Baking With Becky | Braybrook's Favourite Cookies

I thought I would try something new on this blog and begin to show you some recipes. I can't say that this will be regular but I want to show you some things that I enjoy cooking. So where better to start than the family favourite cookie recipe. These produce more sponge-y cookies rather than chewy. My mum doesn't like cookies but these she loves, along with the rest of the household.

Starting with the butter I choose to use unsalted butter as the recipe calls for salt later on and I don't want the cookies to be too salty. Everyone says differently about the butter in cookies as it affects the end result but I prefer to use soft/runny butter so I stick it in a bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds to 1 minute, stopping and taking it out to check that it hasn't turned to liquid completely. This can then be added to your large mixing bowl ready to be mixed with the sugar.

This recipe calls for two different types of sugar, on the recipe it says soft dark brown sugar but I use soft light brown sugar as the cookies don't come out as dark and can look a bit burnt with the dark brown sugar. So the recipe asks for brown sugar and caster sugar for these cookies. You can then add this too the bowl with the butter and begin to mix until they are creamed together and the mixture has become light and fluffy. Although this is easy with soft butter, it's a lot faster and nicer to your arms to use and electric mixer if you have one!

In another bowl crack one egg and add your vanilla extract and beat until the egg mixture becomes a little lighter and has a couple of bubbles appearing. You don't want to over mix your egg (you will know if the mixture becomes too bubbly) as this will change the overall cookie at the end. I tend to get lazy at this part and although you are supposed to add the egg gradually and beat it in, I get too afraid that I will curdle the mixture so I choose to add the egg mixture and the flour at the same time to stop the butter and egg curdling together.

Your drys are as follows: Flour (plain, all purpose flour is good enough for the job), Bicarbonate of Soda and Salt. I tend to sift all this ingredients together as I can be sure that there are no lumps in it and also it's easier to just bung the sieve on the bowl and chuck all the drys in (I'm such a star baker if you can tell). I then add this to the cookie mixture at the same time as the egg and vanilla goo and mix as this saves the cookie mixture from curdling and makes the process a little faster (I can make these in about 10 minutes if I don't stick it in the fridge!).

FINALLY THE BEST INGREDIENT! Yet another recipe change for you with this. The recipe I use calls for 175g of chocolate chips but they come in bags of 100g's so I just end up shoving 200g's of chocolate chips in my dough! I have also tried cooking chocolate and chopping up 175g's, it works just as good as chocolate chips but the finer it is chopped the more spread out in the dough you can find the pieces of chocolate. But if you're going to stick to the traditional chocolate chips then you can shove two bags in there and it's fine!

Once the mixture is fully mixed and ready I choose to stick it in the fridge for a while, this just stops the mixture from being too runny. Resulting in flat, rather thin cookies, which of course nobody wants really! I leave them in there for as long as I can but 30 minutes can be enough if you have the time to stick them in the fridge. I then use a cookie scoop thing (we're fancy in our house) but scooping them with spoons will work just as well. I then stick them in a pre-heated oven (should have probably mentioned this sooner!) at 160-180 degrees for about 10-15 minutes. I find that mine take about 10 minutes before they look ready to come out. Once taken out of the oven leave the cookies to cool on the tray for a couple of minutes (until you cave in and need one) and scoop them off the tray with a spatula. Then you can enjoy your cookies, which are quite splendid warm but also are not that bad the day after. If you make more than you want to cook, you can actually freeze the balls of dough and cook them at a later date. They last about 3 months in the freezer and will need to have about an hour on a tray in the freezer and then they can go in a freezer bag, ready to be used when you are craving them!

 Voila there you have the Braybrook Family's Favourite Cookies!

Ingredients

• 115g - of Butter. Room temperature or however you like the butter in your cookies!
• 45g - Caster Sugar
• 100g - Soft Light Brown Sugar
• 1 Egg
• 1/2 teaspoon - Vanilla Extract
• 175g - Plain Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon - Bicarbonate of Soda (or Baking Soda)
• 1/4 teaspoon - Salt
• 175g (or 200g) - Chocolate Chips

Of course you can customise the cookies as you please, the recipe suggests walnuts so you can really mix it up. I hope you enjoy the recipe and the cookies if you have a go at baking them!