Variations on a Theme: Chocolate Chip Cookies

As much as I love chocolate chip cookies, sometimes the same old recipe cooked over and over again can get a little tired, no matter how tasty. Knowing what I'm like, I like to give old favourites a new edge by adding something a little unusual or unexpected, and these are no exception.

The other day I experimented with some new ideas for the American classic by adding some flavours to my standard recipe.

Coffee and Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Cookies

Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies

Both these batches followed my American Style chocolate chip cookie recipe, but had a few little twists. I used caster and light brown sugar, instead of dark brown sugar, and used milk chocolate chips (which I made by chopping up a milk chocolate bar).

For the coffee and cinnamon ones, I added 2 tablespoons of coffee grinds, 1 teaspoon of malted drink powder and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon to the dry ingredients and sieved them all together. The malted drink powder isn't necessary, but I think it makes them taste a little more rich and full. If you are including it, however, be careful of the brand you buy and always check the label: some brands of malted drink powder contain wheat flour, so if you're wheat intolerant that just won't do.

Also, at the risk of sounding completely obvious, malted drink powder isn't gluten free. But then again, neither is spelt flour.

And for the orange ones, I simply creamed the grated rind of half an orange into the butter and sugars. That's all!

The above amounts apply to the ingredient quantities outlined in the original recipe, that is, 2 tablespoons of coffee grinds or the grated rind of half an orange to every 4 ounces (115 grammes) of butter and associated ingredients. If you were halving or doubling the original recipe, you would obviously have to halve or double the amount of extra ingredients.

Another variation I'd love to try when I next have the opportunity to bake up another batch of chocolate chip lovelies is replacing some of the chocolate chips with some dried banana chips. I love dried banana, and I've been told that banana and chocolate go really well together, and I'm willing to give it a go. The only time in my life that I've experienced chocolate and banana together is in a Chupa-Chup lolly, and it was a truly nasty synthetic experience which I wish never to repeat.

So, in the spirit of experimentation, what kinds of combinations would you like to try?