Best ever big fat chewy choc-chip cookies

Eviledna

As I am indulging in some mid-week baking, I thought I'd come on here and share my favourite cookie recipe.
You know the huge cookies you get sometimes in shops, in packs of five from the stores "bakery", and when you bite into them, they are never quite as nice as you imagined they would be?(excluding of course m&s)

Well these are the answer. I like my huge cookies to be crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside with lots of chocolate. The M&S bakery cookies are mighty but alas, I live in the west far from M&S or superquinn. I scoured j'internet for a recipe and after many cookiedisapointments, these are perfect, and really easy to make. They are also a great treat for friends/family/OH that needs cheering up. Or when you've had one of those days. I had a day like that today. So they are cooling in the kitchen

So all credits to the author, these are my best allrecipes find. Enjoy!
Big Fat Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Malari

Yum, I can't wait to try these! I actually made something like this by accident when I was making my usual Nigella Lawson cookies. They usually turn out quite dry but this time the mixture was wetter and they turned out all flat and chewy! I put it down to NOT eating as much of the mixture as usual during manufacture. They account for that in recipes, I'm sure!!

Toto Wolfcastle

I use the recipe below and they are as close to M&S as I've come. I throw in extra flour though so I can roll the dough into balls.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Best-Ever-Chocolate-Chip-Cookies-II/Detail.aspx

I might try that other recipe for a change, looks good.

For now though I'll just stick with the M&S cookies my sister bought me!

neuro-praxis

Oh man I am so making these.

neuro-praxis

I just wanted to mention that I made these yesterday - it took a little time as only three cookies would fit on each cookie tray and I only have two trays.

Also, I couldn't get my hands on chips, so I bough 300g of Lindt chocolate and cut it into chips with a large chef's knife. That worked very well - each Lindt square yields nine good-sized chips. A little pricey, also.

But the time taken was worth it - they taste exactly like the soft M&S giant choc-chip cookies. From the batch me and my OH ate a few (:p) with some really nice coffee, and gave the others away to friends and family, all of whom have been texting me to say they're the best cookies they've ever had.

Total success! So thanks!

Malari

Did you use the recipe posted by janeybabe or the OP, Neuropraxis? I'll probably try both though :pac:

neuro-praxis

The recipe I used was the one given by the OP.

Eviledna

Hurrah! And the love of big fat chewy cookies is spread around the world in delicious chocolaty bites....:D

I have a mighty carrot&walnut cake recipe too if anyone is interested? Is there a recipes thread in here that I have boldly ignored?

xxdilemmaxx

Ooh, I'd love the carrot cake recipe, any time I've tried to make it it's been a total disaster....

Eviledna

Well here it is then!:)

Carrot Cake recipe (with optional Walnuts!)
From: Martha Day, Complete Baking

For the Cake (half all measures for a smaller loaf cake)
2 Cups Granulated Sugar
1 Cup Vegetable Oil (I use rapeseed)
4 eggs
2 Cups finely grated Carrots (usually ~3-4 Large carrots)
2 Cups Flour (I use Odlums Cream Flour)
1.5 teaspoons of Baking Soda
1.5 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Mixed Spice
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1 Cup Chopped Walnuts (optional)

Directions for the cake

First, if making the whole recipe which makes a large sandwich cake, prepare two 9 inch sandwich tins. If making half the recipe, prepare a 2lb loaf tin.
Preheat the oven to 190 Celcius.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar,eggs,oil, carrots and chopped nuts.

Sift all the other dry ingredients into a separate bowl. Add by 0.5cup measure into the liquid mix, mixing well after each addition.
You will now have quite a liquid batter, fear not, that is the way it is meant to be.

Divide the batter evenly between the two tins, or the single loaf tin, depending on the size of the cake you are making.

Bake until a skewer poked into the center of the cake emerges clean (maybe one or two crummies will stick, but no liquid batter should be stuck to it). This will take ~30-40 mins for the large cake and ~30mins for the smaller loaf cake.
Check this cake regularly. It burns easily due to all the sugar, so if you don't know how your oven behaves, check every ten mins!;)
Leave to cool while you make the icing....

For the Icing (Again, half exactly if making smaller cake)
2 Cups Icing Sugar
1 pack Philadelphia (225g/8oz, I use Philedelphia light)
4 Tablespoons butter, very soft
2 Teaspoons of Vanilla Extract (not essence)
more walnuts for decoration if desired

Combine everything (except optional walnuts) for the icing into a bowl and beat until smooth.

Smaller loaf cake: Smooth over top and add some walnuts. Drizzle in some melted white chocolate if you want to be particularly bold.

Larger Sandwich Cake:
Take 1/4 of the icing and sandwich the two cakes with it. Spread the remaining icing over the top and sides. Decorate with walnuts if desired.
If making this as a gift, (which I often do, fab birthday cake) I drizzle quite alot of melted white chocolate over the iced cake when cool. The flavour combination of the philly icing and the spicy nutty cake and the chocolate is a big hit with my folks

The texture of the cake itself is light and airy (thanks to all that raising agent) and the icing is quite heavy, so it ends up being a rich cake. If making the loaf cake, it is lovely to have with tea and lasts ages, not needing to be kept in the fridge thanks to all that preserving sugar.

Enjoy, it's worth making. Once you make this cake once, it's really easy again! Great for beginner bakers.

MzFusspot

Going to be making these cookies tonight- the last batch of M&S style cookies I tried turned out rotten, very excited about trying these! A little bit over-excited some might say.

I'd give the carrot cake a whirl as well but I'm a cream-cheese-icing-aholic and would snarf the lot before it got anywhere near the cake Although it does sound fabulous and might be worth the risk of needing 2 plane seats the next time I go anywhere!

Malari

Great cookie recipe. Tried them and love them. So did my boyfriend. Mmmm, thinking about the one I'm going to have after work...If I can wrestle the remainder out of his hands!

Eviledna

The funny thing is peoples references here and elsewhere on j'internet about how much people's boyfriends love these cookies...

Could it be, gender biaas in baking? Have we stumbled upon a recipe for MAN-COOKIES?:eek: Maybe if the chocolate chips are made from Yorkie, lol!
:pac:

SnowMonkey

eviledna wrote: »

The funny thing is peoples references here and elsewhere on j'internet about how much people's boyfriends love these cookies...

Could it be, gender biaas in baking? Have we stumbled upon a recipe for MAN-COOKIES?:eek: Maybe if the chocolate chips are made from Yorkie, lol!
:pac:

i think man cookies would be twice the sise of normal cookies made with extra love and have marsh mallow's in them..... oh and maybe caramel not shore how you do the caramel but, ,mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm:D

Magga

Eviledna, carrot cake sounds fab, just a question, can you state the exact measurement when you use "cup" as cup sizes can vary.

Eviledna

Magga, in American baking they use volume instead of weight for measurement in their recipes. You can buy cup measures in your local supermarkets baking section. It is an exact measurement and not just any old cup!:)
Alternatively you can google for a conversion chart if you'd like. Have fun!;)

Magic Monkey

Cup to Gram Conversion Calculator

Cups measure by volume. You can purchase stacked measuring cups in any kitchen/household store, or alternatively, find the weight equivalent with that calculator and use a scales instead. Tends to be more accurate. I know what you mean though, as a child I was using one tea mug of flour, sugar, etc, as one cup, as per the recipes, thinking "that's obviously what they mean by cup" :rolleyes:

I made these cookies tonight too. One important note is not to use cheap chocolate. I used Tesco "Home Baking" Milk Chocolate, and it's terrible. Aside from that, as close to M&S's as I've seen

Eviledna

Oh yes, good chocolate is a must for these cookies, because you really taste the chocolate! Good point, thanks Magic Monkey!:)

SnowMonkey

SnowMonkey wrote: »

i think man cookies would be twice the sise of normal cookies made with extra love and have marsh mallow's in them..... oh and maybe caramel not shore how you do the caramel but, ,mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm:D

For the caramel - get a bag of toffees and chop up as many as you need. Easy peasy. Lovely dairy toffee in Aldi, not too tough.

oblivious

Oh man made these this afternoon for a picnic, they a really good

shrapnel222

did these as well OP, thanks!!!! those are seriously good. i've been looking for a good recipe for cookies for a while, and the search is over!!!!

snickerpuss

I have a party to bake for on Saturday so I'll be trying these out. I'll let you know!

shoutman

Did these today op, however I found them very sugary, maybe I did something wrong.

Or possibly it was just the chocolate chips I used.

Magic Monkey

I found them quite sweet too. Some of the reviewers on the recipe's site suggest reducing the amount of sugar (they seem to prefer sweeter things in the U.S. than here, judging by some recipes, sometimes to very sickly levels). Use a higher % cocoa solids chocolate to further reduce the sugar (for diet cookies ); Tesco do a nice "Aztec" bar that's 70%, €0.99/100g.

sleepyescapade

Made these last weekend and they truly were AMAZING!

Dwn Wth Vwls

What sugars did you use? Light muscovado and caster?

So far the best cookies I've had are Nigella Lawson's chocolate chip, but then she does put half a kilo of chocolate in them.

Malari

Dwn Wth Vwls wrote: »

What sugars did you use? Light muscovado and caster?

So far the best cookies I've had are Nigella Lawson's chocolate chip, but then she does put half a kilo of chocolate in them.

Yum, I make those too! These BEBFCCC Cookies in this thread are just a different kind of yum.

Stargal

I'm making these cookies tonight and have a dumb question (bear in mind I haven't baked anything since Junior Cert Home Ec back in the day!).

The recipe calls for normal flour and baking soda. Is it ok to just use self-raising flour instead and leave out the baking soda? Just had a root around the shelves and we only have self-raising flour and baking powder (rather than soda) so I'm not completely sure what to do.

Dwn Wth Vwls

Stargal wrote: »

The recipe calls for normal flour and baking soda. Is it ok to just use self-raising flour instead and leave out the baking soda? Just had a root around the shelves and we only have self-raising flour and baking powder (rather than soda) so I'm not completely sure what to do.

Apparently you can use it, it'll just be a bit different:

Baking powder and baking soda are the two most common leaveners in cookies. Baking soda is simply bicarbonate of soda, while baking powder is a combination of bicarbonate of soda plus cream of tartar, an acidic ingredient. Baking soda neutralizes the acidity of the dough, allowing the cookies to brown in the oven. Since baking powder already contains its own acid, it will not reduce the acidity in the dough, and the resulting cookies will be puffier and lighter in color.

When I made them they came out quite flat, looking at the comments on the site it helps to refrigerate the dough first.

Eviledna

I would stick to the recipe, you might have a tough time getting the ratios right otherwise. Baking is very much a chemical reaction, it all depends on the ratios. Perhaps if you don't want to brave the elements outside, try subbing the baking powder for the soda. I've done that before by misreading, and it all worked out in the end.

As for the brown sugar, I use dark brown soft sugar. They come out pretty flat alright, but definitely leave them to cool before trying to remove from parchment.

(Yes, I am the OP, I'm having issues with my original account. Hopefully soon to be resolved!:pac:)

Stargal

Thanks for that, folks:) I didn't make them that evening because I decided to go with exactly what the recipe says (plus my sisters made serious inroads into all the chocolate that I bought!) but going to give them a shot in the next day or two.

Will definitely try refrigerating the mixture for an hour before baking them - thanks for the tip!

christeb

I'll be trying these on Saturday - they sound like the perfect hangover cure!

JohnK

Is the unsalted butter important? By that I mean could you use normal salted butter and leave out the added salt in the recipe?

Dwn Wth Vwls

I don't think it's important, but I was under the impression that most "real" butter is unsalted anyway. What brand were you going to use? I wouldn't leave out all of the extra salt, I doubt salted butter is that salty.

JohnK

Well I was in Dunnes earlier and the only butters I could see all had added salt. The only brands I can remember were the dunnes own-brand and I think dairygold. There was something else too but agian it was an added-salt one. One of them had writen on the label that it was a max of 2% salt - I presume they'd all be about the same.

Dwn Wth Vwls

Dairygold and other stuff in a plastic tub is generally not real butter. Ideally you'd want something like Kerrygold or similar that's just a block wrapped in foil.

Mort5000

A quick question, where do you get your baking supplies?

I've been looking for edible glitter, foil pie trays, ready made icing decorations, gel colouring, etc and I don't seem to be able to source them from the local Tesco/whatever.

Any suggestions?

JohnK

Dwn Wth Vwls wrote: »

Dairygold and other stuff in a plastic tub is generally not real butter. Ideally you'd want something like Kerrygold or similar that's just a block wrapped in foil.

well all the stuff I looked at was in foil wrapped blocks all right - I might have gotten the name mixed up between dairygold & kerrygold

I'll try a few more shops today though.

Magic Monkey

JohnK wrote: »

Is the unsalted butter important? By that I mean could you use normal salted butter and leave out the added salt in the recipe?

Using unsalted butter is important only in those recipes where you're using a lot of butter (e.g. puff pastry).

In a 454g/1lb block of kerrygold butter for example, there is 1.7g salt per 100g (iirc), so around 8g per 454g/1lb in total (~2%, like you mentioned). In the first recipe for chocolate cookies given by the OP, it calls for 170g unsalted butter plus 3g additional salt. But 1.7*1.7 = 2.9g salt, so in a long-winded reply to your question yes, you can use normal salted butter and leave out the added salt.

Mort5000, for those cake decorating supplies you mention, try downstairs in Kitchen Compliments on Chatham St.

Dwn Wth Vwls

I just had a look at kerrygold myself and noticed the salt Nothing I've made has ever come out tasting salty though, including puff pastry.

Glowing

I'm going to make them tonight!! YUM

Gazza22

I made these last night, they turned out great! - thanks a lot for the recipe!

In future though, i think i will be reducing the sugars by about a third - little bit too sweet for me!

Glowing

Mine are going in the oven now!! Haha!

Glowing

... just couldn't wait for them to cool. Tasty gooy goodness straight from the oven ... Mmmmm

Eviledna

Isn't it amazing how one small recipe can make so many people happy!

As for the unsalted butter lark, hell no, I use normal butter, unsalted butter is only for very delicate recipes, this is not one of them. I imagine that in America unsalted butter may be the norm/easy to get. However, if you ever really need it, it comes in a silver foil package, either avonmore, or lurpack brand.

(BTW Aldi is great for good quality cheap butter, parchment, chocolate, and nuts. Avoid their flour at all costs though.)

JohnK

I gave them a go last night too. Tasty but christ my teeth are at me ever since the first bite (which was followed by lots and lots more bites) . Think I'll drop the sugar down a notch next time

And in the end I got an unsalted (avonmore) butter in Tesco so I used that. Might try a normal one next time just for the hell of it. Think I'll put in slightly less chocolate chips too unless I can find chunkier ones.

But all in all, a big thumbs up

neuro-praxis

I hope it's ok to do this, I am giving this thread a bump to show to anyone who has been looking for an excellent cookie recipe.

I searched for it myself again recently to re-make them. They are just wow, although the quality of the chocolate you use is really important. Thanks OP!

BeansMeansHynes

Ok so I tried these a few weeks ago and they went flat.....:o

Im normally ok at baking but I dont know what I did wrong. I had to bin the lot. I would love to try again.

Anyone got any hints or tips or even what I might have done wrong??

Eviledna

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that maybe you didn't do anything wrong, they are flat and chewy, not spongy or thick.

If they didn't solidify after cooling, perhaps you used too much fat/sugar? This is one of those recipes that demand an accurate measurement. But they are big flat cookies, they really spread out, american style!:)

olaola

FAB! Just cooked them But I do have to agree - they are waayy too sugary. I did take note of what others said and put in about 280g total (instead of the 320g) but I'd say you could easily take that down to 220 - 250g. I used chopped up Galaxy bars which worked really well. And I threw in a few hazelnuts too.

Magic Monkey

BeansMeansHynes wrote: »

Ok so I tried these a few weeks ago and they went flat.....:o

Im normally ok at baking but I dont know what I did wrong. I had to bin the lot. I would love to try again.

Anyone got any hints or tips or even what I might have done wrong??

Your butter may have been too warm. Use it straight from the fridge next time, diced, then creamed until just smooth. Check your oven temp and times are right: bottom third of oven, 180°c 10-12mins for chewy, 160°c for 15-20mins for crisp. Oh, and even though the cookies may sometimes look deceptively soft and undercooked when taken out, they'll firm up once left to cool down.