Raise your hand, who doesn’t like American Cookies? Golden, crunchy and soft at the same time, filled with chocolate, dried fruit or candy, they are now loved in all countries of the world and there are infinite variations. I dedicate this recipe of mine to my friend Vins, who always asks me for them. I have perfected them for you, ready for our next meeting.
The procedure is not complicated, but the rest in the refrigerator is important to obtain beautiful cookies that keep their shape. If you have muscovado sugar available I recommend you put a little, the cookies will be more aromatic.
Ingredients (for 25 biscuits)
- 260 g flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder or bicarbonate
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 170 g soft butter cut into pieces
- 220 g fine-grained dark brown sugar (if you also have muscovado sugar you can make 170 g of brown sugar and 50 g of muscovado sugar)
- 100 g white sugar
- vanilla powder/scrapings of vanilla pod
- 1 whole egg plus 1 yolk
- 300 g chopped chocolate to your liking (in this case I mixed a little milk chocolate and a little white chocolate)
- Dried fruit to your liking (walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, almonds)
In a bowl or in a stand mixer, mix the butter, brown sugar and white sugar with the help of a mixer or a whisk hook until you obtain a smooth cream.
Add the vanilla and eggs and mix with the whisk. Then add the flour mixed with the yeast/bicarbonate and mix until you get a smooth dough and then add the chocolate and fresh fruit chopped into small pieces (I used milk chocolate, white chocolate and chopped walnuts).
Let rest in the fridge for at least 20-30 minutes (this will help keep the cookie shape while baking).
Using the ice cream ball tool, or with your hands, form balls of dough with a diameter of 2.5-3 cm, place them very well spaced apart on the baking sheet covered with baking paper. The cookies will expand a lot during baking so place them well apart to ensure they remain separate.
Preheat the oven to 170°C and bake the cookies for about 15 minutes, the edges should be colored but the center should remain light. Remove from the oven and let cool before removing them from the pan (or you can delicately lift the sheet of baking paper and place it on a cutting board to let them cool, being careful not to break the cookies that are very fragile when hot).
Once cold, store them in metal/airtight boxes or in plastic kitchen bags (you can also freeze them).
Your house will smell of sugar and cookies… a marvel in these first days of winter. And here are your homemade American cookies. Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside… one leads to another, you won’t be able to stop…
