Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe is dedicated to a rather special niece of mine!
Phoebe, I hope you enjoy cooking these with Daddy.

Forgive me for not calling this something super exciting. You may think there’s not much razzle dazzle in a recipe simply called Chocolate Chip Cookies, but this recipe my friend, does what it says on the tin!

In the UK at Christmas we tend to leave out mince pies and brandy for Santa Claus, other countries however seem to think Santa would prefer milk and cookies... I thought this year I would give him the option and so I set about developing a recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies that were fit for the big man himself – Father Christmas!

America to me is the home of cookies. Any American food blog will have a wide variety of cookie creations, from the plain and simple, to those bedecked with sprinkles and glitter, some will have grown up flavours, and others will be jam packed with kid’s favourite sweets. I needed a happy medium.

America also has one great advantage over England in the cookie stakes, and it’s something I’m seriously envious about...Green and red chocolate chips! When making a chocolate chip cookie for Santa, I didn’t want to just use plain chocolate chips, and after a day or two trawling the internet discovered I would have to have festive ones shipped in.

I appreciate for all of my English readers, paying a fortune for chocolate chips to be flown over from America is far from ideal, or even a realistic option, so feel free to substitute in ANY chocolate chips you feel like! I have tried this recipe with every chocolate chip going and they taste amazing no matter what.

Once my American chocolate chips had arrived to the party, it was simply a case of making them...easier said than done when it’s Christmas Eve and you have been at work since 7am, still have to make the Christmas Day starter, stuffing, mince pies, home-made ice cream and MORE!

But hey...Santa deserves the best!

I took another tip from America when baking these cookies and this time it wasn’t advice on the type of chocolate chip to use, it was about the baking method.

In the past, I have tried spooning my mixture on to the tray and letting the cookies cook somewhat “free form”. But higgledy piggledy cookies won’t suffice for Santa. They had to be perfect rounds. So here’s my tip, from America and me to you. Roll out an inch of the cookie mix into a ball in your hands, and place on your cookie sheet (or baking tray) roughly 1-2 inches apart and bake! You might be thinking – “but I don’t want cookies balls” – but as they cook they will sink down and spread out into perfectly circular cookies. Genius!

Once you’ve given them their cooking time (don’t be tempted to cook for longer than golden brown) and they have been left to cool, you will be presented with the perfect chocolate chip cookies, fit for Santa (or any other guests for that matter...)

Here’s the recipe: