Yummy Chocolate Chip Cookies

ms blogger has a tea party

Shall we have a break from lentils and chickpeas? Yes, I thought so too!

Let me tell you about the tea party I had yesterday for a group of old friends whom I haven't seen since early summer.  Nothing really seasonal here but I could stretch it and say that with the cooler weather, the time to invite friends round for a chat and a cuppa is here again. I will start with the chocolate chip cookies that you can see in the picture. This recipe is again a real tried-and-tested one as it dates back to our days in Tokyo 25 years ago when our son was born. There, we started a little group of mums and tots and one of the mums was a glamourous young American woman called Joan. Now, Joan was not only glamourous but she had a marvellous recipe for that great American favourite, choc chip cookies, and despite seeing and trying countless other recipes since then, I always come back to hers. I love American cookie recipes as they’re always so positive: ‘Makes 36’ as opposed to our English ones which are so measly in comparison: ‘Makes 12’ if you’re lucky. So in our family, these are known as Joan’s Cookies. Life here became that bit easier once one could actually find chocolate chips in a packet in the supermarkets. This was only 2-3 years ago, mark you. Up till that point, I had to buy the bitter chocolate and put the pieces in the food processor. Not very arduous, but still, another bit of washing-up. Actually, I seem to remember beating a plastic bag with a rolling pin ....

A word about measurements: I personally am completely comfortable with kilos, ounces, cups, you name it. How about you? If you find you need to convert, there are many conversion websites out there: try www.cookaz.com/convert_weight, for example. Don’t mix your measurements, though.

In Turkey, confusingly enough, all measurements are given in glasses: water glass, tea glass, and even coffee cup!! But luckily for us, 1 water glass= 1 cup; 1 tea glass= ½ cup; and 1 coffee cup= ¼ cup so all is not lost.

Ingredients for Joan’s Cookies

Makes 36, maybe more

½ cup white sugar

½ cup soft light brown sugar

1 packet butter -250 g/8oz- softened

2 eggs (lightly beaten)

1 tsp vanilla/vanilya

2 cups plain flour/un

1 tsp each baking powder, baking soda, salt

2 ½ cups oats/yulaf

Raisins, chopped walnuts (optional), semi-sweet choc chips



Joan's choc chip cookies



Method

§  Pre-heat oven to 180C/350F.

§  Mix together the butter with the sugars. Add the lightly beaten eggs, a little at a time, then the vanilla.

§  Add the flour bit by bit, and the BP, soda, and salt.

§  Now add the oats. You will be using a wooden spoon by now.

§  Add as many raisins, nuts and choc chips as you like. About ¾ cup of each is probably about right with maybe more of the choc chips.

§  Roll into balls the size of walnuts. The ones in the photo are a little bigger than that. Use the oven baking tray. No need to grease it. Place in the middle of the oven.

§  Cook for 12-15 mins.They turn a lovely light brown colour and smell divine. Wait a min or two before removing from the tray with a spatula otherwise they are a bit soft and may break. Place on rack to cool before putting in tins.

rolling the dough into balls

cooling on the rack

Tips

1.       Brown sugar is still something I bring back from the UK when I go: all sorts! I have heard that you can get it here now but I am not sure. Also decent vanilla as only the powdered version is available here.

2.       If you have an opened bag of brown sugar, make sure you slip in a bit of bread before closing it up again. This will absorb the moisture and keep it soft. Otherwise it will go as hard as stone!

3.       I had actually run out of raisins for this particular batch of cookies so instead used dried cranberries! Most dried fruit is interchangeable, I have discovered.

on the table and ready to serve

About the blog:

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Thanks from your faithful blogger.