Double Choc-Chip Cookies

125g unsalted butter, softened
1 cup (250g) firmly packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 ½ cups (225g) plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
salt
100g good quality chocolate, roughly chopped

½ cup chopped walnuts (optional)

100g while chocolate, roughly chopped

Pre-heat oven to 180⁰C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
Place butter and brown sugar in a bowl and heat with electric beaters until pale. Add vanilla and egg and continue to beat until just combined. Sift in the flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt and fold to combine. Stir through the chunks of dark and white chocolate.
Place tablespoonfuls of mixture 4-5 cm apart on the tray. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Store cookies in an airtight container for 2-3 days (if you can).

N.B. I used just 200g dark chocolate instead of half white and half brown chocolate.

Makes 16 cookies.
The Story Behind the Recipe

"Mummy, you know how to make biscuits?" asked in wide-eyed wonder my 5 year old Crown Prince, who used to be the sous-chef to Diana's scone-making marathons if he was home from kindergarten in 1989.

I told him that anyone could cook anything they liked if they knew how to follow a recipe. After all, it was just like a science experiment, wasn't it?

The kids routinely made biscuits for weekday afternoon teas every Monday afternoon until the last child left home in 2004, and we had scones or banana loaf most Sunday afternoons. The Crown Prince was the ring leader in the Monday cookie making marathon, as you can imagine. It wasn't until he was about 10 years old that he settled on his favourite recipe - choc chip cookies.

This isn't exactly the recipe that David used back from 1995 until he left home in 2002, but it is pretty close to it. I've stopped worrying about domestic finances and calorie content and put in rich, dark chocolate of the sinful kind!

I wasn’t a confident cook when I was young. My aim with the kids in a kitchen was therefore to get them using a kitchen to its fullest capacity with confidence (i.e. learning to choose recipes, writing shopping lists by knowing what they used in the kitchen each week, learning how to cook, and cleaning up after themselves) and having fun (and maybe before they all left home have them cook one night per week each and eat pizza on pay-day Wednesdays).

It worked brilliantly! I still remember David making something for everyone to eat and comparing recipe picture in the book and what was on the plate in front of him. Nowadays, I often see on Facebook what he and Nadia have conjured up in their kitchen and when I am on the East Coast enjoy dinner at their place when I can.

Source: Delicious Baking book published 2012