We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools. ~ Martin Luther King Jr.
~ A THANK YOU POST ~
As the year draws to a close and new beginnings herald, we think upon the many joys and sadnesses, triumphs and defeats, loves and hurts, and we take a moment for reflection. 2016 tested the strengths of many, no matter where in the world you are. For some, the year brought about realities never thought possible. For others, it presented challenges that brought out the best. And for yet others, this was one never to be forgotten.
Through it all, we have drawn upon the strengths of each other, strangers and friends alike. While much continue to tear the world apart, humanity continues to persevere in unexpected ways, in quiet moments and in unspoken corners of the planet. Martin Luther King Jr. was right. Another man was wise not only in his time and but also in death. Controversial at times, Lee Kuan Yew, first Prime Minister of Singapore, nearly 2 years departed now, had insights about almost everything including population policies, race issues, gender roles, democracy. Often he hit the nail on the head.
In this spirit of reflection and thanksgiving, I thank every one of you, my dear readers, who have supported me these past months since I took the first fledgling steps to launch this blog. You clicked, read, shared, signed up, saved, pinned and tweeted. Thank you all for your encouragement to keep on tweaking hand-me-down recipes using simple kitchen equipment. Thank you for your advice on how to improve the website, the recipes and the photos.
With that, I bring you this super easy chocolate chip cookie recipe. It’s a copycat recipe for ‘Famous Amos’ cookies with some slight adaptations. Many of you will be familiar with the buttery, chocolaty smells that you recognise before you even see the store. There are many versions of the recipe that I don’t know which is the original copycat recipe, so I am giving credit here to where I got my recipe from: Famous Amos ‘alike’ Cookies by Angela Seah Thulin at Plate and Palate, slightly adapted.
My favourite thing here is how easy and clean it is to make. No electric mixer needed, barely any elbow grease, and no messy batter to clean up. All the batter gets used up and nothing is wasted. I did buy a new silicone spatula from Amazon and that has made it so easy to mix the batter by hand and left a clean bowl.
Tips:
- The cookies will harden a little after sitting out for a while. Don’t worry if they come out of the oven slightly soft.
- The baking time listed in the recipe is an estimate. Much depends on your oven and how soft or crispy you like the cookies to be. I baked mine for 9 minutes and they were crispy after sitting out but did not break apart with every bite.
- To halve the recipe, use 1 small egg.
- Line the baking sheet with parchment paper, also called baking paper. Do not use waxed paper as it make smoke in the oven.
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- 170g white sugar
- 230g packed light brown sugar
- 2 sticks /1 cup butter
- 1 cup of vegetable oil
- 1 large egg
- 1 Tbsp fresh milk
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 1 tsp almond essence
- 500g all-purpose flour, sifted
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 340g/1 bag semisweet chocolate chips (I used Ghiradelli dark, semi-sweet chips)
- Allow butter to soften. Cream butter and the both sugars using a stiff spatula. It helps if there are no lumps in the sugar first. This should only take about 1-2 minutes.
- Add the oil, egg, milk, vanilla and almond essences in and continue whisking till all the ingredients are incorporated. Start by whisking in sections within the bowl and slowly moving around instead of the whole bowl at once. The mixture should appear quite liquid. This should take 3-4 minutes.
- Gently mix in the dry ingredients - sifted flour, salt, cream of tartar and baking soda. Fold into liquid batter. The batter should start to become creamy.
- Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Refrigerate batter for 30 minutes.
- Place a teaspoon of batter onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
- Bake at 350F (175C) for between 8-12 minutes. Cookies are light yellow/golden in color when done and slightly soft. It will harden and become crispy on the outside (slightly chewy on the inside) when allowed to cool a bit. For darker and all-round-crispier cookies, bake for an extra minute.
I froze a third of the dough to use in a jiffy next time.
The cookies will harden a little after sitting out for a while. Don't worry if they come out of the oven slightly soft.
To halve the recipe, use 1 small egg.
I had purchased these items and found them useful in baking these cookies. You are under no obligation to do the same. I receive a small fee if you buy the item(s) from Amazon via these links. The fee helps to defray the costs of running this website, such as web hosting fees and site security. Thank you for your support.
is it exactly taste like famous amos?
Family and friends thought it was close. We didn’t do a blind tasting though!
Is it okay if didn’t add the milk ?
Honestly I have not tried it without milk. We think the milk gives it the rich velvety texture. For lactose-intolerant, perhaps substituting with almond milk will work too.
[…] really want to share our ‘Famous Amos’ copy-cat version of Chocolate Chip Cookies. The original post was published in December of 2016 and we wouldn’t change a thing. Here it is today. I hope […]
Hi there! Do you put both vanilla and almond extract in? The directions only said vanilla essence. Thanks;
Hi Nat, great catch!
Yes, both vanilla and almond essences were added, I was being very decadent! Thanks!
Let me know how it goes 🙂