Basic Cookie Dough

As far as I am concerned this is the best cookie dough recipe ever! I've added a few suggestions for different variations but ultimately its down to your own imagination. Start with either Chocolate Chip or Choc Chunk and work from there.   Don't skimp by trying to use margerine instead of butter, you will taste the difference.



225g Butter
225g Sugar
1 egg yolk
a few drops of vanilla
250g Flour
half a tsp of baking soda
100g of choc chips**

Method

1. Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
2. Add egg yolk and vanilla and mix thoroughly
3. Sift flour baking and baking soda in a separate bowl.
4. Fold in flour and chips until you form a dough. Taste if its a good dough you'll know at this stage.
5. Roll into a sausage shape about the width of salami and wrap tightly in cling film. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour (you can also freeze the dough and defrost as you need it)
6. Preheat the oven to 190C
7. Slice dough in 1cm pieces. Place individual slices on a baking sheet with a layer of baking parchment/paper underneath (do not use greaseproof it will stick!). Be warned that they double in size. The amount for this recipe fills two solid shelves in my oven. (Roughly 12 cookies per shelf).
8. Bake a tray at a time in the middle of the oven. They typically bake in 15 mins or so but keep an eye on them they burn easily.
9. Remove from the oven and let them cool and harden a little on the baking sheet before moving to a wire cooling rack because they will be soft coming out of the oven.

Variations
Chocolate Chunks - Tesco make an Valu brand chocolate for 39c a bar and if you put the bar still in its wrapper on a chopping board and break it up with the wrong side of the blade of your heaviest knife you'll get some lovely chunks. When you open the wrapper you may still have to chop the chocolate further (roughly 1/4 a segment of a chocolate bar). Do not use Cadburys Dairymilk chocolate - it burns.
Multi-coloured - Smarties don't retain their colour but M&M.
For Peanut lovers - Reeses pieces are a great combo with peanut M&Ms.
Dark Choc & Nut - Walnuts or Pecan Nuts go well with dark chocolate.
White Chocolate and dried cranberry/raspberry
Cinema Floor Cookies - These are my favourite. I worked in the cinema over in Banbury Oxfordshire when I was 19. This is everything that wound up on the cinema floor except popcorn and then some; Mars Planets, Revels, Peanut M&Ms