It was a miserable day in Perth yesterday (and today, for that matter).  Wind and rain all day.  Perfect, some would say, for a book, a hot cocoa and a chocolate chip cookie.  As luck would have it, I made some chocolate chip cookies on Saturday.

I was snug in bed on Friday night, reading my cook books, as you do in this weather.  I was specifically looking for a chocolate chip cookie recipe as we had several bars of dark chocolate in the cupboard that needed to be used. I came across a chocolate chip cookie with WALNUTS (Yay!) and, instantly, I knew I was on a winner.  It was in Wonderful Ways to Prepare Biscuits & Cookies, a 1979 book by Jo Ann Shirley that I had bought many, many years ago solely because it was cheap.  I think it cost me $0.40.  Notwithstanding that, it is full of good recipes.

We had the chocolate in the cupboard as Maus had got carried away one time when Whittaker’s chocolate was on special.  She bought quite a few bars of dark chocolate.  She probably did it on purpose, knowing too well I am not a big fan of dark chocolate.  The three bars have been there for ages. 

I love dark chocolate-coated things, like glacéd ginger, glazéd orange or glacéd cumquats but I do not like plain, dark chocolate.

• 125g butter
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• ½ cup caster sugar
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1½ cups plain flour
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp bicarb soda (baking soda)
• 250g choc-bits (I chopped up a 250g bar)
• ½ cup walnuts, roughly chopped

1. Cream the butter, sugars and vanilla essence until light and fluffy.
2. Add the egg and beat well.
3. Sift together the dry ingredients.  Add them to the mixture and stir in.
4. Add the chocolate and the walnuts to the mixture then stir to combine.
5. Drop spoonfuls onto baking paper-lined baking tray.  We have demarcation lines in this house – Maus is biscuit former.  She is a bit particular about all the biscuits being the same size so she uses a piece of cut-off poly pipe to form them.
6. Bake in 180°C oven for 12 minutes (or until lightly browned).

Perfect for a Sunday afternoon on the couch with a book and a hot cocoa.

BTW, the mugs were a gift from our German friend, Annelen.  She bought them for us many years ago.  They were a set of four  – one never made it to Australia (it got broken in her suitcase) and somehow, over the years, another has disappeared but 2 is just perfect.  We bring them out each year for the hot cocoa season.