Summer vacations are here and my house is packed with cousins. So we decided to bake some chocolate chip cookies and started gathering supplies. One of the essential ingredients for making chocolate chip cookies is brown sugar. To my disappointment I couldn't find it at the local grocery store. So like the 'jugaadu' cook I am, I decided to mix some white granulated sugar with honey to give the cookies a brown colored crisp texture.Here is my version of cookies that are chewy, full of chocolate chip bits and just so incredibly easy to make! You'll never look at another store-bought cookie again, I promise you.Swap chocolate chips with Gems, M&Ms, anything that catches your fancy really.
Dry Ingredients2 cups all purpose flour / maida
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp saltWet Ingredients3/4 th cup butter
3/4 th cup sugar + 2 Tbsp honey or maple syrup
1 egg + 1 yolk
Now comes the good part1 cup chocolate chips
1 Tbsp vanilla essence
A handful of gems or M&M's
MethodSift together the maida, baking soda and salt. Keep aside.In another bowl cream together butter and sugar (Plain granulated sugar mixed with 2 Tbsp honey or maple syrup). Keep mixing them till the butter and sugar are a little foamy. Now add the vanilla essence. Mix well.Add the eggs. Whisk again. Add the sifted dry ingredients gradually. Switch to a spoon and mix till the dough looks like this. (Picture 3)
Now divide the dough into two.
Portion 1: Add the chocolate chips. Mix with a spoon. Make small uniform shaped balls. Make sure the size of the balls is the same so when you bake the cookies they all cook uniformly. Grease a baking tray with some oil. Place some butter paper on the greased baking tray. Place 4-5 cookie balls on it. You ask why? Why only 4-5 when it yields about 20 cookies? Why can't you bake them all at once? Well, because the cookies will spread and become almost twice their size. So it's essential to keep them apart while baking.Portion 2: Make uniform shaped balls. Flatten them a little with your palm and crust them with some gems. Follow the same procedure as chocolate chip cookies.
Dry Ingredients2 cups all purpose flour / maida
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp saltWet Ingredients3/4 th cup butter
3/4 th cup sugar + 2 Tbsp honey or maple syrup
1 egg + 1 yolk
Now comes the good part1 cup chocolate chips
1 Tbsp vanilla essence
A handful of gems or M&M's
MethodSift together the maida, baking soda and salt. Keep aside.In another bowl cream together butter and sugar (Plain granulated sugar mixed with 2 Tbsp honey or maple syrup). Keep mixing them till the butter and sugar are a little foamy. Now add the vanilla essence. Mix well.Add the eggs. Whisk again. Add the sifted dry ingredients gradually. Switch to a spoon and mix till the dough looks like this. (Picture 3)
Now divide the dough into two.
Portion 1: Add the chocolate chips. Mix with a spoon. Make small uniform shaped balls. Make sure the size of the balls is the same so when you bake the cookies they all cook uniformly. Grease a baking tray with some oil. Place some butter paper on the greased baking tray. Place 4-5 cookie balls on it. You ask why? Why only 4-5 when it yields about 20 cookies? Why can't you bake them all at once? Well, because the cookies will spread and become almost twice their size. So it's essential to keep them apart while baking.Portion 2: Make uniform shaped balls. Flatten them a little with your palm and crust them with some gems. Follow the same procedure as chocolate chip cookies.
Bake the cookies at 160 degrees for 15 minutes or till the edges of the cookies turn brown. Take them out of the oven, let them cool for 10 minutes. Lift them gently and cool them even further on a wire rack.Now I know you would be impatient and would want to eat ALL of it right away, but let them cool completely unless you want to burn your hand and tongue.Serve them with a chilled glass of milk and pretend you're in some foreign land where saying 'Oh mama! Milk and coooookies.' is absolutely normal.You will notice that the gems crack sometimes and the color bleeds. But you really can't help it.Tip: Can't find butter paper at the last moment? Use newspaper instead.So what will it be?
Chocolate chip or gem crusted?Did you like the pictures?
Courtesy Sanchi Kumar!
Chocolate chip or gem crusted?Did you like the pictures?
Courtesy Sanchi Kumar!
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