That time of year has come once again for my very favorite indulgence - home made chocolate chip cookies! The time has also come again to try and marry up my American recipes, measurements and cooking terms to their English versions.  Have a look at my take on classic tollhouse cookies recipe and try not to eat them all when they are at their best - oozy and soft, fresh out of the oven.

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups plain flour

1 teaspoon baking soda (or bicarbonate soda - American term)

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup split muscavado sugar and light brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon good vanilla extract (I use 100% grade 1 Madagascan)

2 large free range organic eggs

2 cups (or little more) of good quality chopped chocolate

Method

First, get your self enough high quality chocolate and using a sharp knife, grab a solid cutting board and roughly chop into pieces to fill slightly over 2 cups and set aside.  The original American recipe calls for chocolate chips, which are an expensive novelty in the UK, so I had to adapt.

Next mix all of your dry ingredients (flour, baking soda (bicarbonate) and salt) in a bowl and set aside.  Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 350F/180C.  Prepare for cooling by spreading grease proof paper onto a large flat surface such as your dining table. (Back in the States we re-use paper shopping bags for this by cutting them down).

Now it's time for the wet ingredients.  Place the room temperature butter and all of the sugar into a mixer and beat on high until it reached a creamy consistency. 

Then, slowly add in the eggs, one at a time, followed by the vanilla extract.

Now it's time for the dry ingredients.  Slow the speed of the mixer down and gradually add the dry mix until it's fully incorporated.  Be sure not to add the mixture too fast as this will result in a huge cloud and you and your work surfaces will be covered in flour.

Remove the bowl from the mixer stand and gently fold in all of the gorgeous chocolate bits until they are evenly distributed.

Finally, get two cookie baking trays ready and using a teaspoon dollop a portion slightly smaller than a golf ball onto the trays in rows of three.  Bake for about 12 minutes each, then remove the trays and transfer to a table covered in grease proof paper to cool.  Repeat until you have used up all of the dough. 

Once cooled, the cookies can be stored for up to a week in air tight containers. 

Merry Christmas everyone!