Melt-in-the-mouth choc-chip cookies (Baking)

Member Name: lenstar

Product:	Baking
Date:	05/12/05 (28001 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Absolutely delicious

Disadvantages: No good if you're on a diet

My husband absolutely loves cookies, more to the point he loves his mum’s cookies. Now, not that it’s a contest or anything but for the past year I have tried out numerous different cookie recipes to prove that I too am just as good at baking cookies, but sadly his verdict was that none were as good as his mama makes. So finally, I relented, swallowed my pride, and asked my mother-in-law for her recipe. I concede this truly is the best cookie recipe I’ve ever tried, so this one is with thanks to her…

***Ingredients***

Makes about 40 cookies.

9 oz brown sugar
9 oz white sugar
10 oz margarine or butter
2 eggs
12 oz chocolate chips, or chocolate cut into chunks
1 tsp vanilla essence
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp salt
18 oz plain flour


***Method***

Mix butter/margarine with sugar until creamy and fluffy.
Add the eggs, chocolate chips and vanilla essence and mix well.
Mix the bicarbonate of soda and salt with the flour and add to the other ingredients. Stir to form a thick cookie dough.
Take golf-ball size amounts of the mixture and place spaced apart on a greased baking tray. Flatten slightly.
Bake for 12 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees C. The cookies should be slightly golden brown (for a crispier cookie, bake for longer).
Place on a cooling rack.
Store in an airtight tin, they keep well for at least a week.

***Health warning***

Before you bake them, the cookie dough mixture looks delicious, just like the chunks you get in Haagen-Dazs Cookie Dough or Ben & Jerry’s Half-Baked ice-cream. I am always very tempted to eat it then and there and skip the cooking process, but I cannot forget Edwina Currie’s warnings about raw eggs and salmonella. So, you have been warned, eat the raw cookie dough at your own peril.

***Verdict***

Think Millie’s cookies, think Otis Spunkmeyer. Slightly crisp on the outside with a soft gooey centre, and rich chocolatey chunks that will send your taste buds to heaven! These are really addictive, very easy to make, and with 40 they stand a chance of lasting longer than a day or two. They are absolutely delicious fresh from the oven when they are still warm and the chocolate melts in your mouth. Be careful though, I usually fall victim to the trap of tasting one to check they’re OK, then I really want another one so I justify it by eating another one because it’s come out a funny shape so doesn’t look perfect, then one ‘accidentally’ breaks in half so I’ve got to eat that one, and then some crumbs are on the baking tray, so it would be a shame to waste them….by which time I’m not feeling quite so good! They are great served with ice-cream or just eaten on their own. You can use plain, milk or white chocolate, or substitute for nuts or raisins if you prefer.

A quick glance at the ingredients will tell you that these are not a particularly healthy item. However, your taste-buds will confirm that these are exceptionally good for you and it’s an instant way of creating happy people around you. Hope you enjoy them too!

Summary: Sometimes it's worth listening to your mother-in-law after all!