Quick and Easy Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I’m trying to get back into the swing of blogging. On Boxing Day, I got hit with the dreaded flu/cold and was pretty wiped out. Thankfully I managed to have one left over sandwich before all evidence of my appetite disappeared, so that is a silver lining I guess.

It was a brilliant sandwich too, btw. Is that a highlight of Christmas for anyone else?

I managed to squeeze out a post about the delicious Cranberry and Stuffing Sausage Rolls I experimented with before Christmas (which will now be repeated every year), but that was about it for me. Being ill meant no baking on my time off, because who else wants my germs? And then not really getting back into it until mid January.

I messed around with baking some healthy bars, jumping on that healthy bandwagon. I then promptly froze the healthy bars... alongside my not so healthy chocolate banana bars. All about give and take though right?

It wasn’t until the end of January when the icing sugar was flying around the kitchen again and the dishes started piling up like normal. First was a batch of vanilla dairy free cupcakes for my friend who just became a mum for the first time.

Then came test runs for a gluten free birthday cake for my sister. I have officially nailed the vanilla sponge and will definitely be making another and posting about it soon. That vanilla sponge became a caramel birthday cake, possibly my favourite cake flavour.

Then the next day, I made a dairy free chocolate cake for my friend's birthday (clearly I think cake is the best gift to give). For this, I turned to my trusty Ina Garten chocolate cake recipe, and turned it dairy free. It never fails. I’ve made it both dairy free and gluten free and both times the result is the same deliciously soft cake.

(I can’t bring myself to use the M word, sorry)

These cakes have definitely got me itching to bake more again and raid Asda for more icing sugar. But for now, I’ve turned to the humble chocolate chip cookie to kickstart the blog again in 2018.

(Albeit not my best photos, so can we please have light evenings back now?)

You can be sat eating these cookies with a cup of tea within an hour. No need to wait for butter to be room temperature and no overnight chilling needed for the dough. Just one simple mix, chill in the fridge quickly to firm up and then bake for 12 minutes.

It could not be simpler. 

The bonus with these cookies? They stay soft for daaays. Store in an airtight container and see how long you can make them last… my bet is, not that long.

I’m gonna push myself more this year, with cake decorating, with new recipes... and with more cookies.

Quick and Easy Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Makes: 12

Ingredients:

170g light brown sugar

100g caster sugar

125ml vegetable oil

60ml milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

180g plain flour

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

150g chocolate chunks

Directions:

1. Whisk together the sugars and oil in a large bowl, until combined. Then add in the milk and vanilla extract and whisk until smooth. 
2. Sift in the flour and bicarbonate of soda and then fold together. Just as it starts to come together, add the chocolate chunks and then mix until just combined. 
3. Cover the bowl in cling wrap and place in the fridge for around 30 minutes to chill. 
4. Preheat the oven to 180 C/350 F/gas mark 4 and line two trays with greaseproof paper. 
5. Remove the cookie dough from the fridge and scoop out 12 rounds of cookie dough and place evenly onto the cookie sheets (they will spread a bit). I find an ice cream scoop works best for scooping cookie dough as it keeps the rounds of cookie dough tall and even in size too.
6. Bake in the oven for around 12 minutes, or until golden brown. Do not remove from the sheet immediately, as they will still be very soft and you risk breaking them. Leave them to set on the sheet until cooled slightly, before moving them to a wire rack.

These cookies are best eaten warm (not hot) and will keep up to  days in an airtight container (and stay soft too!)