DJ BBQ – otherwise known as Christian Stevenson – says his love of chocolate chip cookies came from spending time with his grandmother by the beach every summer growing up in America.
“Grandma Della would bake these fresh every week and serve ’em still warm with a cold glass of milk. Simple pleasures that I still enjoy to this day,” he says.
This is his grandmother’s recipe, and what DJ BBQ refers to as “goofproof”.
“Underdone, overdone, perfectly cooked, they are super-good,” he adds.
On the BBQ, he recommends using the target technique – where the coals are piled up in the middle – and using a plancha on top.
Chocolate chip cookies
Ingredients:
(Makes 8-10)
115g softened butter
115g granulated sugar
50g soft light brown sugar
1 egg
1tsp vanilla extract
120g plain flour, sifted
¼tsp salt
½tsp bicarbonate of soda
100g chocolate chips
Method:
1. The most important instruction for this recipe is: do not eat all the cookie dough before cooking them.
2. Try to make sure all the ingredients are roughly the same temperature, as this will give you a smoother mix. Cream together the butter and sugars until light, pale and fluffy. Then mix in the egg and vanilla, followed by the dry ingredients. Lastly, stir through the chocolate chips. Now refrigerate the cookie dough in the bowl overnight. That’s right, you just made cookie dough and now you have to wait until TOMORROW before you can eat the cookies. I can only apologise. Forgive me. Tomorrow you’ll love me.
3. The next day, get your outdoor cooker going.
4. Roll the cookie dough into balls around 75-100g, depending on how big you like your sweet chocolate-studded frisbees. Next, cut some circles out of baking parchment – double the number of dough balls you have – ensuring they’re slightly bigger than the final size you want your cookies to be. Evenly squish each dough ball between two discs of baking parchment to create a cookie shape.
5. Place the paper-covered cookies directly on the plancha. Cook for five to 10 minutes on each side, flipping with a fish slice. If you like a chewier or crispier cookie, then cook for the shorter time, for crispy cookies cook for longer.
6. Let them cool slightly before peeling off the paper and serving with an ice-cold glass of milk and an episode of Justice League (other cartoons are available, but they’re not as cool).
DJ BBQ’s Backyard Baking: 50 Awesome Recipes for Baking Over Live Fire by David Wright, Chris Taylor and Christian Stevenson, is published by Quadrille, £20. Photography by David Loftus. Available now.
