Chewy Cookies - the best kind I think!

I know some people like the crispy kind of cookies, but they're just not for me...well, i'm not going to say no to any kind of cookie actually, but the chewy kind are always far superior in my opinion.

I've searched and searched for a good recipe, but they always spread out too much, go too thin, end up being crunchy, and have a slight taste of burnt sugar. BUT recently I found it, the secret of getting beautifully puffed up chewy cookies... Cornflour!

Have a look at this recipe, try it out and let me know how you get on :)

Ingredients
170g unsalted butter at room temperature
150g brown sugar (I like to use a mixture of light brown sugar and a muscovado sugar of some kind)
50g granulated sugar
250g plain flour
25g corn flour
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2tsp salt
1 egg, beaten - free range please
2tsp vanilla extract, or a drop of vanilla paste
150g chocolate chips
Optional: Add two pieces of stem ginger cut finely for an extra wow factor

TIP: You can have fun with the chocolate chips - white, dark or a mix. Or try substituting the chocolate chips for caramel drops, fudge pieces, dried fruit or jelly sweets (it really works). Have fun with it - experiment.

Serving: around 20 cookies

Method
1) Cream together the butter and both sugars in a large mixing bowl until it becomes light, pale and fluffy. It may take a long time, but getting it to turn pale really is the secret to baking
2) Beat in the vanilla to the butter/sugar mixture
3) Sieve the flour, cornflour, bicarb of soda and salt together into a medium sized bowl
4) Alternate adding the egg and flour mixture gradually until a soft dough forms
5) Now add your chocolate chips, make sure they're evenly spaced in the dough
6) Preheat your oven to 175degrees (155degrees for a fan oven)
7) Take a baking sheet and cover it in greaseproof paper
8) Take a ping pong ball amount of dough, roll it roughly into a ball and place on the sheet. Repeat this until you've used up all of your dough

9) Place the baking sheet into the fridge for 20 minutes to allow the dough to cool. TIP: This step is crucial to getting thicker chewier cookies, as it stops the cookies spreading out as quickly when they cook
10) Take your cookies out of the fridge and bake in the oven for 8-10minutes
11) The cookies are done when they are JUST starting to turn golden around the edges (they shouldn't brown on the top). Don't cook them for over 10 minutes, or you'll end up with crispy cookies. The cookies continue to cook when they're out of the oven, so don't worry.
12) Allow to cool (a little... I know how tempting warm cookies are) and there you go, beautifully chewy cookies for everyone to enjoy :)

Time Saver: These cookies are pretty quick to make, but if you find yourself wanting some cookies but only have 10 minutes to spare, try freezing the cookies when they're still balls of dough. You can bake the cookies in exactly the same way from frozen (adding a minute or so to the cooking time) - have a look at this blog post to see how.