blue chip chocolate chip cookies

If I were to speak about foodies in general, I'd say that the one defining character about foodies is the passion to search out food and learn more about it. There's other things which come with being a foodie and in my case includes the hoarding of cookbooks, the purchasing of food shaped toys and ornaments and above all else, having say 20 chocolate chip cookies recipes (the majority of which I haven't tried making) yet I'm constantly in search of that extra one, or maybe two. There's never really quite enough!

I've recently had my copy of David Lebovitz's 'The Great Book of Chocolate' sitting by my desk and after making his recipe for congo bars, then chocolate cashew cookies, I'd gradually marked out the next recipes in line to try and lo and behold, welcome to the almighty 'Blue Chip Chocolate Chip Cookies'!

After several trips to several supermarkets over a span of weeks, the Nestle chocolate chips didn't go on sale (they are usually my brand of choice) so I resorted to trying out the Franklin's No Frills dark chocolate chips. On opening up the bag, the chips were a lot smaller but hey, just over a dollar for a bag of choc chips compared to the Nestle ones which were going for $4.25!

Preheat oven to 150 degrees. Line baking trays with baking paper. In a large bowl, beat together 100g caster sugar, 120g firmly packed light brown sugar with 115g soft unsalted butter until smooth. Then mix in 1 large egg, 1 tsp vanilla extra and 1/2 tsp baking soda. Stir in 175g plain flour and 1/4 tsp salt. Mix in 200g chocolate chips and 130g chopped toasted walnuts.

Scoop the cookie dough into roughly 1 tbsp balls, spacing them apart on the baking sheets.

Bake for 18 minutes or until pale golden brown. 

Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

If you are looking for a chocolate chip cookie recipe, look no further, this one is it! Out of the oven, these cookies are soft in the centre with a slightly crispy outer and had I not told anyone that I'd made these, you would think these came straight out of the oven at Mrs Field's (and allow me to side track here, I actually bought mum the Mrs Field's cookbook for Christmas one year and the chocolate chip cookie recipe in the book tastes nothing like the real thing!) Anyway, once these cookies have cooled down, they then taste more like the Amos cookies which are also my favourites - have I convinced you enough to make this recipe?

And hey, who said you needed to use the best chocolate you can get hold of for baking - these No Frills ones from Franklins tasted great and did that squidgy melty thing when they came out of the oven which made me grab cookie after cookie till I had to stop myself as I was making these for my catering do. So yes, I'm converted and if you haven't tried No Frill dark chocolate chips before, I do suggest you give them a go. I nearly can buy 3 bags of these as opposed to one bag of Nestle chocolate chips, I think the choice is quite obvious!