I’ve had a few bad cookie experiences that left me hesitant to try baking them again. But I’ve decided to challenge myself: to face the recipes I find difficult, intimidating, or daunting — and try to get them right.

Starting with chocolate chip cookies — a classic treat tied to a few less-than-sweet memories in my kitchen.

Ingredients

  • 120g butter
  • 150g sugar
  • 1 egg
  • vanilla
  • 190g flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • salt
  • 100g chocolate chip

Instructions

  1. Cream room temperature butter with sugar until light and fluffy.
  2. Add one egg and a splash of vanilla (I use ground vanilla).
  3. In another bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and salt.
  4. Fold the dry ingredients into your butter mixture.
  5. Stir in chocolate chips — as much as you want.
  6. Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes (I prefer a full 24 hours).
  7. Bake at 170°C for about 10-12 minutes, or until the edges turn golden.

A prep tip

I like to roll the dough into a log before chilling — around 4–5 cm thick. Wrapped in cling foil, it firms up nicely. Once chilled, it’s easy to just slice it into 1 cm thick rounds and bake.

Dough "Sausage"

Reflections

Overall, I enjoyed the process of trying chocolate chip cookies this time. I made two batches, first felt like it could use a bit more flour, so that’s what I did (the recipe is updated now).

Chill Comparison

For the first batch, I tested three chill times: 24, 48, and 72 hours. The longer the dough rested, the deeper and richer the flavor became — 72 hours gave the most pronounced result.

With the second batch, I tried a quick 30-minute chill just to see how much that shorter rest would affect the flavor. It still worked, but lacked the depth of the longer chilled dough.

Baking results

The cookies spread to about 10 cm, with crisp edges and a chewy center — just how we like them. Just be careful not to overbake them (RIP 72-hour batch).

Results

This one turned out pretty great. Let’s see what comes next.