• 125g dark, dark, dark chocolate (the darkest you can get!!)
• 150g plain flour
• 30g cocoa, sieved
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 125g soft butter
• 75g light brown sugar
• 50g white sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg, cold from the fridge
• 350g dark chocolate chips (or sometimes i just chop up a chocolate bar or two!!)

1. Preheat oven to 170c (340f) and melt the chocolate either in the microwave or in a heat proof dish over a pan of simmering water.
2. Put the flour, cocoa, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a bowl.
3. In another bowl, cream the butter and sugars together, add the melted chocolate and mix together.
4. Beat in the vanilla extract and cold egg, then mix in the dry ingredients.
5. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips.
6. Scoop out 12 equal sized mounds - I use an ice cream scoop for this - and place on a lined baking sheet about 6cm apart. Do not flatten them.
7. Cook for 18 mins, testing with a cake tester to make sure it ocomes out semi-clean and not wet with cake batter.
8. Leave to cool (if you can resist!!) on a wire rack.

These cookies are fabulous, and freeze really well, either unbaked or baked. I quite often make up a whole batch and form all 12 cookies, then freeze half of them unbaked. I then freeze 3 of the baked cookies when the've cooled from the oven. I don't feel like I have to eat all of them then!!