"The Way the Cookie Crumbles"

'That's the way the cookie crumbles' once said Bruce Almighty. Well this is what you would feel like after baking and eating these super easy, rich and delicious mini cookies with chocolate bits all through them. I made them and started writing the recipe right away and I am looking at the bowl now, where are just a few left. 

The truth is that I was watching tons of cookie videos online, but always thought that they will not be THAT good. It is crazy, I was a cookie skeptic. I used to always buy that kind and enjoy them very much, but the idea of chewy cookies just did not sound appealing to me. I loved them crispy and crumbly. One day however I decided that is the whole American nation loves them, maybe I should give them a try too. Also I am perfectly aware that homemade is always better. I looked at some recipes to check what they call for and had a look at what I had in my pantry. I didn't had some of the ingredients, but it was easy for me to make some swaps. In the end I ended up with a complete new recipe, that is even better than the "original". I have made the cookies with all the right ingredients that most recipes call for, but I did not like the result, so here is my version of chocolate chunk cookies. 

Ingredients:

1 stick of room temperature butter (125g) 

1 egg

4 tbs molasses (really dark and sticky brown sugar)

4 tbs powdered sugar  

1 tsp lemon juice

1/2 cup of coconut shreds

vanilla 

a pinch of salt

1 tsp baking soda

chopped chocolate (one bar)

flour

This recipe can be made with a whisk, hand mixer or standing mixer. It is really forgiving and you can taste it and adjust the ingredients up to your liking. For example if you add too much flour you can always add some more butter or another egg. 

We start with creaming the butter and both sugars. In a bowl we put first the butter and beat it for a few minutes until it becomes creamy, then add the sugars and keep mixing them until incorporated. The molasses gives this recipe richness and some chewiness, also compliments the chocolate, but the white sugar keeps the cookies crisp. If you like these sweet treats on the crumbly side feel free to add even more butter. 

Next step is adding the egg, vanilla and lemon juice and mixing them too. In a separate bowl mix 4 tbs of flour with the salt, soda, your coconut shreds and half of the chocolate. Mix them well and add them to the butter mixture. Again with a fork, whisk or mixer keep incorporating the dry and the wet ingredients. Then check your dough consistency - you should be able to roll a bowl out of it without it sticking to your hands or leaving residue. If it is too runny or sticky keep adding flour or even coconut shreds. You don't taste them, but they give nice texture. I ended up adding 5 more tbs of flour until I got my dough to the right consistency.

Now it is the time to turn on your oven to 170'C, prepare a backing tray lined with backing paper and start rolling your cookie dough into balls. You can make them as big or as little as you want, just keep in mind that the time for backing will vary depending on the size. I rolled my balls on the smaller side as I wanted to make mini cookies (hello portion control :) ) but they do spread quite a bit. On my tray I placed 16 small balls and on top I added a few chocolate chunks from the remaining half a bar. Then put them in the oven for about 8 min, or until they are starting to get golden brown. When you touch them they will be firmer on the outside, but still soft in the center. this is the best time to take them out and let them cool on a cooling rack. I didn't had one, so I made one myself. I put the wire rack from my oven on top of a few cups and cooled the cookies on top, so the air could circulate around them. Once they cool completely they become nice and crispy, with chewy bits around the chocolate pieces. 

The time this recipe took me was exactly 1 hour form start to finish, as I baked 4 trays of 16 cookies (and ate quite a lot of them while cooling too). It is easy, quick and absolutely delicious, which means that I will be making it more often over the weekends. I hope you try it too and love it as much as I do.