Totally Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sometimes we all need a pick-me-up. For some it's a massage or a new pair of shoes or maybe even a long phone call with a friend - don't you just love those? However for me, it's food and it's usually the sweet kind. This time it comes in the form of a chocolate chocolate chip cookie (that's quite a mouthful!)

It's been a rough summer to say the least. Not a lot has gone according to plan and there's been quite a few bumps along the way that my family and I are still dealing with. And there's also the difficulty of being a fresh graduate and looking for my first official job; the job hunt is a lot harder than I anticipated. But I am hopeful and patient, I believe something good will be coming our way very soon.

In the meantime, I try to cook and bake for everyone at home to keep spirits as high as they can possibly be. I always believed that good food was not just fuel for the body but also for the soul. And if you can bring a smile to someone's face by just putting together a few ingredients as well as your love then, why the heck not?

The name of these cookies is what first attracted me; the way Nigella Lawson described them as, "Being chocolatey to the point of madness" just meant I had to try making them myself. While you make the mix for the cookies, you know that it's going to be a chocolate explosion because the batter leaves glorious marks of chocolate on your fingers that you, of course, lick off. I'm quite shameless about that, might I add. Once these chocolate monsters are baked and cooled, you get a nice crunchy shell (if I may call it that) that you bite into to reach a lovely soft center with pops of more chocolate from the chocolate chips. This cookie's fit for any chocolate fiend lover.

Behold, the ice cream sandwich from Heaven

And if you wanna have a bit more fun with these cookies, why not make an ice cream sandwich? It'll melt as fast as you do in this heat though, so gobble up!

Totally Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies from Nigella Lawson's Nigella Express
makes 12-16 depending on size

125g dark chocolate
150g flour
30g cocoa, sieved
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
½ teaspoon salt
125g butter, softened
75g light brown sugar
50g white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg, cold from the fridge
350g semi-sweet chocolate morsels or dark chocolate chips

• Preheat oven to 170°C. Melt the 125g of dark chocolate either in the microwave or in a heatproof dish over a pan of simmering water.
• Sift the flour, cocoa, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a bowl.
• Cream the butter and sugars in another bowl. (You can do this with a freestanding mixer or a hand-held mixer). Add the melted chocolate and mix together.
• Beat in the vanilla extract and cold egg, and then mix in the dry ingredients. Finally stir in the chocolate morsels or chips.
• Scoop out equal-sized mounds - an ice cream scoop and a palette knife are the best tools for the job - and place on a lined baking sheet about 6cm apart. Do not flatten them.
• Bake for 18 minutes, testing with a cake tester to make sure it comes out semi-clean and not wet with cookie batter. If you pierce a chocolate chip, try again.
• Leave to cool slightly on the baking sheet for 4-5 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack to harden as they cool.
• Enjoy!

To make the ice cream sandwich:

• Thaw out your favorite ice cream. I like plain, gorgeous vanilla with these cookies.
• Scoop out a generous amount of thawed out ice cream onto your first cookie.
• Place your other cookie on top of the ice cream and gently squeeze both cookies together.
• Prepare yourself for a delicious mess!

Happy Baking!

Alfajores - The South American Cookie

Alfajores [Al•fa•kho•res] is a South American sandwich cookie with a dulce de leche filling. My half Argentine mother would make these crumbly cookies on big occasions like New Years Eve and family birthday parties and needless to say, they were always a hit. Something about the sugarless cookie combined with the smooth, extra sweet dulce de leche filling partnered with a crunch of coconut shredding always got the crowd asking for more. And of course, get the kids (my elder brother and I) nagging for her to hide the rest of the cookies to have all to ourselves *cue evil laughter*

Many would ask for the recipe but it's my mother's well-kept secret which was passed on from my pure Argentine great grandmother. She would have my head if I shared it myself so, I'm sorry that I can't reveal this one!

The cookies don't spread at all while they bake, they just rise ever-so-slightly and look a little more golden

I've always watched mom bake Alfajores but only dared to help her out when it came to spreading the dulce de leche and sandwiching the cookies together. This time, the tables have turned. I'm becoming a lot more comfortable in the kitchen so I decided to try it out myself while mom kept a non-judgmental eye on me.

I can never get enough of Dulce De Leche

This time, mom did the helping out and the hand modeling :)

Victory is when I'm told that my Alfajores reminded my mom of her grandmother's who was very dear to my mother's heart. That, by far, is one of the kindest compliments I've ever gotten regarding anything I baked. Thank you mom, I love you.

Chunky Chocolate Chip Cookies

I've been baking a lot of classics lately, mainly because I get a lot of special requests from my family and friends. I must point out that nothing brings me more joy than to bake for others and to see the smiles that light up on their faces once they take the first bite. It makes all the hours in the kitchen SO worth it!

Back to main topic.. I like to play around a lot with cookie recipes. I never actually stick to one because it just never seems.. Good enough? Yeah, that's probably it.

To my delight, Nigella Lawson (yes, she is one of my all-time favorite chefs) has been on the hunt for the best chocolate chip cookie recipe, too. It seems like we both share the same agony of not being able to find the right chocolate chip cookie. Here's a quote from her cookbook Kitchen:

"..you'd think a plain cookie with a few chocolate chips folded into the mixture would be a simple matter. It's not. It's never difficult to make, just difficult to get right. I may be picky, but to my mind, or my mouth, a cookie that's too crisp feels dry and disappointing and a cookie that's too chewy tastes like dough. I want a bit of tender, fudgy chewiness but an edge of crisp bite, too."

I definitely couldn't have said it better myself. This woman is a genius. Pure genius.

I simply ADORE cookie dough. I can eat this entire thing raw. It's worth the tummy ache.

Milk and cookies, anyone? :)

 

 http://blog.maisoncupcake.com/forever-nigella/