Leave One Out For Santa: 5 Chefs Share Their Favourite Cookie Recipes

Method

1. Melt the two first chocolates with the butter over a bain-marie (a pot of water with a bowl on top). Whisk the eggs, vanilla, salt and sugar until they double in volume – similar to whipped cream.
2. Sieve the dry ingredients together. Fold the eggs into the chocolate, then add the dry ingredients and lastly, the 220g milk chocolate.
3. Chill the mixture for a few hours or even better, overnight.
4. Weigh 45g and roll into small balls, place onto a silpat mat, leaving them spaced apart. Cook at 160°C for 15 minutes.
5. Oven must be pre-heated. Space the cookie dough when on the tray.
6. When cooked, remove the tray from the oven and leave to rest for 10 minutes – they will feel very soft but trust me they will set when cool!

Method

In a large mixing bowl whisk the soft butter until fluffy and pale, now add the brown sugar, whisk until well incorporated, now add half the flour with the baking powder and cocoa powder and mix well, now add the eggs one at a time, add the vanilla, orange zest and mix well, add the rest of the flour, walnuts and chocolate pieces and mix well.

Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and take a rounded teaspoon of mixture and put on the tray. Make sure you space each spoonful at least 5cm apart, place into a preheated oven at 190c/Gas mark 5 for 10 minutes.  Remove when they start to turn slightly brown on the edges.  Carefully lift each cookie on to a wire rack to cool.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170°c. Sieve and mix together the flour, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Set aside.
2. Cream the butter and both sugars until fluffy.
3. Fold in the dries until nearly combined, it should still look crumbly and a bit unmixed to avoid over working the gluten.
4. Then add the chocolate, hazelnuts and cacao nibs. Mix together until just incorporated. You want to mix as little as possible.
5. Mould the dough into a log, with a diameter of 8cm. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate overnight or for a minimum of 2 hours.
6. Cut 1.5cm slices, weighing 60-70g each and place onto a baking tray.
7. Bake in the oven for 12 minutes. Could go a little longer for a crunchier texture or a bit less for a chewier biscuit. Leave to cool down before eating for optimum shortbread crunch.

Method

1. With an electric whisk, beat butter and sugar until fluffy, add egg and vanilla, then add miso. Whisk to come together.
2. Sift in flour and powders and then fold together with a big spoon.
3. Add the chocolate chips and form into balls of 90g, cover and refrigerate for at least an hour. (Or overnight)
4. Place balls onto a lined baking tray and bake in a well preheated oven (160fan/180c convection) for 14 minutes. Leave to cool on the tray. You want them a little under baked, to be still damp in the middle at this stage, set with a good crust on the outside but with good chew in the middle.

To make the cookie dough:

• Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl, rubbing the mixture together to break up the sugar. Add the Vanilla extract, beaten eggs and melted butter, mix well to form a dough. Allow the dough to sit for 10 minutes to rest and firm up.
• Scoop and weigh 30g balls and place onto plastic trays lined with baking paper rolling them into even sized balls.

To bake the cookies:

1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees. Line a baking tray with baking paper making sure the paper is totally flat.
2. Place 4 balls of dough onto the tray spaced evenly and making sure they do not spread on to the raised edges of the tray.
3. Bake for exactly 10 minutes and no longer! Even if they look a bit under done. This will ensure the middle is soft and chewy.
4. Remove from the oven and tap the tray on your surface to flatten out the cookies.
5. After 10 minutes of cooling, using a pallet knife, lift them off carefully onto a cooling wire.
6. Repeat the above steps until you have baked all of your cookies and once they are all cool – pair them into even sizes.

To make the dark sea salted caramel:

1. In a medium sized saucepan melt the butter, sea salt and sugar. Bring to the simmer and then stir constantly for exactly 2 minutes.
2. Take off the heat and add the cream, mixing well.
3. Whisk in the chocolate until it’s fully melted and tip into a container. Once completely cold, refrigerate for half an hour.

To sandwich the cookies:

1. Have 200g of melted milk chocolate in a small bowl at a temperature of 45°c
2. Chop another 100g of milk chocolate into small pieces and mix it into the melted milk chocolate until fully melted. This is called seeding and will temper your chocolate so it’s smooth and sets evenly.
3. Lay the cookies onto your work surface with the underside facing upwards. Lift one cookie on to the scales and spoon on 20g of caramel into the centre and repeat with half of the cookies.
4. Spoon or use a piping bag to pipe a ring of milk chocolate around the edge of the caramel to surround the caramel with a halo of chocolate.
5. Sandwich another cookie on top of each and press until the milk chocolate nearly reaches the edge of the cookies and pop in the fridge for 15 minutes to set.
6. Store your cookies airtight to keep them fresh for two weeks.