How to make cookie dough

There is nothing better than home-made cookies still warm from the oven. They smell great, taste great and are less expensive than shop bought. It is not difficult to make a batch of delicious cookie dough. You can adapt the recipe to incorporate your favourite ingredients. This article contains a basic cookie recipe and some suggested variations.

Basic cookie dough

This recipe makes a basic cookie dough which really needs the addition of one of the variations below. These are easy cookies to make. However, all cookie dough is best with chunks of something in it. Ingredients - 225g unsalted butter - 375g soft brown sugar - 50g caster sugar - 3 tsp vanilla extract - 2 eggs - 400g plain flour - 2 level tsp bicarbonate of soda Method - Preheat the oven to 170C/gas 5. - Beat the butter, the sugar and the vanilla together until light and fluffy. - Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. - Sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda together, and stir into the mixture. - Place spoonfuls of the mix onto a greased baking tray and bake for 12-15 minutes, or until just starting to turn golden. This recipe makes a lot of cookies, so scale it down if you want to make less.

Variations

All of the following variations require small amendments to the above recipe, but all produce completely different results. - Cherry and white chocolate cookies: Stir in 200g chopped cherries and 200g white chocolate chunks after adding the flour and bicarb. - Triple choc cookies: Remove 50g flour and add 50g cocoa powder, sifting into the mixture with the flour and bicarb. Then, stir in 400g mixed chocolate chunks (any combination of white, milk and plain depending on what you like). - Oatmeal and raisin cookies: The amount of flour should be lowered to 300g and 1 tsp cinnamon added. Then, stir in 200g rolled oats and 200g raisins. - Peanut cookies: Remove the butter and in its place, add 225g crunchy peanut butter. Depending on the consistency of the peanut butter, this variation may need a little milk to loosen the cookie dough. After adding the flour, stir in 200g unsalted peanuts (or salted peanuts that have been washed).