The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies¹

Extreme cookie close-up

These are the cookies my mother used to bake for us when we were kids in the 1970s and 80s. For many years I was convinced they were made to some age-old family recipe passed down through the generations, but when I was older, and actually stopped to think about it, I realised the ‘secret’ ingredient — namely, Ready Brek—only came into existence in the late 1950s. So I asked my mum where she had got it from and it turns out she ripped it out of a copy of Woman’s Weekly. Whatever their origin, they are fab and that ‘secret’ ingredient tends to keep them nice and soft and chewy. Enjoy.

Ingredients

125g unsalted butter
85g caster sugar
85g soft brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
125g plain flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
150g Ready Brek
150g chocolate (either chips or a block cut into chunks)

Method

1. Cream the butter and two sugars together until nicely mixed.
2. Add the egg and vanilla essence, again till all mixed well.
3. Blend the flour², salt and bicarb together then add to the mixture.
4. Add the Ready Brek³ and mix well, you might find it easier with your hands at this point. You don’t want the consistency to be too sticky, so if you need to add a bit more Ready Brek you can do so.
5. Add the chocolate and bring the mixture together into a big doughy ball.
6. Form the dough into a long roll, like a fat sausage. The thicker the roll, the bigger your cookies will be—that’s physics, that is. Or maths.
7. Leave in the fridge for an hour or so to firm up a bit. The dough can also be frozen at this point if you want to keep it for later.
8. Once the dough is ready, cut off ¼ inch slices and bake in a preheated oven 350°F/180°C or Gas Mark 4⁴ on a greased or lined baking tray for 10 to 12 mins, or until just starting to brown.
9. They will be a bit soft when you take them out but they will set when cooled. If you prefer your cookies more crunchy than chewy, then leave them in till they go brown all over. I like them nice and soft.

Variations

I tend to use milk chocolate but you can, of course, use plain or white or a mix. The cookies in the photo are a mixture of plain and white chocolate chunks. As long as you keep the ratios about the same you could replace the chocolate with nuts, or again mix the two. I sometimes replace 50g of the Ready Brek with Horlicks, or you can do the same with cocoa. I have also used marzipan instead of chocolate.

1 That you’ll bake today.

2 Semi-interesting fact. There is no scientific evidence that sifting flour before adding it to a cake or biscuit mix does anything to improve the finished product. It might make it a bit easier to mix together but the idea of ‘adding some air’ is nonsense. I just bung it all in without sifting and my cookies are awesome.

3 This bloody stuff can get everywhere, like oaty glitter, if you aren’t careful.

4 Are Gas Marks still a thing? No idea.