Best Ever Choc Chip Cookies

I take no credit for these cookies. I seem to be fine with rolled cookies (like sugar cookies and gingerbread), but when I try to make chocolate chip cookies, they always seem to turn as hard as rocks by the next day. So these choc chip cookies here are entirely the work of Sir D, who ended up having to bake these because he lost a bet with me (ha!).

I'm lucky to have a boy who can bake, because these were the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever tasted. Were they the result of the awesome recipe by Jacques Torres (aka Mr Chocolate) or due to Sir D's hidden baking talents? We'll never know, but I do know that they were soft, with slightly crisp edges, incredibly chocolatey and so addictive. I swear that Sir D had scoffed down about 4 of them within 5 minutes of them being ready. The best thing about these cookies though is that if you can stop yourself eating them all straight out of the oven, they're just as good the day after.

The original recipe makes large (around 12cm wide) cookies, but we wanted normal sized cookies (and also the quantities seemed rather large) so we decided to halve the recipe. Once we bit into the cookies though, we were sorry that we made half the dough, because it meant fewer cookies for us to eat! You can keep this dough refrigerated for up to 3 days or roll the dough into balls and freeze them. But trust me, you won't have to do that because the cookies will be gone before you know it.

Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies
adapted from this Jacques Torres recipe

Makes 18 large cookies, or 60 normal-sized cookies

480g plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 1/2 tsp coarse sea salt
280g unsalted butter
280g lightly packed light brown sugar
225g caster sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
500g to 550g bittersweet chocolate (at least 60% cacao content), cut into large chunks
Sea salt for garnish

1. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl. Set aside. Cream butter and sugars together for about 5 minutes or until light and fluffy.

2. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in vanilla.

3. Add flour mixture, mixing at lowest speed until just combined. Add the chocolate chunks and mix in gently by hand. Wrap dough in plastic and refrigerate for 24 hours (the hardest part!).

4. Preheat fan-forced oven to 160˚C (or 180ºC for a normal oven, if you don't have fan-forced). Roll dough into 6 x 5cm balls for large cookies, or 12 x 2cm balls for normal-sized cookies. Place the balls at least 3cm apart (about 5cm for large cookies) on a baking tray lined with a silicone liner or baking paper. Sprinkle a few grains of salt on each ball of dough and bake until cookies are golden around the edges and cooked through, but still soft (around 12-15 minutes for normal-sized cookies, 18-20 minutes for large cookies). Repeat with remaining dough, or refrigerate until you want to make another batch.

5. Let the cookies cool for 3 to 5 minutes on the tray. They are best eaten when warm and straight out of the oven. If they will not be eaten right away, transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely before storing.