Basic American Style Cookie Dough

Cookies! I love cookies, they are one of my favourite things to bake, and eat. So many wonderful flavour combinations, it's easy to never bake the same cookie twice. The recipe I give here is for my basic cookie dough. What you put in them is up to you, whether it's classic chocolate chips, your favourite sweets or chocolate bar, nuts or dried fruit. I've even done this recipe before with Oreos! (Yep, a biscuit in a biscuit, and it was awesome!) I think by far my favourite combination was choped toasted hazelnuts, chocolate chips and a massive dollop (techincal measurement) of nutella swirled through. The cookies pictured had chocolate covered peanuts in them!  Some of the flour can be substitued for cocoa powder for a chocolate base.

Although incredibly easy, these cookies taste amazing. You can even keep the dough in the freezer, and bake cookies from frozen at a moments notice. Perfect for those times you remember that you were supposed to bake something for the school bake sale at the very last minute!

I like my cookies crisp around the outside, and chewy in the middle. I know many other people prefer a softer almost fudgy cookie. Both results are easily acheived by adjusting the cooking time.

I will admit I eat quite alot of this dough raw! I will share my recipe for home made cookie dough ice cream one day, and cookie dough brownies (they are so naughty; but so good!) Do bear in mind that this will contain raw egg though, I am not bothered in the slightest by eating raw eggs. I know some people are though.

American Style Cookies:

Makes 12-15 cookies

125g Salted Butter, softened but not melted

100g Soft Light Brown Sugar

125g Caster Sugar

1 Egg

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

225g Self Raising Flour (or 200g Self Raising Flour and 25g Cocoa powder for chocolate cookies)

200g Chocolate chips (or other sweets, nuts, fruit etc of choice, or a combination totalling 200g)

Preheat the oven to 190°c (fan 170°c)/ gas mark 4

Cream togther the butter and sugar. You want it to be well mixed, but not fluffy. Add in the egg and vanilla extract and mix thoroughly.

Mix in the flour. Once mixed add in your chocolate chips etc and fold through. 

Roll the mixture into walnut sized balls and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Be sure to leave a 2-3 inch gap, they will spread! I usually allow 6 to a tray to allow planty of room for expansion.

For a softer cookie bake for 7 minutes. The cookie will appear under baked, but it will firm up on cooling.

For a crunchier cookie bake for 9-10 minutes, until just golden around the edges.

Cool for 5 minutes on the baking tray, and then transer the cookies on the paper to a rack too cool and firm up. 

To Freeze the raw dough:

Complete all the above steps, up until the shaping. Instead roll the dough into a sausage shape with a diameter of roughly  inches. Tightly wrap in cling film, and then baking paper. To bake the cookies from frozen slice off rounds of about half an inch thick and place on a baking tray. Bake as above extending the cooking time by 1- 2 minutes. 

Note:

If using particularly soft sweets or chocolate bars, or those containing caramel, freeze them before adding to the cookie dough. This will stop them from melting too much.

Have fun! Hope you enjoy this recipe!