"Famous Amos" Chocolate Chip Cookies

Bored... So decided to bake even if it meant that I had to eat all of the dessert by myself... I could stand to gain a few pounds anyway... ;-) I realized I hadn't made cookies in a while and I wanted to make something I hadn't done before. So off I went in search of cookie recipes that contained my favourite ingredient... chocolate chips! It wasn't long before I came across a recipe on The Baking Bee for Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Honestly, I've only ever had the North American packaged version of Famous Amos cookies and they were ok... nothing spectacular. But apparently these cookies are freshly made in Famous Amos stores in Southeast Asia and are hotly sought after! They're also quite expensive and so many bakers have tried replicating the recipe. There's even an urban legend going around the internet that a woman bought this recipe at a Famous Amos store and was so upset at being charged $250 for it (instead of $2.50) that she decided to share it with the whole world. Haha... If it sounds familiar then you've probably heard the same story about the Neiman Marcus cookies too.

Both stories are obviously fake... I hope! Otherwise what I don't understand about the whole thing is why the woman would be so stupid that she didn't check her bill before she paid with her credit card? The only people who might do that are very wealthy people which would have meant that she wouldn't have cared about a measly $250 anyway. But I digress...

I'm pleasantly surprised the cookies turned out delicious even if they are based on an urban legend! As a part of my regular habit, I cut down on the sugar and the chocolate chips. I left out nuts since I'm not supposed to be eating that at the moment. I also didn't have a chocolate bar on hand so I crushed up some chocolate flakes. One thing I made a boo boo on is that I had a shaky hand today and accidentally sprinkled in too much salt... Oops. Ah... and I also added in the step to place the rolled dough balls into the fridge for 10-15 minutes before baking them. I forgot where I read that it would make the cookies more soft on the inside and crunchy on the outside.

Ingredients (makes around 24 cookies):
60g unsalted butter, at room temperature
20g caster sugar
17g brown sugar
1/2 egg (about 23g without the shell)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
62g plain flour
1/2 cup oatmeal, ground into a powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
80g semi-sweet chocolate chips
60g chocolate bar, grated
25g chopped nuts of your choice (optional)

Method:

1. Cream butter with both sugars.
2. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract till blended.
3. Fold in the flour, oatmeal, salt, baking soda and powder.
4. Fold in the chocolate chips, grated chocolate and nuts (if using).
5. Roll into small balls of no more than 1 inch in diameter.
6. Place in the freezer for 10-15 minutes.
7. Preheat oven to 195C.
8. Bake for 10-15 minutes. Cool on baking tray for 10 minutes, then transfer to cooling rack. The cookies are slightly soft when out of the oven, but will harden and become crispy once cooled.