Baking cookies is always a fun activity, because you can create new flavours with only a few ingredients and, you can absolutely adjust them to suite your sweet tooth. These lovely giant fudge chocolate chunk cookies are fantastic for more than one reason. First of all, chocolate, lots of it. Second, they are so soft and fudgy that they can easily be mistaken for a piece of brownie. And third, they don't have any butter, only Greek yoghurt and a bit of oil.
A very deep chocolate flavour comes from unsweetened cocoa powder, as well as from dark chocolate chunks. If you like your chocolate cookies slightly sweeter and with a more mellow chocolate flavour, use milk chocolate chunks. As always, choose a good quality cocoa powder and chocolate, as they will determine the flavour of the baked cookies.
Ingredients
200 grams plain flour
50 grams unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
150 grams icing sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
200 grams plain Greek yoghurt
200 grams chocolate chunks
Preparation
Take a large bowl and sift the flour directly into it, then sift in the baking powder and cocoa powder. Set the bowl aside. In another bowl, whisk together the egg with the vanilla and sifted icing sugar, for about a minute, until smooth and creamy. Tip the dry ingredients into the beaten egg and mix it with a spatula or a wooden spoon. Mix until the ingredients are moistened, then add the yoghurt and oil. Continue mixing with a spatula until combined. Finally, gently fold in the chocolate chunks.
Take out five tablespoons (¼ cup) of batter and drop it on a large baking sheet lined with baking paper, with at least 5 cm (2") of space between them. Make sure you flatten them down a bit (to about 15 cm; 6" in diameter), because they will not spread that much on their own. Bake them in a preheated oven, at 180˚C (350˚F), for about 5-8 minutes. Remove them from the oven and let them cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Yields 4 extra large cookies.
