milk chocolate orange cookies (copycat Ben's cookies)
Perfectly sotf and gooey inside, with lovely crispy exterior. These Milk Chocolate Orange Cookies are full of flavour, easy to make and you'll love them!
Place sliced butter into a light-coloured pan or skillet. Melt over medium-high heat, stirring continuously, until becomes foamy, then turns clear and starts showing brown specks. You'll also notice nutty aroma. It's done after approx. 5 min, at medium brown stage. Transfer it to a large bowl and allow to cool.
In a separate bowl sift both flours and mix in baking powder and salt using a whisk.
Once the butter has cooled a little bit, add sugar and orange zest to it and mix it with a whisk for a minute, just to combine. Then add eggs, one at the time, with vanilla extract and whisk for a minute until combined.
Add dry ingredients in two batches and combine with a wooden spoon to form a dough. (You can do this in a stand mixer, with a paddle attachment). Add candied orange peel and chopped chocolate disks, leaving 30 disks for later.
Form 80 g balls, put a chocolate disk in the middle of each ball of dough and then stick one on top. Put cookie dough balls on a baking tray, cover with plastic wrap and chill for a couple of hours or up to 3 days before baking.
Preheat the oven to 190˚C or 375˚F. Line two baking sheets with baking paper. Leave 2-3 inches (5-8 cm) between each cookie dough ball and bake for approx. 12-15 min. It depends on your oven.* When done, cookies should be golden and crispy outside but soft to the touch. Leave them on a baking tray for 2-3 minutes to firm up a little bit before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
1. You can freeze cookie dough balls and bake them later, just add a couple of minutes more when baking. I suggest freezing the cookie dough balls on a baking tray and then transferring them to a ziplock bag, so you can easily remove just a couple when you get that cookie craving. :)2. You can use dark chocolate discs instead. I used Belcolade belgian chocolate. If you can't find any, try to use the best quality chocolate bar you can and roughly chop it. *3. Not all ovens are the same. I suggest you bake one cookie dough ball as a "test" batch to see how you like them and if you should bake them longer or shorter. When in doubt, always go for the shorter amount of time - that way you won't overbake them and you'll get that soft and gooey center.