Gin & Yang

I don’t really do much baking… I’m a terrible baker but cookies are so easy even I can’t make a mess of them.  My baking skills are legendary, the “easy” victoria sponge that failed to rise, my brownies that ended up more blackies than brownies (I blame my inconsistent oven) and other baking misadventures.

Now that I have a thermomix I’ve started experimenting more and trying to do a little more baking.  White loaves have turned out quite well and some of the ingredients I use to make weird and wonderful recipes, are everyday ingredients in bread – soy lecithin makes culinary airs out of pretty much anything but it is also used to enhance gluten and give bread a more fluffy texture (it also helps your homemade bread last a little longer).  But here, it is just plain old cookies… well, as plain as it gets with me.  Chocolate chip cookie recipes are all over the internet so sticking up another here wouldn’t really be worth it.  So I added some peanut butter, because for some strange reason hardly anyone makes them and they are awesome.  I don’t even like peanut butter but I love peanut butter cookies.  It’s not exactly an earth shattering change to a typical cookie recipe but if it gets one more person out there to make a batch then I’m happy because I know of only one other person who makes these (they are American, so peanut butter is pretty much a food staple).

The key thing for this recipe is to leave the prepared cookie dough in the fridge for 36-72hrs.  Yes it is a nightmare to resist, the cookie dough itself tastes wonderful and sometimes you just want to make the dough and bake it there and then, but really, leave the dough alone!  Most recipes just say to leave the cookie dough to rest for an hour before baking and that’s fine, any sooner and your cookie won’t rise, it will become a flat and slightly soggy mess. But if you leave the cookie dough in the fridge for a couple of days it gives the flour and other dry ingredients time to absorb the liquids, enhance the gluten and produces a deeper flavour in much the same way you might do a delayed-frement of a bread dough.

EDIT: I realised I could easily produce these as egg-free cookies.  Just use soy lecithin (as lecithin in egg yolks have the same emulsifying properties), a tiny pinch of citric acid and some milk.  The citric acid and milk are required to activate the bicarb, alternatively you could just use baking powder but the citric acid and milk combo will actually help better preserve the cookie as well as cause it to rise.  Don’t over do it with the citric acid, unless you want your cookies to taste of lemons!

Ingredients:

350g Plain White Flour

250g Unsalted Butter

200g Caster Sugar

150g Brown Sugar

2 Medium Eggs (or 1 tsp Soy Lecithin, 1/4 tsp Citric Acid + 2 Tbsp Milk)

1-2 Tbsp 100% Crunchy Peanut Butter

1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

350g Dark Chocolate Chips

Salt

Method:

1.  Weigh out all your ingredients, Combine the flour and bicarb together

2.  Combine the butter, sugar and peanut butter in a stand mixer (or large bowl if using your hands) and mix until well combined and creamy.

3.  Add the eggs and continue to mix.

4.  Slowly add the bicarb-flour to the main mix.

5.  Finally add the chocolate chips.

6.  Once completely combined, pour out the mix on to some cling film and wrap into a log shape.  Chill in the fridge for 36-72hrs.

7.  When ready preheat your oven to 180C and slice up the log into small sized cookies (about teaspoon size is right).

8.  Place each slice on to a baking sheet (about 6 to a sheet) and baked for about 10mins.  They should be soft in the middle but firm on the edge and golden throughout.

9.  Leave the cookies to cool on a wire rack, they will harden up so don’t worry if they look too soft.  Bake the next batch you should get 36 cookies – depending on the size!

 Tips:

– If you prefer a harder cookie, then bake for 12-15mins to get the full crunch.

– The cookies expand massively in the oven, so leave plenty of space between each one, otherwise they end up stuck together.

– You can divide the dough into two halves and roll them out into logs if you prefer, it keeps the size more manageable and allows you to bake half while leaving the other half for another day.

– After 72 hours in the fridge the dough will seem a bit hard.  Leave it out on the counter top to reach room temp and it will soon soften.

– The darker the chocolate, the better the taste.  It gives a richer chocolate taste which works better with an aged cookie dough.  Save the milk chocolate for the quick and easy cookies!

– For the salt you can either sprinkle a little on to each cookie just you bake it or just add 1 tsp to the flour mix.