It’s more than 6 months since I saw my grandson Rex and his mum Jaz, who also happens to be one of my very best friends. In fact I have only seen them half a dozen times in the last 18 months due to my busy travel schedule before the COVID-19 pandemic struck and the limited opportunities to travel ever since. But we’ve managed to stay in touch via weekly video calls and now that Rex is able to able to talk we regularly catch up for a chat. And we often have ‘cooking with nonna’ sessions at the weekend which are an absolute joy. Today we made soft, gooey choc chip cookies, perfect with a long distance cup of tea!

Ingredients

125g butter, softened
80g brown sugar
80g caster sugar
1 egg
200g white flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
200g chocolate or choc chips
A splash of milk

Method

Start by creaming the butter with the sugar then beat the egg and mix in well.

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It’s always nice to have a little helper albeit that mine was 1,400km away!

Next chop up the chocolate bars with a sharp knife and add to the mixture. I used a combination of dark and milk chocolate but you can also include white chocolate if you prefer. Sieve in the flour and baking powder and mix well. You are looking for a thick dough that can be rolled into balls. Add a splash of milk if needed to loosen the mixture.

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Roll the mixture into balls about the size of a walnut and place on a greased making tray making sure that you leave enough room for them to spread out. I had enough dough for 30 medium sized cookies. Place the tray in a pre-heated oven (180C) for 7 to 10 minutes depending how soft or crispy you like your cookies.

Once you’ve removed the cookies from the oven, leave them on the baking tray for 5 minutes to firm up before moving to a cooling rack.

Then get the kettle on and share a cup of tea and a soft, gooey choc chip cookie with your favourite small (or big) person.

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