Satisfy your inner cookie monster!
Millie’s Cookies in the UK is an absolute non-negotiable pit stop for me when in London – especially the chewy white chocolate chip ones.
I’m essentially a fully grown cookie monster in disguise, so I march out with a whole pack, smug and sugar-high, ready to devour a whole pack of cookies like some sort of biscuit-gobbling banshee.
About three cookies in, I start to feel slightly queasy… but do I stop? Of course not. I soldier on, nobly sacrificing my dignity in the name of deliciousness.
Here in Cork, I’ve found Marks & Spencer’s cookies which are almost as good as Millie’s. But as I sit there munching away, I often find myself wondering: does anyone still do that 1950s thing where granny has a row of pies and cookies cooling on the windowsill, just waiting for some greedy child to nick a slice while she’s turned her back?
Growing up in Germany, my mum didn’t go in for weekday baking sprees unless it was Christmas. But cakes were a weekly ritual. Most Sunday afternoons, we had our beloved Kaffee und Kuchen (coffee & cake) session – a tradition back then for a lot of families.
I don’t have kids to bake with, and I’ve long since abandoned the Sunday cake ritual but my love for a chewy white chocolate chip cookie is going nowhere.
Of course, I had try to re-create the cookies at home and I learned that the key to that perfect chew is light brown sugar and self-raising flour (many recipes will use plain flour and baking powder but I found that the commercial mix works so much better).
And while it may not be exactly like the commercial stuff, it’s close enough to make you smile and maybe eat six more than you meant to!
Ingredients:
125g butter, room temperature
100g light soft brown sugar
125g caster sugar
1 egg
1tsp vanilla extract
225g self raising flour, sifted
pinch of salt
200g white chocolate chips
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180C (make sure you get to the required temperature before placing the cookies in the oven. They spread too far otherwise). In a bowl, cream the butter, brown and caster sugar until pale in colour and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla extract, whisk until well combined. Stir in the sifted flour, salt and chocolate chips. This is best done with a wooden spoon. You might need your hands to bring it all together but don’t overwork the dough.
Roll the dough into walnut-sized balls and place on a baking tray (I always cover my baking trays with baking paper). Press down the dough ever so slightly and place in the oven. Bake for 7-10 minutes.
You still want the cookie to be gooey (unless you don’t like gooey cookies – but then we couldn’t be friends). For a more set cookie increase the baking time slightly.
Leave to rest on the tray for a few moments before moving the cookies onto a wired rack to cool completely. The outside of the cookie will be nice and almost crisp while the inside is soft and delicious. This recipe makes about 30 cookies and they will keep in an airtight container for 5-7 days.