Rolo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

 Oh do I have a treat for you today! :) I have to say, I have always steered pretty clear of making my own chocolate chip cookies. Im not entirely sure why, but I would say its down to the fact that my first few attempts (a long longgggg time ago) produced overly sweet poor imitations of bakery cookies which just didn't float my boat. These however, putting my Gran's ginger biscuits to one side, I am pretty darn sure are my favourite cookie discovery to date. I am rather proud of them I have to say!

I recently moved in, just a week or so ago, into my better half's place to live with him and his 3 housemates. Luckily, I think that every one of them is rather ace so I couldn't be happier right now! This was my first baking adventure in the new house and I'm so glad it was a success :) It was also the first time I had enlisted Pete's (the afore mentioned better half) help in baking, and it was so lovely to share something I love with him. Although his housemate did come in and said 'oh here we go, fun Sasha's gone' as he commented on my serious baking concentration face..might have to try and work on that!

I wont ramble on too much more, except to say I truly trullyyyyy hope you will make these cookies! I originally saw them on My Baking Addiction, an absolutely wonderful site, and if my review doesn't do enough to convince you to make these for you and your loved ones then please let yourself be convinced by the drool-worthy photos over there. 

On the topic of photos my camera sadly broke (I dropped it...clever) when I was baking last, so all photos for the foreseeable future are from my phone camera, sorry for the not so great quality!

Pete and his housemate James helping me bake! 

  

I realise that making stuffed cookies may seem a little tedious and fiddly, but really all you are doing is making normal everyday (very yummy) cookies..putting a caramel/chocolate heart in its center, then just a quick burst in the freezer before baking. And trust me, these cookies will win you friends for life. Ignoring the scrummy Rolo middle, the cookies themselves are absolutely gorgeous. They are sweet but not sickly sweet, which was a slight concern for me before trying them. The quantity of chocolate is just perfection, and they are soft but once cool hold their shape well (make sure not to overbake or they will veer towards the crunchier side, still tasty though!) The caramel center just puts these over the top into my all time favourite cookie category. Every single person that tried these adored them and commented on how good they were, if you haven't made them already and are looking for a new cookie recipe to impress, then this is it!

Rolo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from My Baking Addiction and My Tasty Treasures

Makes about 40 cookies

40 Rolos, frozen for at least 2 hours (N.1)

1 1/2 cups (12oz) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup (200g) granulated (caster) sugar

1 cup (175g) brown sugar, firmly packed (N.2)

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

2 eggs (N.3)

3 3/4 cups (475g) all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 cups (360g) chocolate chips (N.4)

(3/4 cup chopped pecans, optional)

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy

Beat in the vanilla and eggs

Mix in the flour, baking soda and salt until well incorporated

Mix in the chocolate chips (and nuts if using)

Use a medium cookie scoop (roughly 1 1/2 Tbsp) to measure dough, and roll into balls

Flatten each ball in the palm of your hands, place a frozen Rolo in the middle and mould the dough around the Rolo back into a ball

Put all Rolo stuffed dough balls in the freezer for 15-20 minutes (N.5)

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F, line cookie sheets with parchment or a silicone mat

Place dough balls on the sheets at least 2 inches apart

Bake 11-13 minutes, until light brown but with soft, slightly puffy, centers

Cool for 2 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack (N.6)

Notes
*Weight measurements are my own conversions which may well vary from online convertors (especially for flour) The weight measurements are what I used

(1) One of the links said 30 cookies, the other 50, but the same quantity of dough per ball in both (which I thought a little odd!) I only had 40 Rolos so I froze them all and hoped for the best. In the end I had 37 uniformly sized cookies so it worked out perfectly

(2) I did not have any brown sugar on hand apart from some very dark molasses sugar. I used 350g white sugar and 50g of the dark brown sugar

(3) The eggs I had on hand were smaller than normal (55g each) so I used 2 1/2

(4) I used approx half dark, half milk chips

(5) Friends came round half way into baking (ALL of the cookies I had made so far disappeared there and then. That good.) so I left the others in the freezer overnight to bake the next day

(6) I used some pretty cheapo baking parchment which meant if I tried to lift the cookies off before they were absolutely cold the Rolo part would stick and cause cookie destruction. Although this didn't stop us much as they tasted SO GOOD warm

            Printable! :)