Recipe: Nigella's Big Chocolate Chip Cookies Two Ways (2024)

These scrumptious cookies offer 'tender chewiness with an edge of crisp bite.'

Am I the last person to fall in love with bestselling author and British domestic goddess Nigella Lawson? The woman is a hoot, and I haven't even seen her Food Network shows. Nigella Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home is Nigella's eighth cookbook but—should I even be admitting this?—my first. Her books have sold over five million copies.

This one is a 3¾ pound (yes, I actually weighed it), 512-page, full-color hardcover that's packed with 190 inspiring recipes, 60 of which are 'express-style,' and makes me want to both crack up laughing and cook.

All I've actually made from it so far are four batches of these wonderful chocolate chip cookies, but this book has already given me several hours of enjoyment and has spent more time in my hands during the last few months than any of my other cookbooks.

Do you have any favorite Nigella cookbooks and/or recipes? I'd love to hear about them. And what about a favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe?

They even call for melted butter rather than creamed, which seems to be all the rage these days, but which I actually started doing out of desperation back in 1985 when, on a whim, I started selling chocolate chip cookies at the little takeout restaurant I ran with my boyfriend and we didn't have an electric mixer.

One of the best things about homemade chocolate chip cookies is that there are endless variations. Change just one or two little things, and you'll often end up with a completely different cookie. What's even better is that no matter how you make your chocolate chip cookies, they almost always taste delicious.

The first time Itried this recipe, I prided myself on how carefully I had followed the instructions—until I realized I'd added two sticks of butter (16 tablespoons) instead of just 10 tablespoons. They were still really good. "Very buttery!" was my hunky farmguy's response.

Another time, out of habit, I baked the first tray at 350 degrees (above right) instead of 325 degrees (above left). As you can see, even just that small temperature variation makes a difference.

The second time I made these, my lazy baking ways kicked in and I skipped some of the fussier directions: using superfine sugar rather than regular old granulated, one egg plus one egg yolk instead of two whole eggs, letting the butter cool after melting, using an electric mixer, and letting the cookies cool on the baking sheet 5 minutes before transferring them onto a wire rack. The resulting cookies were different but still delicious. I also added a little salt to both versions.

I made my own superfine sugar by whizzing granulated sugar in my countertop blender on the 'liquify' setting for about 15 to 20 seconds. It worked perfectly.

Nigella's Big Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 12 to 14 approx. 3½" cookies (depending on how much you like cookie dough)

Slightly adapted from Nigella Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home

Nigella calls for milk chocolate chips. I tried both milk and semi-sweet and liked the semi-sweet better, but that's just personal preference. Bittersweet chocolate chips would also be good. Sometimes I make my chocolate chip cookies with a mixture of two or three different kinds of chips, and people always love them.

This dough has a high chip to dough ratio. Cookie dough that is dense with chocolate chips doesn't spread much. In this version, I flattened the scoops of dough slightly with a metal spatula before baking them so I would end up with slightly larger cookies. I also liked them better with about 1/3 cup less than a full bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips.

I think both versions taste best the first 24 hours after baking, but they freeze well.

Ingredients:

10 Tablespoons (1¼ sticks) salted organic butter (Nigella uses unsalted)

2/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar

1/2 cup superfine sugar (I just whizzed granulated sugar in the blender)

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 large farm fresh egg, refrigerator-cold

1 large farm fresh egg yolk, refrigerator-cold

2 cups organic all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 (11½ or 12-ounce) bag semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips (or a little less)

Instructions:

Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line a heavy duty baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper (when I bake cookies, I just use the same piece of parchment for the entire batch).

Melt the butter and let it cool slightly (I put mine in the freezer). Put the brown and white sugars into a bowl, pour the slightly cooled, melted butter over them, and beat together with a hand held electric mixer (Nigella uses aKitchenAid mixer).

Beat in the vanilla, the cold egg, and the cold egg yolk until your mixture is light and creamy, about 1 to 2 minutes.

Slowly mix in the flour, baking soda, and salt until just blended, then fold in the chocolate chips.

Using a 1/4-cup round scoop, drop the cookies onto the prepared baking sheet (I put fit 6 or 7 cookies this size on a sheet). Flatten the cookies slightly with a metal spatula if desired. Keep the bowl of the cookie dough in the refrigerator between batches.

Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Eat within a day or two or freeze.

Nigella's Freeze note (I didn't try this):

Unbaked cookie dough can be scooped onto parchment-lined baking sheets and frozen until solid. Transfer frozen dough to resealable bags and freeze for up to 3 months. Bake direct from frozen, as directed in recipe but adding an extra 2 to 3 minutes to baking time.

This batch was made with milk chocolate chips.

Nigella's Big Chocolate Chip Cookies, the Less Fuss Version

Makes 12 to 14 approx. 3½" cookies

Adapted from Nigella Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home

Ingredients:

10 Tablespoons (1¼ sticks) organic salted butter

2/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 large farm fresh eggs

2 cups organic all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 (11½ to 12-ounce) bag semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips (or a little less)

Instructions:

Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line a heavy duty baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper.

Melt the butter and place it in a large mixing bowl. (I melt my butter in a large stainless steel mixing bowl set right over the lowest heat on a gas oven burner, then add the rest of the ingredients to it).

Using a large rubber spatula, stir in the sugars. Add the vanilla and eggs and stir until well combined.

Add the flour, baking soda, and salt and stir until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Using a 1/4-cup round scoop, drop the cookies onto the prepared baking sheet. If you have the space, keep the bowl of cookie dough in the refrigerator between batches; otherwise, don't worry about it.

Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Transfer the cookies to a wire cooling rack. Eat within a day or two or freeze.

More Farmgirl Fare recipes for cookies with chocolate chips:

Can't survive on just chocolate chip cookies? You'll find links to all my sweet and savory Less Fuss, More Flavor recipes in the Farmgirl Fare Recipe Index.

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, where you'll find recipes, stories, and photos from my crazy country life on 240 remote Missouri acres—and usuallya stash of homemade chocolate chip cookies in the freezer.