Trudging to my car after work at dusk, a light drizzle and crunchy leaves underfoot on the last day of autumn, all I could think about was getting home and baking some serious comfort food. There is nothing like having the oven on to warm up the house, and the awesome waft of vanilla and chocolate isn't too bad either.
I have decided to make my extra large chewy chocolate chunk cookies, though tonight they will be amped up to become Chewy Melty Snickers and M&M Cookies. The thought of melty caramel and chocolate with a salty nutty taste, combined with the crunch of a candy coated shell sounds perfect.
These cookies are extra big, extra chewy and super tasty. When cooked until just golden on the edges, they are melty and soft and the ultimate in sweet, sweet comfort food. This is a simple and very versatile dough, it can be frozen into a log and sliced for small, even cookies, but at its best it is heaped in large lumps on the baking tray and baked into the perfect craving satisfier.
Start with your oven preheated to 165°c.
Sift together 2 cups of plain flour, ½ teaspoon of baking powder and ½ teaspoon of salt. Set aside.
Place a cup of packed brown sugar in a bowl with ½ cup of white sugar. Add 170g of melted unsalted butter, and beat together until it changes from a dark golden caramel to a light brown colour.
Beat in 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract, then one whole egg, and then one extra egg yolk for extra richness.
Add the sifted flour mix and stir until just combined.
Now the fun part! Usually I would just roughly chop some good quality dark chocolate and stir it through, chunky chopped nuts or dried fruit are also good, whatever you choose, you will need about 200g worth.
I have splurged at the pick'n'mix stand and have 7 mini Snickers bars and a pile of mini M&M's. :D
Roughly chop up the chocolate bars,
and throw over a good handful of M&M's, mix through until evenly spread.
Drop spoonfuls onto prepared oven trays, leaving a couple of centimetres between them, as the cookies will spread.
Bake for between 16-20mins, until the edges of the cookies begin to turn golden.
Wait as long as you can for them to cool, and then attack!
Discovering random molten chocolate puddles in a large warm cookie? Awesome!