooked It

‘Cookie’ – is from the Dutch koekje for ‘little cakes’ whereas biscuit comes from the French bis cuit or ‘twice cooked’. This may give some indication to cookie’s soft chewiness. Dough for cookies or biscuits can be based on cake-like doughs or pate sucree pastry-like doughs – so the choc chip, with its extra butter and eggs is definitely in the ‘little cake’ camp.

Here’s a great recipe. The yield is a very manageable dozen and a half large cookies.

  1. preheat the oven to 190C, Gas 5
  2. Measure the ingredients – set aside in bowls.
  3. Beat the sugar and butter – use an electric hand beater, beating until soft and fluffy.
  4. Add the egg and vanilla – beat until smooth
  5. Sieve the flour and baking soda add to the butter, egg and sugar mixture and mix in with a spatula.
  6. Add the chocolate, nuts and raisins – mix until incorporated.
  7. Bake – spoon the mixture onto  one or two cookie sheets. The mix should fit onto two – this makes baking much easier and quicker if you can do all the dough in one batch in the oven. Otherwise do one at a time. They need between 6 – 12 minutes or until they are golden brown (depending on oven and position of rack). I you use two cookie sheets swap the position on racks after 6 minutes or so. It’s best to watch the oven until they are done as they can easily burn or overcook.
  8. Cool – let them cool on the cookie sheet for two minutes, then using a thin metal spatula lift them from the sheet and place on a cooling rack.
  9. Store – in a cookie jar of course.
  10. Serve – Cookies are for young and old and go perfectly with a cold glass of milk – or a cup of coffee.
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