Chocolate Chip Cookies

Another week, another item on my 50 list. This week 'The Quest for the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie' - I know, such high aspirations! Given that we keep hens in our garden and always have a surplus of eggs, I usually feel a pang of guilt if I venture down the supermarket biscuit aisle. To be fair, with a bit of deep breathing, I can usually manage to overcome said guilt but, occasionally, I show inner strength and vow to MAKE MY OWN. During the holidays, L&E enjoy baking and can rattle off some jolly good cakes, but one thing which has so far eluded us is a decent cookie which retains its shape and looks like those in the recipe books. Perhaps it's the fault of my cooker? - a range type affair with gas hob and electric oven which, although looking good, isn't really a patch on the old 1950s gas oven which we inherited on moving to our last house. It moved with us to our current abode but was brutally replaced for something more aesthetically pleasing when we updated the kitchen. Shallow person that I am, my cakes have never been as good since. 

Whatever the reason, my cookies fail to retain their proper shape and usually spread to form one mega uni-cookie, occupying the entire baking tray. They taste OK but lack the full cookie experience. Having recently watched an old episode of 'Nigella Express', I was inspired by her recipe for 'Totally Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies'. Dusting off my copy of the accompanying book, I ventured supermarketwards (is that a word?) for the necessaries. Maybe it's the ingredients, maybe it's the fact that she uses an ice-cream scoop to deposit the cookie dough on the baking sheet. Whatever it is, it actually worked and the little beauties came out of the oven looking like - well, cookies! The recipe actually made slightly more than the stated 12, so I followed Ms. Lawson's advice and froze the remaining mixture in little cookie shaped mounds for future moments of crisis necessitating chocolatey comfort. Below are the photos of 'the quest':

PS. I forgot to mention - they taste jolly good too!