This is the basic recipe I used (taken from http://www.yuppiechef.com/spatula/the-science-behind-chocolate-chip-cookies/):
- 8 oz (about 225g) unsalted butter
- 10 oz (about 1.5 cups) sugar
- 12 oz (about 2.75 cups) flour
- 2 large eggs – these will soften the cookies and help make them nice and ‘puffy’
- 1 tsp baking soda – to help the cookies rise, and also to brown
- 1 tsp salt – to bring out the flavour
To clarify I definitely used bicarb (the UK version of baking soda). The butter was softened and I used everyday plain flour. I substituted half of the sugar with soft dark brown sugar, so about 5oz brown sugar and 5oz caster sugar. Instead of using chocolate chips, I used about 3 teaspoons of vanilla extract and about a dessert spoon of ground cinnamon for the flavour.
I followed the mixing and refrigeration instructions to a T and the dough was left in the fridge overnight. It came out of the fridge lovely and stiff and I was able to form balls of dough without any mess left on my hands.
I tested 2 balls of cookie dough, and they've come out nicely browned but they're flat cakes (spread out with a small hump in the middle), not cookies! The texture is that of a sponge that hasn't risen. The oven had been preheated to 160 degrees Celsius because it's old and a bit temperamental. If I'd had it at 180 degrees, they would've burned for sure.
I was hoping these would come out moist and chewy. Where did I go wrong?