Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Even though I have a bunch that loves their cookies, I recently discovered why I rarely bake cookies. Each time my hands itch to bake, my soft corner is always towards cakes. Cakes hardly take any time, especially if they require only a whisk as a mixer. Most of the time, my cakes, you would have noticed are all mix and bake - just good for my lazy bones! However, cookies do require some time. The kneading, cooling, shaping plus the messed up table top really peeves me off from making cookies, though it's never the baking time - it gets done in much lesser time than cakes! I really feel I have to put aside my lazy bones and start baking more cookies at home, rather than give my girls commercial ones, though now I feel, thanks to their changed schedule, they hardly have time to eat biscuits, apart from what I keep in their school lunch box.

Talking about schedules, Alhamdulillah, contrary to my concern, things are falling in place. Of course, being at home for just four hours during the weekends after work does make me feel totally like a bad ummi. On top of that, because I didn't want Rasha to lag behind in her studies thanks to my lack of attention, I have put her for private tution at least till she finishes her exams. Thankfully, she has taken it very positively. I sometimes feel blessed that my girls are really understanding. Yes, they do throw their tantrums when needed, after all what are children for? However, we are looking at a few changes looking forward. As the blog progresses, InShaAllah, I will share...

For the time being, let me share with you my first attempt with Chocolate Chip Cookies, that I absolutely loved. I always make small batches, so that if it flops, there is not much to be pushed off! If it becomes good, then I feel sad that nobody gets much to eat! Hehe... Unfortunately, I ran out of chocolate chips for these cookies but still they were just so melt-in-the-mouth. Within a day, all the stock disappeared and HD commented that they were as good as store-bought.




Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp hot water
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Method:

Preheat oven to 170 degrees. Keep a baking pan ready.

Cream the butter and sugars in a bowl. Add the egg and beat till combined. Now add the vanilla extract and beat again. Dissolve the baking soda in hot water. Pour into the mixture. Add in the flour, salt, chocolate chips and walnuts and combine using a spatula till it is well mixed and the mixture holds on together.

Shape into cookies and keep on the pan with an inch space in between, as these cookies tend to expand. Bake for around 12 minutes, till the sides are golden.

Notes:

You can use upto 1 cup of chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of walnuts but I ran out of both, so had to use whatever was available.