Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies (with Gluten Free Variation)

by Kylie Foster June 30, 2019

Our Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies are a little bit old school and will remind you of your childhood lunch box. With just the right balance of crispy, buttery and sweet, and the perfect amount of chocolate, it'll be hard to stop at one.  These are a great lunch box filler or after school snack.

The gluten free variation is perfect for those with gluten sensitive tummies.

Makes 30 biscuits

Ingredients:

250 g butter (slightly softened)
4 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup raw golden sugar (or plain white sugar)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 cups white spelt flour (or stoneground or plain white flour) *
2 teaspoons baking powder **
150 g dark chocolate (50% cocoa or more)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to approx. 180oC.
2. Place butter, condensed milk, sugar and vanilla essence into a bowl and beat until light and fluffy. Use the paddle attachment on your cake mixer, a handheld electric beater or wooden spoon (this will take time). Your mixture is ready when it is much much lighter in colour and fluffy.
3. Add sifted flour and baking powder and mix to combine.
4. Add the chocolate and mix to combine.
5. Take walnut sized amounts of mixture and roll into balls. Place onto a greased or baking paper lined oven tray and then flatten using a fork. I usually spread these across 2 oven trays.
6. Place into the oven and bake until lightly browned. This will take approx. 15-20 mins but check on your biscuits regularly to avoid burning. Swap the trays over halfway through baking especially if your oven is uneven with its heating. 

Gluten free variation:

* Replace the 2 cups of spelt flour with 1 cup of brown rice flour, 1/2 cup of buckwheat and 1/2 cup of tapioca starch. 

** Ensure your baking powder is gluten free.

Notes on ingredients:

• The butter needs to be slightly softened. Leaving it at room temperature for a few hours works well outside the height of summer. If your butter is too soft then you will get a very soft dough form and a lot of spread in the oven.
• You can use either unsalted or salted butter. I quite like a little salt with sweet flavours so happily use salted butter in this recipe.
• You will have more sweetened condensed milk than you need from the can. This stores well in the fridge otherwise you could place it in the freezer (in either case, transfer it to a sealable container).
• It's easy to add more condensed milk than required, especially as it thickens a lot when cold so the tablespoon measures are fuller than expected. This will give you a slightly softer dough which may cause your biscuits to spread more in the oven. They will still be delicious.
• If you dough feels too soft, place it back into the fridge for about 15 min to firm up. This will stop your biscuits from spreading too much in the oven.
• I don't use chocolate chips or buttons. I use a block of chocolate (Whittakers or Trade Aid) and chop it up. I prefer these biscuits with bigger chunks of 72% dark chocolate, my children prefer smaller chunks of 50% dark chocolate - I often use a mix of both.

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