One of the perks of working in a cafe is all the free cake available. Some of these taste amazing, and some just good; however I’ve learnt that taste isn’t actually as important as the fact that they all look incredible. It has made me have a bit of a think about my bakes, as whilst they often taste good, it can be hard to make them look aesthetically pleasing. For example my salted caramel brownies, which may taste of orgasmic goodness but look as if they had been sat on by a small child. So when asked if I might contribute something to the cafe menu, I soon realised I couldn’t just make my usual cookie recipe as these often come out in all sorts of different exciting shapes, but not the circle one would expect. Whilst pondering how to achieve the balance between chewiness and perfectly-round cookies, we happened to be visited by some chefs from another local independent cafe; one of whom was a pastry chef. Posing my conundrum to her, she gave me a few tips. Melt the butter, replace caster sugar with brown sugar, and use fewer eggs. Warning: the final recipe produces addictive results.

Chocolate Chip cookies 250g melted butter, 220g brown sugar, 75g white sugar, 2 pinches sea salt, 345g flour, 1 egg and 1 tsp vanilla extract.

1. Combine the melted butter and sugar until smooth, add the sea salt. Beat in the egg and vanilla, then stir in the flour.

2. At this point add either 150g milk chocolate chunks or 150g dark chocolate chunks (perhaps with a bit of orange peel or orange extract) or 100g white chocolate chunks with 50g dried cranberries….whatever combinations you like. Go crazy.

3. Roll into a log shape, wrap in cling film and chill for a minimum of 1 hour. (This is very important as it helps the cookies keep their shape).

4. Bake in a preheated oven on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper, for 10-12 mins at 180ºC. NB they should be just cooked and still gooey when you take them out as the outside will harden up as they cool; this way they will still be chewy in the middle.

Oatmeal and raisin cookies 250g melted butter, 220g brown sugar, 75g white sugar, 2 pinches sea salt, 125g oats, 220g flour, 3 tsp cinnamon, 100g raisins, 1 egg and 1 tsp vanilla extract.

Repeat the recipe as above, using the combination of oats and flour rather than just flour.