The Chocolateiest Chocolate Chip Cookie Ever

Today was the first day back at school for the last term of the year. Term 4, for those of you without kids, is like the sprint at the end of the marathon. Calendars are already filling up with concerts and performances and carols and a million other commitments ... Not surprisingly, everyone gets tired of it all very quickly and starts to get itchy for that fantastic stretch of holidays in December and January, which always arrives before any of us are ready for it.

But since today was the first day, and I wanted to start the term well (perhaps more accurately on a chocolate and sugar high), I spoilt the kids with a very yummy treat in their lunchbox - a Totally Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie. This biscuit is easily the most indulgent I have ever made. Rich and gooey with a slightly salty taste, that just makes the chocolate sing more. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm. The recipe, from Nigella Express is meant to only make 12 biscuits. I got 16 out of the mixture and each one was the size of my palm or possibly a little larger. So don't feel you need to follow Nigella's directions for 12. They freeze well, either as dough or baked so you can get temptation away from you.

I am sending this over to The I Heart Cooking Clubs midnight sneaks theme. They wanted recipes so good that they would pull you out of bed and back to the kitchen for one more morsel. This is definitely one of those - somehow they have been disappearing nibble by nibble out of the cookie jar.

Totally Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Nigella Express by Nigella Lawson

120g semisweet chocolate

1 cup flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa, sifted

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

125g soft butter

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 egg, cold from the fridge

2 cups semisweet chocolate morsels or dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 160C. Melt the chocolate gently in a heat proof bowl over simmering water. remove from heat and allow to cool. Measure the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt into a bowl. Cream the butter and two sugars in another bowl. Add the melted chocolate and mix together. Beat in the vanilla extract and cold egg, and then mix in the dry ingredients. Finally stir in the chocolate chips. Scoot out 1/4 cup-sized mounds - an ice cream scoop and a palette knife are the best tools for the job - and place on a lined baking sheet about 2-1/2 inches apart. Do not flatten them. Leave to cool on the bakign sheet for 4-5 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack to harden as they cool. Makes 12 big cookies (or 16 big cookies for me).