Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

Remember I said we had two chocolate chip cookie recipes that we bake regularly? This one is Pete’s favourite.  It’s basically dark Belgian chocolate held together with a bit of cookie dough.  The boys prefer their cookies with more dough and less chocolate, but Pete really likes the crisp, almost wafer-like crumb and gooey richness of this version.  As this is the grown-ups’ cookie, I’ve included a little 70% dark chocolate in the mix to balance out the sweetness. It’s interesting to note that there’s almost twice as much chocolate to other ingredients in this recipe as there is in the other one.

• 165g plain flour
• 35g bread or bakers flour
• ¼ tsp fine sea salt
• 120g white sugar
• 100g brown sugar
• 125g unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces
• 1 large (59g) egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
• 150g dark choc chips (Callebaut 54% cocoa callets)
• 50g very dark choc chips (Callebaut 70% cocoa callets)
• 100g bake stable dark choc chips (Callebaut 44% cocoa baking sticks, broken into small pieces)

Note : You could use 300g of any dark chocolate – in chip form or broken into chunks.  Just make sure it’s the best you can afford.  The above is what we use in Pete’s cookies.

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat the cold butter and sugars together, until they form a grainy paste.  Beat in the egg and vanilla until just combined (no streaks of butter left).  Do not overmix.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and sifted bicarbonate of soda (it’s important to sift the bicarb, or you’ll get bitter lumps in the finished cookie). Add the chocolate to the flour.  Now, tip the whole lot into the batter and mix until just incorporated (no bits of flour left). Do not overmix!

3.  Cover the bowl and pop the cookie dough into the fridge for at least an hour to chill.  These cookies are notorious spreaders, and chilling them helps to minimise this.

4. Preheat oven to 150C (with fan). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

5. Scoop balls of dough (I use a small 5cm icecream scoop) and place them on the lined trays, about 10cm apart.

6. Bake for 16-18 minutes until golden brown, rotating the trays once during the baking time.  Remove the trays from the oven, allow the cookies to sit for a few seconds, then transfer them onto a wire rack to cool. Handle with care, as the cookies will be fragile when hot. These will keep well for a few days, stored in an airtight container. If you live alone, freeze some, or you’ll be the size of a bus.

Makes 16 – 20 large cookies.