My favourite cookie base recipe, studded with mini eggs and milk chocolate chunks. Chilling the dough in the fridge stops them from spreading in the oven which makes these cookies thick and chunky New York style - it also allows the flour and sugar to 'hydrate' and soak up the liquids in the dough, creating a soft, cakey-centred cookie
Total time to make : 90 minutes (including 1hr chill time) Time to prep : 15 minutes
Time to bake : 20 minutes
Servings : 6 large cookies
Ingredients
180g butter, room temperature
35g light brown sugar
150g condensed milk*
225g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla paste or essence
160g mini eggs
100g chocolate chips/chunks/roughly chopped up bar of chocolate or smashed easter eggs
Method
Put the mini eggs in a ziplock bag and use a rolling pin to partially crush the mini eggs (I like to leave a few eggs whole to top the cookies with).
Cream the butter, sugar, vanilla and condensed milk together in a bowl until soft and smooth with no clumps.
Combine the dry ingredients in a seperate bowl and gently stir to mix everything together, then tip this into the wet mix bowl. Use a wooden spoon or spatula to mix everything together until it forms the cookie dough base. The dough should be firm and sticky to touch.
Gently fold in 3/4 of the crushed mini eggs and 3/4 of chocolate chips or chunks and mix through until evenly distributed. I keep a few of the whole eggs and chocolate chunks to the side to press into the cookies just as they're finished baking.
Pull off some of the dough and roll it between the palms of your hands into a ball. This is easier to do with washed, still slightly damp hands. To get the cookies super even in size, you can weigh them (they should be between 110 - 120g each). Place your dough balls onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper and repeat until you have 6. Place these into the fridge to chill for at least 1 hour*.
Just before you're ready to bake, preheat a fan oven to 180ºC and line some baking trays with non-stick baking paper. I fit 4 x cookies per tray as they do spread, so you might need 2 trays.
Once the dough has chilled, remove from the fridge place on the prepared baking trays. No need to press the cookie down at all, in the oven the ball will melt down a little to create those domed, thick, New York style cookies.
Bake for 12 - 15 minutes, they should be slightly golden on the edges and they'll look a little under-baked in the middle - and this is what we want! As soon as they're out the oven, press on the remaining mini eggs and chocolate chips and chunks and leave them on the hot baking tray until they're cool to touch. They will continue to bake even outside of the oven (from the hot tray) and have soft and chewy centres once cooled. Keep them in the oven for 2 minutes longer if you like them crunchier.
Nutritional Information
(per cookie)
420 calories
6g protein, 45g carbs, 25g fat
Good to know:
Giving the dough time to hydrate (chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour) is really important. If you're in a rush, you can put them in the freezer for 30 minutes.
Dough can be kept in the fridge for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Store in ready made cookie-dough balls then bake straight from frozen for about 15 - 18 minutes.
This recipe required condensed milk. There is no alternative swap out - make sure you don't accidentally pick up evaporated milk!
You can use any sugar, I prefer light brown sugar but other types of brown sugar or any white sugar work well too.
To store once baked, keep in an airtight container for up to 5 days.