I got the GBBO monthly planner for 2017 and each month has a recipe. The cookies were the recipe from back in January, I actually made them in January but never got round to sharing. They are delicious, the type of cookie that one is never enough. I will definitely make them again (and again)
Ingredients:
- 200 g unsalted butter at room temp
- 125 g soft brown sugar
- 100 g caster sugar
- 2 medium eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 275 g plain flour
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 200 g chocolate drops (dark or milk or a combination of both)
- 100 g blanched hazelnuts (I didn’t bother with these)
Method:
- Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan). Line two baking sheets with baking paper. If using hazelnuts, roughly chop and set aside.
- Cream the butter with the soft light brown sugar and caster sugar until light and fluffy. I used my freestanding mixer but a hand-held mixer works too. Gradually add the beaten eggs, mixing well between each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl between each addition with a rubber spatula from time to time. Add the vanilla and mix again.
- Sift the plain flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt into the bowl and mix until almost combined. Add the chocolate drops (and chopped hazelnuts if using) and mix again until they are evenly distributed throughout the dough. If you like, you can now chill the dough for up to 24 hours until ready to bake.
- Portion the dough to create biscuits of even size – a good tip is to use an ice-cream scoop to drop even-sized mounds of dough onto the baking sheets.
- Leave plenty of space between each to allow the cookies to spread during cooking. Flatten the cookies slightly using your fingers and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 12 minutes, until the cookies are lightly browned but the middle is still slightly soft. They will crisp up as they cool.
- Leave to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then use a palette knife or fish slice to transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Some @thecakemum observations/tips:
- The full recipe makes a lot of cookies! You can easily halve the recipe if you want less cookies. Of course, you can actually never have too many cookies……
- The recipe doesn’t state that you can freeze the dough, but I did freeze some of the mixture and it was perfect.
- You can either freeze a big ball of the mixture or divide it into cookie size balls. The advantage of having them already in cookie size balls, is that you can just take a few out of the freezer at a time. They defrost quickly at room temp and you can have freshly made cookies in not time.
Happy Baking
De (aka thecakemum)
The Cake Mum 