Chocolate Chip Cookies by Mandy Wrangles

This recipe gets a huge work-out in our family. I’ve been making these cookies for years, and they disappear almost as quickly as they bake. Chewy in the middle, crunchy on the outside and just the right blend of vanilla and chocolate. And so, so yummy while they’re still warm!

What you need:

1 cup of softened butter (use the real stuff, not margarine)

1 cup white sugar

¾ cup brown sugar, tightly packed

2 teaspoons of vanilla essence

1 teaspoon of salt

2 eggs

3 cups of plain flour

1 ½ teaspoons of baking soda

250 grams of milk or dark chocolate chips

How it’s done:

Preheat oven to about 140 degrees C.

In a large bowl, beat together the butter, sugars and vanilla essence until it lightens in colour and gets a kind of creamy texture. An electric mixer makes this bit easy. Add eggs, one at a time and continue mixing.

In another bowl, mix together the flour and baking soda. Gradually add this to your butter and sugar mixture. Be careful at this point, especially if using a stand mixer – if you’re not careful, flour goes everywhere! (I do it every single time…)

Keep mixing until well combined, then add the chocolate chips. Mix until they’re evenly spread through the mixture.

On a baking tray lined with baking paper (hey, we all hate cleaning up, right?) spoon balls around 1 tablespoon of mixture. Don’t place them too close together, because these suckers spread. I usually put seven to a large tray. Now comes the tricky bit – you need to cook them for LESS time than you’ll think. It only takes about 10 minutes for the cookies to change colour to a light golden brown, which is your signal to pull them out. They’ll still be super-soft, so let them cool for a minute or two, then use a spatula to transfer them carefully to a cooling tray.

This recipe makes about 45 to 50 cookies – I dare you to eat just one!