Michelle Darmody: How to bake chewy chocolate-chip cookies — and mistakes to avoid

"There is an enduring love for a chocolate chip cookie; their popularity never seems to wane, not since their invention in 1930’s America."

Cookies come in many different forms, crisp with a sharp snap, dense and crumbly, or like the ones included here, soft and chewy. 

The addition of vinegar to this recipe allows for a lightness as it reacts with the bread soda to create tiny little bubbles of carbon dioxide, which help the cookies to rise giving a soft feeling after they are baked.

The vinegar also helps to cut through the sweet taste of the sugar and chocolate.

There is an enduring love for a chocolate chip cookie; their popularity never seems to wane, not since their invention in 1930’s America.

Originally intended to accompany ice cream, that is still a great use for them today. These cookies make two wonderful sides of an ice cream sandwich as the chewiness allows you to bite into the sandwich without squishing the ice cream.

I tend to use a fairly dark chocolate, one that is at least 70% as the cookies can be a little sweet with a lighter chocolate. 

Certainly, if it is your preference, you can substitute this with milk chocolate.

You can also make an even chocolatier version by adding cocoa powder to the dough. There are instructions for this in the panel below!

Chocolate-Chip Cookies

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

There is an enduring love for a chocolate chip cookie; their popularity never seems to wane, not since their invention in 1930’s America.

Servings

30

Preparation Time

 1 hours 20 mins

Cooking Time

 12 mins

Total Time

 1 hours 32 mins

Course

 Baking

Ingredients

• 200g cold butter, cubed

• 140g light muscovado sugar

• 120g granulated sugar

• 240g plain flour

• 1 tsp bread soda

• 1 tsp fine sea salt

• 1 egg

• 2 tsp vanilla

• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar

• 340g dark chocolate chips

Method

1. Cream the butter and both types of sugar until light and creamy.

2. Sieve the flour with the bread soda and salt and set it aside.

3. Lightly beat the egg with the vanilla and vinegar.

4. Gently beat the egg mixture into the creamed butter mixture. Use a spatula to scrape any of the mixture from the bottom and sides of the bowl to ensure everything gets mixed well.

5. Add in the flour mixture with a wooden spoon and then stir in the chocolate chips.

6. Put the dough into a bowl and cover it with baking parchment and then place it into the fridge so the dough can firm up for at least an hour.

7. Line two large flat baking trays with parchment. Preheat your oven to 190ºC/gas mark 5.

8. I tend to use a small ice cream scoop to scoop the cookie dough into 30 balls. You can dip the scoop into hot water to help prevent it sticking to the dough. Place the balls of dough onto the trays, leaving quite a bit of space so they can spread as they bake.

9. Place the trays into the centre of your oven and bake for about 12 minutes, until the edges of the cookies are golden. They will still be a little soft and will firm up as they cool.

10. Allow the cookies cool on the baking tray for about fifteen minutes until they have firmed up enough to be moved. After this time gently place them onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Baker's tips 

• Chilling the dough is an important step. It solidifies the ingredients and will also prevent the cookies from spreading as much as they bake.
• Using parchment rather than oiling your baking tray improves the cookies as the underside will not get as brown from the parchment.
• Chocolate chip cookies can tend to spread too much during baking. To prevent this, make sure your baking trays are cold when placing the dough onto them.
• If the balls of dough are placed into an oven that is too hot, they melt very quickly and do not hold their shape. If you are unsure of your oven temperature you can buy a thermometer, or you could bake a test cookie to make sure it turns out ok and adjust the temperature accordingly for the main batch.
• A third thing to look out for is adding too much sugar to the recipe as this can also make the cookies spread excessively.
• If you would prefer the cookies crunchy rather than chewy you can lower your oven temperature to 160ºC/gas mark 3 and bake the cookies for about 21 minutes at that temperature.
• I use a fish slice to move the cookies from the tray onto the wire rack.
• The cookies will keep in an airtight container for three days. I sometimes put a sheet of parchment between them if the weather is a little warm. It prevents them sticking together.
• It is best to freeze the dough balls before they are baked rather than freezing the cookie. You can then take the from the oven and bake as needed. They can be baked straight from frozen, but you will need to add another few minutes to the baking time.

3 delicious variations

White chocolate & hazelnut

Substitute the 340g dark chocolate chips with 200g of white chocolate chips and 140g of chopped hazelnuts. Follow the rest of the recipe as instructed.

Cranberry & pecan

Cranberry and pecan nut make a nice combination. For this variation I add the zest of an orange to the dough when the eggs are being added, then substitute the 340g dark chocolate chips with 200g of chopped pecan nuts and 140g of dried cranberries, also chopped.

Double chocolate chip

Substitute 50g of the flour for 50g of cocoa powder. Sieve it with the flour and baking powder. It is more difficult to know when these cookies are fully baked as you will not see them turn golden. Instead, you can very carefully tap the edge of one of the cookies to see if they have set slightly.