We reckon there’s not much that tops the humble cookie. If you agree that it’s the ultimate sweet treat, then we’re sure your ears will perk up when we tell you that there’s a new recipe book dedicated to them. Crumbs: Cookies and Sweets from Around the World by Ben Mims is coming out on October 8th, and as the name suggests, it features nearly 100 cookie, biscuit and sweet treat recipes from around the world. Today, we’ve got a chocolate-chip cookie recipe straight from the pages. Perfect for your weekend baking!This is an edited extract from Crumbs: Cookies and Sweets from Around the World by Ben Mims, published by Phaidon. On sale October 8th 2024. Cover by Phaidon and photography by Simon Bajada.

CHOCOLATE-CHIP COOKIES Location: United States
Though she may not have been the first person to mix chopped chocolate into a drop cookie batter, Ruth Wakefield – who ran the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts, in the 1930s – made the practice popular. The batter for the chocolate-chip cookie looks like that of a standard Hermit drop cookie from the era without spices. Brown sugar, a convenience mix of the oft-used molasses/white sugar combo in cookie recipes, is used and the cookie’s leavening comes from baking soda (bicarb), here dissolved in water instead of getting mixed with the flour. The inclusion of walnuts in the original chocolate-chip cookie also points to the cookies likely descending from Hermits, as another legend states Wakefield found herself out of raisins – often mixed with walnuts in hermits – so she chopped up a chocolate bar as a substitute. In fact, early names of this cookie were “chocolate chip drop cookies” and “Toll House chocolate crunch cookies.”
Countless chocolate-chip cookie recipes have since materialised, many playing with the oven temperature, doneness of the dough, and/or proportions of sugar, salt, chocolate, and flour – all in pursuit of some new texture or flavour enhancer to make the “best” of this iconic cookie. Cookies made with other chocolate-like mix-ins – chocolate candies, white-chocolate chips (often with macadamia nuts), chopped peanut butter cups – have all based themselves on this same basic cookie dough. The recipe here reflects Wakefield’s first, which is slightly cakier than modern tastes go for and doesn’t call for chocolate chips, but rather chocolate bars chopped into “pieces the size of a pea.” You can use the same weight of chocolate chips, though, if you prefer. The popularity of using their bars in these cookies caused Nestlé to manufacture morsels of chocolate for the express use of making the cookies. Nestlé placed Wakefield’s recipe on the back of the bag, and the rest is history.

Preparation time: 45 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Makes: About 24 cookies

INGREDIENTS
2 sticks (8 oz/225 g) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup (170 g) packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup (150 g) white US granulated (UK caster) sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)
1 tsp hot tap water
1 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
14 oz (395 g) semisweet chocolate candy bars
2 1/4 cups (315 g) all-purpose (plain) flour, sifted
1 cup (120 g) finely chopped walnuts

METHOD
Position racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven and preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F/Gas Mark 5). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, with a hand mixer, combine the butter, brown sugar, and white US granulated (UK caster) sugar and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2–3 minutes. Add the eggs and beat until smooth. In a small bowl, dissolve the baking soda (bicarb) in the water, then pour into the bowl along with the salt and vanilla and beat to combine.

Roughly chop the chocolate until it forms pieces roughly between 6 and 13 mm (1/4 and 1/2 inch); if you like, place the chocolate in a medium sieve or colander and shake to get rid of the chocolate “dust” that occurs when chopping it. Add the chocolate pieces to the bowl along with the flour and walnuts and stir until a dough forms and there are no dry patches of flour remaining.

Using a 2 tbsp (1 ounce) ice-cream scoop, portion the dough and roll into balls. Arrange them on the prepared baking sheets, spaced 5 cm (2 inches) apart.

Bake until golden brown at the edges and dry to the touch in the centre, 10–12 minutes, switching racks and rotating the baking sheets front to back halfway through.

Transfer the baking sheets to wire racks. Let the cookies cool on the pans for 1 minute, then transfer them to the racks to cool completely.