We started the series with the award winning Pump Street Bakery Chocolate Chip cookie to celebrate the launch of their new Cookie Chip Bar basically a chocolate bar filled with cookie crumbs that tastes just like a cookie. It will blow your mind.
While these cookies share the same ingredients as most other classic recipes of their kind, their standout difference is not in secret additions, but in the tricks of the mixing and making that sets them apart from the rest. This recipe calls for a good amount of 75% Jamaica pastilles, broken in half for just the right size of dark, distinctive chocolate. The bakery chills the dough for more than 24 hours before scooping into balls, which allows the egg to hydrate the flour, makes the firmer and yields a better texture and flavour. The balls are then pooped into the freezer and baked from frozen, to encourage a crisp exterior and tender chewy centre.
Pump Street Bakery serves their cookies with a hint of warmth left in them, because there is no perfect way to enjoy them and we think you should too……….
Note: This recipe first appeared in the 2018 edition of Pump Street Chocolate’s recipe collection, Chocolate From Farm to Table featuring notes and recipes from some of the UK’s greatest chefs.
For the Cookies
- 140g unsalted butter
- 120g light muscovado sugar
- 110g golden caster sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 tsp (2.5g) vanilla paste or extract
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp Maldon salt, crushed
- 220g plain flour
- 225g Jamaica 75% pastilles, broken in half
Start with all your ingredients at room temperature at least one day before you want to make the cookies.
Place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment (or you can use a bowl and a handheld mixer) and mix until light and creamy. Add the sugars and blend for 3-5 minutes, scraping down the bowl a couple of times until the sandiness of the sugar is barely remaining and colour is slightly paler. Add the egg and vanilla, slowly increasing the speed until its an almost uniform texture (don’t worry if it looks a little curdled).
Combine the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl and stir through with a fork. Add into the butter mixture in two halves, mixing briefly and scraping down between each addition.
Finally add the chocolate into the dough gently, folding by hand. Chill the dough for a minimum of 24 hours (but not more than 36).
Form the dough into 16 balls. I use a larger ice cream scoop for this but if you want to be exact they should weigh about 55g each. Freeze on a baking tray (covered) and once the outside is frozen, transfer them to a reusable container or ziplock bag and keep them in the freezer until ready to bake as many as you need.
To bake preheat the oven to 165C and line your baking tray(s) with parchment paper. Place the number of cookies you want to bake on the tray, making sure they are well spaced apart.
Bake for 12-14 minutes until the edges are dark golden crisp and the middle is only slightly browned and still tender. Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes so that they hold together when taken off the tray.
Eat warm.
Have you made this dish?
Let me know what you think, share your efforts and any tweaks you made to the recipe on Instagram, don’t forget to tag #BuildingFeasts or email me on info@buildingfeasts.com
