Every household has a favourite chocolate chip cookie recipe – ours has two. Here is the one the kids love (Pete prefers his with more chocolate – recipe to follow). This is based on the Blue Ribbon Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe by Mrs Fields, although I’ve modified it to include a short rest in the fridge. I’ve found that chilling the dough slightly creates a cookie that is less likely to spread when it’s baked.
Click here for a printable version of this recipe
- 400g plain (all-purpose) flour
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- ¼ tsp fine sea salt
- 1 cup (215g) brown sugar, firmly packed
- ½ cup (110g) white sugar
- 250g unsalted butter, at room temperature, but not too soft or melted
- 2 large (59g) eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 240g Callebaut 811 Callets (54% dark)
- 120g Callebaut Baking Sticks (44% dark), broken into small pieces
Note: You could substitute 360g chocolate chips for the Callebaut chocolate, but use the very best you can find – the quality of the finished cookie is dependent upon it. We use the combination of callets (easy melting) and baking sticks (bake stable) to create a cookie which has both firm chocolate chunks and oozing meltiness.
1. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk the flour, sifted bicarbonate of soda and salt together, then stir in the chocolate callets and pieces.
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix the two sugars together, then add the butter and mix to form a grainy paste. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix at medium speed until combined.
3. Add the flour and chocolate and blend at low speed until just combined. Do not overmix. Cover the mixing bowl with clingfilm, then put it into the fridge for 30 – 45 minutes to chill. The dough should be firm to touch before you shape and bake it. Preheat the oven to 150C (300F) with fan.
4. Remove from the fridge and drop rounded tablespoons (I use a small icecream scoop) onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper, allowing room to spread. Bake for 22 minutes (+/- 2 minutes), rotating the trays once during the baking time. The cookies are done when they’re golden brown and a slight push causes them to move on the tray. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Congratulations,
you have taken the humble choc chip cookie to another dimension. I can’t wait until we get internet that we can taste and smell on. Your pictures are torturous.
Ahhhh. Bless Mrs Fields for this scrumptious, never fail staple. We will never be able to thank you enough for introducing us to the big haired baker from the eighties.
Her recipes are amazing, but she certainly isn’t an old granny in an apron :
http://www.mrsfields.com/about/
Growing up there was a favorite chocolate chip recipe, which I have periodically modified and continue to use. My mother uses the same recipe but she typically sticks to the written word and ocassionally tries to steal a secret or two when watching me bake. But I typically use two different chocolate chips, each with different cacao percentages. I’m interested in integrating a chopped bars and finding out how the tecture of the chocolate and cookie changes.
I think it’s wonderful that you still use the same recipe (at heart) as your mum – I’m hoping my kids will be saying that! If you can search out “bake stable” Belgian chocolate, it makes a wonderful difference to the cookies, because then you get choc bits that melt away and others that keep their shape. It’s like an upmarket version of Nestle choc bits.
Have a look here : http://www.callebaut.com/uken/312
I can only get the baking sticks here, so I just break them up and toss them into the mix. They’re 44% cocoa. I was also using some 70% cocoa callets (easy melting), but the kids complained they were too dark!
Thank you for the link! Ooo the darker the better for me. :) I usually use both semi-sweet and dark chocolate (I believe its around 70%) chips.
Hmmm…just checked out your blog…a true chocoholic! Have you tried the origin chocs? These are too much fun and just another opportunity for obsessing over chocolate..
http://www.callebaut.com/uken/150
Making these this weekend i think….if time permits, with the kids
Nice to hear from you again, Oz! I’ve just made a batch of these cookies today, in fact. I’ve left a dozen in the cookie jar and the rest are in ziplock bags in the freezer. They freeze brilliantly, and I pull a couple out each day to pop into school lunches. The other advantage is that frozen cookies are just a little bit harder to eat, which means I’m not scoffing them all day long.. :)
Cheers, Celia
Hi Celia,
These look delicious! Can you tell me roughly how many cookies the make?
I just stumbled upon your fabulous site by accident, and in a strange twist of coincidence, you know my brother-in-law (Matt Bulger). He says hello!
Nicola
Hi Nicola, thanks for stopping by, and please give Matt my best – it’s been ages since we last saw him! :)
The recipe is supposed to make 3.5 dozen cookies, but I usually end up with just 3 dozen. Hope you enjoy them!
Cheers, Celia
I’m just about to make my first batch of these since my Callebaut 54% arrived. :) Ended up going with a Melbourne-based online store which was a little pricey but the Perth distributor was ridiculously expensive. I look forward to seeing what these are “supposed to” taste like ;)
OMG, chocolate heaven. I may have to tone it down a bit for the littlies and substitute some of the 360g of 54% I used for some milk chocolate to ensure they sleep at night! But for me, so so sooooo good. I can only imagine your more adult version! The batch made 3.5 dozen medium sized cookies and hubby will be lucky if there are some left by the time he gets home ;)
Pam, so glad you enjoyed these! We freeze some of ours – or we end up scoffing them as fast as we can! Doesn’t the different chocolate make such a difference? :)
I did put a dozen in the freezer and will take a dozen to play group tomorrow so at least I’ll only eat 18 :)
Pam, they freeze really well – I used to pull two out every morning and put them into the boys’ lunch boxes.. :)
Just a query, have you ever used the Sicao brand by Callebaut? They are a bit cheaper (Singapore made I believe but under original recipe). I was just wondering how they compared to the real deal. cheers :)
Hi Pam, I’ve seen them for sale at Chefs’ but have never tried them, sorry! Never felt the need to – our Callebaut is very reasonably priced, and now that I’m trying to switch to using fairtrade chocolate, it’s even less of an option for us. I thought it was made in Malaysia?