Chocolate chip cookies

Ingredients

• 225 g butter, melted and slightly cooled
• 175 g caster sugar
• 225 g soft light brown sugar
• 1 sachet (5 g) vanillin sugar or 1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla powder
• 2 eggs
• 390 g plain flour
• 1 small pinch of bicarbonate of soda
• 20 g (about 4 tsp) baking powder
• 1/2 tsp (2.5 ml) salt
• 250 g chocolate chips

Method

1. Line two baking trays with baking paper. Melt the butter and leave it to cool for about 10 minutes, until warm rather than hot.
2. Whisk the melted butter with the caster sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Add the vanilla and eggs and whisk until glossy and well combined.
3. Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt over the mixture and fold in with a spatula until no dry flour remains. Stir in the chocolate chips.
4. Cover the dough and chill it for 30 minutes; rested dough spreads less in the oven. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180°C (conventional, top and bottom heat).
5. Roll the dough into walnut-sized balls (about 45 g each), place them 5 cm apart on the trays and press them down lightly.
6. Bake one tray at a time on the middle shelf for 10-12 minutes, until the edges are golden and the centres still look soft.
7. Leave the cookies on the tray for 5 minutes, then move them to a wire rack to cool.

Note: For a soft centre, take the cookies out while they still look slightly underdone, as they keep cooking on the hot tray.