One vice I used to have when I went food shopping was to buy those soft American style cookies they'd sell in bags of four for over a pound. I think I've found a recipe that beats them hands down and doesn't contain any of the nasty E numbers (although they have plenty of sugar!).
125g of unsalted butter (I use stork)
50g of granulated sugar
125g of soft brown sugar
150g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
a pinch of salt
1 egg
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
I then add either 150g of rasins, 100g of chocolate or like I did last time 80g of dark chocolate and a handful of dried raspberries (which was amazing)
Mix all the dry ingredients together, then melt the butter and add the vanilla to it before mixing that in, then add the egg.
This slightly sloppy mixture is then ready to cook. I normally make 12 cookies out of this mixture. Just dollop 6 blobs each on to two grease proof paper covered baking trays. Leave plenty of space as they tend to spread.
Then pop into a pre heated oven at 180 degrees and cook for between 8-10 minutes. They should just start to change colour when they're ready, cookies are always better under done than over! They want to still be soft in the middle when they've cooled - I guess the trick is to actually let them cool before you eat them!
I think from start to finish I can make and cook these in about 15 minutes and that's with a 3 year old "helping" me! They taste amazing, I've been cooking them most weeks and it's a good use of my vanilla extract when it's ready to be used.
What's your favourite cookie recipe?
