Nothing spells holiday cheer like home cooked meals!
Doesn't matter whether it is sweet or savoury, the aroma of food wafting through the air and just the excitement of getting to stuff your face added with how amazing everything looks just spells jolly.
Baked goods are a Christmas favourite especially chocolate chip cookies.
And in the spirit of sharing, I'll be sharing with you guys how to attain the perfect chocolate chip cookies.
I know trying to get those crispy edges and a fudgy centre, with beautiful chunks of chocolate and a deep caramel flavour, seems almost too good to be possible but fear not I've got you.
PS: this isn't a recipe how to but more of a what to do guideline. So let us get into it.
1) Butter
Butter is a big contributor to the flavour of a classic chocolate chip cookie. Other fats like coconut oil or vegan butters may be used but the flavour will be noticeably different.
Butter is the way to go.
Melting it then creaming the butter together with sugar will create lots of tiny air pockets which contributes to the depth of the cookie.
2) Be gentle
Over-mixing your dough will strengthen gluten networks, potentially tipping it over into tough territory.
When making cookies we want a little chew but we don’t really want to make something overly chewy. We are looking for that perfect balance between crisp, tender and chewy.
Because the cookie is made with a high proportion of butter we don’t need to worry too much about developing gluten but it is still good practice to mix in the flour just enough until a dough is formed. If you’re using an electric mixer, go easy.
3) Eggs
Eggs are critical for that fudginess we’re aiming for. Without eggs, the cookie will be more like a shortbread.
The eggs are binding the dough together – providing fat from the yolks that keep the cookie tender and they also give moisture which activates the baking powder helping them to rise.
4) Rest the dough overnight
Rest your dough for 24 hours if you can.
I can’t stress enough what a huge difference this will make to the consistency and flavour of your cookie.
It will allow the flour to hydrate and soak up the liquid from the eggs, creating a dough that will caramelise more as it bakes, giving you a beautiful depth of caramel-y flavour. As the flour in the dough hydrates you’ll also find the cookies spread less.
5) Choose chocolate that you love
This may sound obvious, but choose a chocolate that you love, if you don’t love the chocolate before it goes into the cookie it’s not going to magically transform into something else in the oven!
Or you could go old school and use a bag of chocolate chips.
Hope this tips do help you out and this is the year you finally get those perfect cookies that will have everyone singing your name.
Happy holidays!
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