The British are very good with food. My all-time favourite eats are classically British: the Sunday Roast; biscuits - bourbon, squashed fly, shortbread and custard creams are incomparable; toad in the hole with onion gravy; bacon sarnie with brown sauce; mini-milks - in particular strawberry; cocktail sausages; cottage or shepherd's pie; traditional cakes - there is no single sponge better than the Victoria, so simple yet so effective.
However, the one thing the British just can't do are chocolate chip cookies. Americans wear the crown and covet the best recipes, which, luckily for me, they regularly and eagerly share all over the internet.
To be honest, my attempt wasn't as good as I would have hoped. I wanted a bit of chewiness and gooeyness Ben's Cookies style but they ended up pretty crunchy. The actual cookie dough made for better eating, like gourmet Ben and Jerry's.
I guess you can give the girl all the non-British recipes in the world but you can't take the British out of the girl....
....Or something.
chocolate chip cookies...
120g butter, at room temperature
75g light brown sugar
75g caster sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
240g plain flour
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
100g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
- Beat together the butter and sugars until just combined. Add the vanilla extract, then the egg, and beat in well.
- Sift together the flour and bicarbonate of soda, then use a spoon to add to the mixture, stirring until it just comes together into a dough. Fold in the chocolate pieces, then chill for between 12 up to 72 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper, and divide the mixture into golf-ball sized rounds, spacing them well apart. Bake for about 15 minutes, until golden, but not browned. Leave to cool for a couple of minutes and then scoff immediately.
- Recipe from: Guardian
