Thursday 25 March 2010

Flat pack chocolate chip cookies

Reorganising our home seems to be an ongoing project. Every now and again it gets a new burst of life with a visit to Ikea. Just a few weeks ago we went to Ikea and bought a flat pack cupboard. E put it together over a couple of days. I made some condensed milk choc chip cookies for him as a reward for his work.


We find it hard to go to Ikea and not be tempted by bits and pieces. In fact, one piece of the cupboard was missing and I had to return today to buy this $4 item and found myself with quite an armful of stuff we needed. I saw a woman queuing at the check out with only one item and I admired her self-control. We just can't resist a gloomy grey cat or a kiddie saucepan set.

In a similar way, I can't resist a new choc chip cookie recipe. Despite a book dedicated to choc chip cookie recipes, oodles of bookmarks and recipes copied from cookbooks, I still noted the recipe on a condensed milk tin with interest. It was so simple and had no eggs. I first made these quite a few weeks ago when we had a social evening at Sylvia's child care centre. It seemed a good recipe to have in reserve in case my plum muffins didn't work. The child care centre is not only nut free but also egg free as many children seem to have allergies.

In the end, I was glad the muffins worked out because I got a little distracted while the cookies were baking. I had foolishly decided not to put on the oven timer for the first batch because Sylvia was sleeping and you can see the result. When it came to the second batch I didn't want to repeat my forgetfulness and so I used the timer. Sylvia slept right through. I try not to tip toe around her too much when she is sleeping, but some days I just don't want any excuse for her not to sleep.

These cookies were a bit like the little girl who had a little curl right in the middle of her forehead - when they were good they were very very good but when they were burnt they were horrid. We managed to save some of the less burnt ones by crumbling them over yoghurt and raspberries that had a drizzle of maple syrup added to them. I can highly recommend this rescue remedy.

E was also pleased that the cookies didn't go to the social evening. He loved them so much he told me not to worry about dinner, he would just eat 10 of these. They were very moreish and I was glad they could keep well in the freezer so I could keep them out of the path of temptation.

The first lot of cookies that I made had butter and I substituted some soy flour and baking powder for half a cup of the self raising flour. They had a more rounded shape and were chewier. The second time I used Nuttalex vegan margarine. I assume it was the butter rather than the soy flour that made the difference. Both times I found the dough too soft to roll them out and flatten slightly as the recipe said.

This recipe confirms my belief that condensed milk makes everything taste great but I think my next batch of choc chip cookies might see me reverting to one with oats for a bit of texture and nutritional oomph. However given that E loves them so much, I suspect there will be opportunities to experiment with this recipe further.

Choc Chip Cookies with Condensed Milk
From the Nestle Condensed Milk Label
makes about 4 dozen

180g butter or margarine, softened
⅓ cup sugar (I used loosely packed brown sugar)
½ cup condensed milk
1½ cups self raising flour
250g dark choc chips
½ cup white choc chips

Preheat oven to 180 C.

Beat butter and sugar til creamy (I used a spoon). Add condensed milk and beat once more till creamy. Stir in flour and choc chips til combined.

The mixture will be quite stiff but mine was not stiff enough to roll into balls as the recipe directed. I just dropped teaspoonfuls onto a baking tray covered in baking paper. (I tried silicone mats and found they weren't great for these cookies.)

Bake for 12-15 minutes* or until just starting to colour - err on the side of less cooked here rather than overcooked. Leave on tray for about 10 minutes and then transfer onto a wire rack to cool. These are delicious eaten warm but they keep for a few days and keep very well in the freezer.

Update September 2016 - made these this week and found that 10-12 minutes is probably more accurate for the timing.  Even 12 minutes seem to brown them as much as you would want and as my oven is pretty slow this is probably more than some oven's need.  They only need a little bit of golden brown around the edges to be done. Update 2018 - We accidentally made these with plain wholemeal flour and don't recommend this.  I made another batch and updated the top photo.

On the Stereo:
self titled - Tracy Chapman

11 comments:

  1. I couldn't agree more! condensed milk makes everything taste better!

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  2. That sounds like less a rescue rememdy than a reason to burn one's cookies. :) If only someone would come out with a dairy-free sweetened condensed milk. I guess it's possible, as there's that soy evaporated milk now?!

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  3. Oooh, yum! I used to eat condensed milk straight! Combined with chocolate chips, I bet these were amazing. My mum used to scrape the burnt bits off with a steak knife if we ever had such a kitchen fiasco, but for the overall-overdone ones, crumbling over yogurt sounds good, too. :)

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  4. Why should I resist chocolate chip cookies? Right, I didn't think there could possibly be even one reason let alone a good one.
    Funny, my favorite chocolate chip cookies have oatmeal in them too.

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  5. These cookies look great, and you're right - condensed milk makes everything good.

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  6. I've never had condensed milk in a cookie before - sounds like they produce wonderful chewy cookies. I done the same thing with not bothering to set the oven timer and then got distracted. Glad you were able to save some.

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  7. I'm sold. You put condensed milk in anything and I want it. I eat tins and tins of that stuff. It's my one vice. These cookies look great. Love that there are loads of choc chips!

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  8. i adore condensed milk and the picture of your sylvia. looks wonderful.

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  9. Thanks Vickys - hear hear

    thanks hannah - I have seen vegan versions of condensed milk - after all it is just a sweetened and boiled down version of milk - maybe you could sweeten the soy evaporated milk

    Thanks Ricki - I have learnt the scraping burnt bits off with a knife from my mum too

    Thanks tanna - nope, can't think of any reasons to resist choc chip cookies - and if they have oatmeal they are health food aren't they :-)

    Thanks Cakelaw - not sure they all looked great but at least there were some great cookies among them

    Thanks Katie - highly recommend you try the condensed milk - but remember the oven timer!

    Thanks Elizabeth and jared - condensed milk is good enough to eat straight out of the tin - and always great with chocolate

    Thanks Maybelle's mum - yes sylvia is a cutie except late at night when she wont sleep

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  10. Haha I love how you compared these cookies to the girl with a curl in her hair. I'm always interested in baking recipes that use condensed milk! Must save this recipe.

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  11. Condensed milk does make things taste so much better :D We also find it hard to resist Ikea, especially the food and the 50c ice creams :D

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