I hate email. But I love these Gooey Chocolate Chip Cookies.

I have recently discovered that I don't like email.

The thing about email is that it is non-personal.

It is quick, it is efficient and it does ass-covering well. But it is not personal.


Sometimes we say things in emails that are taken the wrong way. With no “sarcasm” font, no “I’m only joking” accent and no “I’m just testing the waters” highlight available - we are limited to smiley faces, explanations in brackets and expressions in bold -  and even then the meaning behind our words can be interpreted a million different ways.

Today I received an email that was like a slap in the face.

The words itself were not particularly harsh, and there was no profanity or abuse. Simply - the sentence in which they were formed brought me to tears and made me question some of the decisions I have made in my life. Being tired, emotional and in desperate need of a holiday probably did not help – but I was broken.

My sweetheart of a husband wiped away my tears – told me it didn’t matter and took me for a walk to get out of the house. When I came home, with a clearer head but still with a heavy heart – I broke out the scales and my beautiful Kenwood Mixmaster.

Cooking is my therapy, and somewhere between the measuring of flour and the greasing of trays, a little bit of healing takes place. Isn’t it amazing how something so simple can make you feel so much better?

So tell me dear Reader – do you find Baking therapeutic? Or is it simply a means to an end?

Gooey Chocolate Chip Cookies


250g           Unsalted Butter
1/4 cup       Caster Sugar
1/2 cup       Brown Sugar
2                  Eggs
2 tsp           Vanilla
3 1/2 cup    Plain Flour
1 1/2 tsp     Baking soda
3/4 tsp        Salt
400g           Chocolate Chips / Chunks

Method:

Cream the butter and both sugar until light and fluffy.

Continue mixing while adding the eggs one at time. Make sure each egg is incorporated before adding the next.

Add the vanilla.

Sift the flour, baking soda and salt in another bowl. With the machine on low speed, slowly add the flour. Mix until just combined, taking care not to over mix.

Use a spatula mix in the chocolate.

Spoon dessert spoon sized balls onto a greased tray leaving at least 3 inches between each cookie as they will spread as they cook.Bake at 180C for 12 minutes.

If you prefer a crisp cookie - allow to cook until evenly deep golden.

If you prefer a gooey, chewy cookie - cook until only just lightly golden but still look a little bit "wet".

** Your cookies won't look this dark or chocolately - I had completely run out of flour so subsituted approx 1/3 cup of cocoa to make up the dry ingredients... no harm done, they were still delicious but the colour was more chocolatey!