Recipe for Cookies (Makes 12)

Cookies on a metal baking sheet.

145g Salted Butter (browned)
120g Light Brown Sugar
100g White Caster Sugar
1 Egg and 1 Egg Yolk
1.5tsp Vanilla extract
240g Plain Flour
1tsp Baking Soda
1/2tsp Cinnamon

Alongside the dry ingredients, add roughly 200g of mix-ins. Here are a few ideas:

Nuts, dark chocolate (or BAKING milk/white chocolate - most non-dark chocolates made for snacking typically don't melt and have a pretty poor texture post-oven), raisins etc...

For Chocolate Cookies: Add 26g (3.5 level tablespoons) Cocoa Powder to dry ingredients, and once mixed, add a very slight drizzle of an oil like vegetable or olive oil until it has a usual cookie dough texture.

For Oatie Cookies: Add 80g Steel Cut Oats with dry ingredients.

To Bake: 180°C Fan Oven (200°C Regular Oven) for 12-14 minutes or until light golden brown in the centre.

How to Make:

BROWN THE BUTTER, an awesome step for some lovely caramel-ly notes. On a low heat, heat the butter until the moisture is driven off, and the butter solids (the white bits in melted butter) become brown. You'll know when it's done because it'll smell beautifully, just don't let the solids burn past being brown. After, add around 1.25 tablespoons of water back to supplement all of the water that was driven off.

Whilst waiting for the butter to cool, measure the sugars and place into a bowl. Then pour the warm melted butter into the sugars and mix until combined, you may see a slight butter layer on top, but this is about to be emulsified by the addition of the eggs (make sure butter / sugar mixture isn't too hot lest you cook the eggs). At this point try not to whip air into the mixture, unless you're a fan of airier cookies. Then add the vanilla extract and mix.

To add the dry, just sieve the dry ingredients over the wet, making sure not to mix until all the dry ingredients are atop the wet mix. Mixing just the top dry layer with a fork or other utensil to make sure the dry mixture is evenly distributed before combining it with the wet mix is a good idea. At this point you can then add the mix-ins to the dry ingredients and coat them.

When mixing the wet and dry, try not to whip too much air into it and don't over mix (only 'til combined) as this can drastically alter the texture.

Once you have mixed everything, let the mixture cool in the fridge for 30-60 minutes, or quickly freeze in ball portions for later baking. The fridged dough can then be placed on a metal baking sheet; I don't recommend using parchment as the bottoms of the cookies release really easily once cooled - and this can prevent any "bad actors" from touching them until their time is right, illiciting a sense of self-control. Once cooled, store at room temperature in an airtight container, they're especially nice the day after, brownies and cookies tend to get denser and chewier after sitting for a bit, or serve warm with ice-cream. Enjoy!