In my world, there is no such thing as too much chocolate .... and when Nigella Lawson described these as the most chocolatey cookies ever, I had to give it a try. After all what can go wrong with melted chocolate, cocoa powder and chocolate chips all rolled into one cookie batter. And whereas Nigella calls these totally chocolate chip cookies , if one were to ask me, I would like to call these quadruple chocolate chip cookies. After all, in my adaptation of these, even the chips are both white and semi sweet chocolate chips making it four times the chocolate in every morsel.

The batter is very easy to put together and I cannot imagine making just one batch of these. Even though the cookies are huge in size, every batch makes 12, which depending on the chocoholics in your home could disappear even before you know. There is safety in numbers and I will stay with that. That said, the texture of the cookies is absolutely perfect .... lightly crispy on the outside and chewy in the middle, studded generously with white and dark chocolate chips which melt into the mouth with every single bite. And that is also the beauty of these I think. Every bite is perfectly satisfying and that will also help you (sometimes only) to enjoy half a cookie and save another half for later. And not to mention that a generous scoop of ice cream placed between a couple of these cookies will be perfect to make the best ice cream sandwiches.

Ingredients

4 oz bittersweet chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids)

1 cup all-purpose flour

¼ cup unsweetened cocoa (sieved)

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 stick soft butter

½ cup soft light brown sugar

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg (cold from the fridge)

1 1/4 cups bittersweet chocolate chips (or semi sweet chocolate morsels)

3/4 cups white chocolate chips (or white chocolate morsels)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C/325ºF. Melt the 4oz bittersweet chocolate either in the microwave or in a heatproof dish over a pan of simmering water. Put the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt into a bowl.

2. Cream the butter and sugars in another bowl. (I use my freestanding mixer, itself an odd source of comfort to me.) Add the melted chocolate and mix together. Beat in the vanilla extract and cold egg, and then mix in the dry ingredients. Finally stir in the chocolate morsels or chips.

3. Scoop out 12 equal-sized mounds - an ice cream scoop and a palette knife are the best tools for the job - and place on a lined baking sheet about 6cm apart. Do not flatten them.

4. Cook for 18 minutes, testing with a cake tester to make sure it comes out semi-clean and not wet with cake batter. If you pierce a chocolate chip, try again.

5. Leave to cool slightly on the baking sheet for 4-5 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack to harden as they cool.