These short and buttery chocolate chip cookies are melt in the mouth delicious. They are also quick and easy to make.
Road trips and picnics are a big part of our weekends, whether it’s the beach, national parks or a local hiking track we love being outdoors and all that fresh air and exercise can work up a bit of an appetite and these cookies are one of our faves. They are also the perfect treat in lunch boxes or as a mid-morning treat.
Table of Contents
This cookie recipe makes a generous batch and goes together fast, the main thing I suggest thinking about in advance is weighing out the butter and letting that soften a little on the bench before you are ready to begin baking. You are going to start with creaming the butter and sugar and that is better done at room temperature.
I don’t recommend speeding up the process in the microwave. If you melt the butter, even a little, it goes oily and that changed consistency can cause the cookies to fail, you won’t get that short, rich and crumbly texture. Baking is science and while we do try to stick to recipes around here that are quite tolerant of small variations and substitutions this step isn’t one of those.
An electric mixer will make it easier to cream the butter and sugar until it’s pale but it’s not essential for these cookies. A dinner fork will do the trick, focus first on mashing the butter and sugar until fully combined than pick up the pace just a little. It won’t take long, you are incorporating a bit of air and you’ll visibly see the mixture lighten from the original buttery yellow colour.
Then it’s just a matter of adding in the other ingredients a few at a time incorporating them fully at each stage.
The resulting cookie dough is easy to work with and roll into smooth balls in your hands. I like to use baking paper or reusable silicon tray liners for easy removal and cleanup, alternatively you can lightly grease the baking trays. Evenly space the balls across your cookie sheets leaving room from them to spread as they cook.
You don’t need to flatten the balls, they’ll do that themselves as they cook. Once baked and golden remove the cookies to a rack in a single layer while they cool.
Ingredients
- 250 grams butter (softened at room temperature)
- 1 cup of raw sugar
- 1 t pure vanilla essence
- 2 eggs
- 2.5 cups plain flour
- 3 t baking powder
- 1/8 t salt
- 1.25 cups dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Heat oven to 180°c, or 170°c in a fan-forced oven.
- Place the softened butter and raw sugar in a bowl. Beat until thoroughly incorporated together until creamy and smooth.
- Beat 2 eggs and the vanilla into the butter mixture.
- Add flour, baking soda and salt and fold until fully combined.
- Add the chocolate chips and fold the mixture a few more times to evenly distribute.
- Roll into balls and place on lined oven slides
- Bake for 18 minutes until they are cooked and just starting to turn golden.
Notes
You can beat the butter mixture with a handheld mixer, stand mixer or a fork. All three options will work equally well. If you are using the fork method make sure your butter has time to really come up to room temperature, it should be softened enough to work with the fork relatively easily but nowhere near melted. Don't apply heat or use a microwave or you won't achieve that nice shortbread consistency in the baked cookie.
I roll small handfuls of mixture into smooth balls and place them on the tray, you don't need to flatten them, they do that themselves while cooking. You could also use a cookie scoop if you have one.
For chocolate and ginger cookies, reduce the chocolate chips to 1 cup and add 1/3 cup of crystalised ginger chopped into small pieces.
Nutrition Information
Yield 40 Serving Size 1Amount Per ServingCalories 123Total Fat 7gSaturated Fat 4gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 2gCholesterol 23mgSodium 90mgCarbohydrates 14gFiber 1gSugar 7gProtein 1g
- These gingernut biscuits have been a favourite for decades for good reason.
- As I reduce my coffee I’ve become a real fan of chai tea, the soothing qualities of tea and range of spices come through well in these chai spiced cookies.
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