Heavenly homemade cookies (and some household headaches)

Mmmm, mmmm, mmmm - I can't begin to tell you how divine these are. My first attempt at proper chocolatey cookies and they worked a treat. Biscuits were scribbled on the shopping list but as I pondered the packets in the biscuit aisle this morning I had a moment of clarity and decided to make my own with whatever I had in the cupboard. So off I marched - just about remembering to pay for the other items in the basket first, of course. A Women's Institute recipe was unearthed and adapted - I had to substitute a couple of the ingredients, plus I wanted to use the cocoa powder which has been lurking at the back of the cupboard for a while.

Oh boy, if you could bottle the smell of them baking you'd make a fortune.

Makes 20 small or 12 large cookies

125g self raising flour
50g cocoa powder
80g butter
80g caster sugar
80g dark muscovado sugar
100g dark chocolate chips
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg, beaten

1. Preheat the oven to 180C and line two baking trays with baking paper.
2. In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar together. Once creamy and light, add the egg and vanilla extract.
3. Add the flour, one spoonful at a time. Once mixed, add the chocolate chips.
4. Place spoonfuls of the mixture on the baking paper and gently press your thumb on each dollop to make a small indent.
5. Bake for 12-15 minutes, marvelling at the chocolate aroma.
6. Gently remove from the baking paper and leave to cool on a wire rack.

That was the heaven. The household headaches were twofold. Headache number 1 - Bath seal. Grrr. It developed a hole last week which meant that Mr M had to replace it. Task and a half. A week of having a bath each morning has been oddly unsettling. The final layer of seal was expertly administered yesterday, but it's still tacky. Double grrr. Fingers crossed that we'll be able to have our first shower tomorrow morning!

Headache number 2. An important part of the washing machine decided to 'come away' this afternoon resulting in a bit of a flood. Super. Especially when you bear in mind that our washing machine is squeezed into the tiniest space in our kitchen and our kitchen is on a slope. Mr M to the rescue again along with some colourful language of varying volume.

Thank goodness for tea and cookies.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend!