Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies (Hummingbird Bakery)

The Hummingbird Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe has been a staple recipe for me ever since I first tried it. The cookies that result from this recipe are so deliciously chewy and chocolatey, they are irresistable! One of my housemates told me that they are a bit salty, and she's absolutely right. But just as a pinch of salt works in a glass of chocolate milk (as Gloria taught us in Modern Family), it works for these cookies. 

One of my friends had invited me to her church, because she's always talking so enthusiastically about her work in the (children's) choir and I tend to respond slightly lukewarm to it. So this sunday, I went along to one of the children's services to see what it was all about, and give some context to my friend's stories. Of course I saw a great opportunity to bake, and so I brought these cookies and also some animal-shaped vanilla ones since it was an animal-themed service. They were a big hit, which I concluded from seeing several people going back for second servings. As for the service, I am not suddenly converted to Christianity or anything, but it was one of the better religious experiences for me. 

I had the worst time photographing these cookies though. Granted I am still learning about food photography, the lack of light that I am dealing with most of the time is starting to frustrate me. I have picked up From Plate to Pixel by Helene Dujardin to educate myself on how to work with a DSLR camera, which has helped me a bit, but without light it is just so tough. Also, the surfaces I have available aren't exactly the prettiest or easiest ones. While my cinnamon buns in the previous post were quite easily photographed, these cookies are really difficult to work with, which I think might have to do with their (non-existent) height. If any of you out there have any tips on photographing cookies, I'll gladly take them!

Now for the recipe: I made slightly smaller cookies, you'll get 24 humongous American style sized cookies following the recipe.

Chocolate Chip Cookies (Hummingbird Bakery)

Ingredients:

225gr unsalted butter, at room temperature

350gr soft light brown sugar

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

400gr plain flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

225gr dark chocolate, roughly chopped (I used dark chocolate chips)

4 baking trays, lined with greaseproof paper (I used 1 tray, had 4 sheets of greaseproof paper on which I put the cookies, then baked them consecutively).

1. Preheat the over to 170C/325F/Gas 3

2. Put the butter and sugar in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment, or use a handheld electric whisk, and cream until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well and scraping any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatular after each addition. Turn the mixer down to slow speed and beat in the vanilla extract.

3. Add the flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda and mix well until a smooth dough is formed. It will really be a very soft dough, almost a batter. Stir in the chopped chcolate until evenly dispersed.

4. Arrange 6 equal amounts of cookie dough on each prepared baking tray/sheet of greaseproof paper. Make sure that the cookies are spaced apart to allow for speading while baking. These will spread quite a bit, as the dough is quite soft. Bake in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes, or until golden brown around the edges and quite flat. Leave the cookies to cool slightly on the trays to set them, before turning them out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely. The cookies should be soft and chewy.

Source: The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook