Chocolate Chip Cookies

So, at the request of my mum (any excuse to bake!), I rustled up some cookies for her tennis friends one Sunday. Apparently the freshly baked cookies went down very well mid-play!
I've still yet to master cookies that rise and stay risen, I always find that once you take them out of the oven they still go flat, but are still tasty!

Mixing it up

I creamed 350g of soft light brown sugar with 225g butter - I used a mix of Stork margarine and unsalted butter, I suppose that makes them a little healthier?!
Add 2 eggs, I do one at a time to stop it from curdling. I like to bake with the fresh eggs our friends donate to my baking fund regularly. Lovely yellow yolk and a guarantee of freshness! When we run out, I run to Waitrose! Mix in half a tsp of vanilla essence.

I got some lovely new measuring spoons for my birthday

Add 400g plain flour, half a tsp salt, 2 and 1/4 tsps bicarb and mix it all together to create the dough. Be warned... flour may get slightly everywhere here. Add it bit by bit if you want to keep your kitchen clean. Mix in 200-250g chocolate chips/roughly chopped chocolate. The weight depends on how much of it you eat as you go, and I used dark, milk and white chocolate chips to give a nice variety. A bit of rich and a bit of sweet.

Stirring in the chocolatey goodness

Roll in to small balls and place on greased baking trays. Warning, this recipe makes a lot... it made the 24 my mum wanted, and then some. Probably about another 24, I didn't count them all but there were plenty. So I ate about 3, and then made sure I gave the rest away to friends. Resist temptation!

One of many baking trays full

Bake at 170°C for 10(ish) minutes. You will know if they're not cooked, it depends on how big you make them, but they should still be soft when you take them out of the oven, otherwise they will be over-baked and far too crunchy (for my liking).

The finished product

Also, I went to a new exercise class last night, FitSteps. Helping to burn off all the sugar consumed when testing the mixture! FitSteps was created with the help of Strictly Come Dancing (looking forward to the new series now that they have paired up the professionals and celebrities) by professional dancers Ian Waite and Natalie Lowe, along with British swimmer Mark Foster. A mixture of graceful ballroom steps and Latin energy, this is "Fitness that is 'Strictly' fun". I can't say I'm a pro at it yet though, and am looking forward to get lively at Zumba tonight - that doesn't confuse my feet quite so much!