Orange Milk Chocolate Cookies

• 1 1/2 cup (195 g) Plain Flour/ All-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp (8 g) Corn flour/Corn starch
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1/2 tsp Baking soda (slightly less than 1/2 tsp)
• 1 tbsp Orange juice 
• 1 1/2 tbsp Orange zest 
• 1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted butter, Softened 
• 1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar 
• 1/4 cup (50 g) packed light brown sugar
• 1 egg UK medium-sized (without shell = 51 g)
• 130 g Milk chocolate, divided

1. Using a zester, zest a whole orange. Don’t go too far while zesting the orange. Rotate the fruit while grating. You don’t need the white part of the orange since it's bitter in taste. 
2. I used three medium-sized oranges to get 2 tbsp of orange zest. 1 1/2 tbsp zest will go into the cookie dough and 1/2 tbsp will be used to sprinkle on top before baking but it’s optional. Set aside until needed.
3. Roughly chop the milk chocolate, and set aside.
4. In a medium bowl, sift together plain flour/all-purpose flour, salt, cornflour and baking soda. Whisk them to combine and set aside until needed.
5. In a large mixing bowl, add unsalted softened butter, and both sugars, and beat them using an electric hand mixer for about two minutes or until light and fluffy.
6. Add in egg and beat until combined (1 minute). Now add orange juice, and orange zest and beat again to just combine. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. 
7. Gradually add the dry ingredients into the wet mixture in two batches, and beat after each addition until just combined. Avoid overbeating.
8. Reserve a few chocolate chunks (or 30 g) to press on the top of the cookies just before baking and fold in the remaining chopped chocolate. The cookie dough will be sticky. 
9. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 20-30 minutes as it makes your cookies chewier, thicker and more flavourful.
10. Line two baking sheets with baking (parchment) paper.
11. Preheat the Fan oven to 155°C/320°F (or 175°C/347°F for the conventional oven).
12. Shape the dough into balls of about 1 1/2 tbsp each. Cookies should be 2 inches apart from each other. Press a few more chocolate chunks on the top of each cookie ball. Sprinkle some orange zest and a pinch of granulated sugar on top (optional).
13. Bake in the preheated oven for about 11-12 minutes or until slightly golden brown and crispy from the edges or the centre is set and puffed up but they are still soft and gooey. Keep in mind that they will look a bit under-baked in the middle as they will continue to cook once out of the oven. If you are baking one sheet at a time, keep the remaining dough in the fridge and repeat the process.
14. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 15-20 minutes then carefully transfer them to a wire rack. 
15. To make perfectly round cookies, push in the edges of the cookies with the back of the spoon as soon as they come out of the oven and they are still hot. You can also take any round object or cookie cutter slightly larger than the cookies to scoot it around the hot cookie into a perfectly round shape.

NOTES

1. Cookies are best served when they are still warm. 
2. To store any leftover cookies, cool them completely then store them in an airtight container for up to 3 days at room temperature, for up to 5-6 days in the fridge or up to 2 months in the freezer. You can reheat your frozen cookies in the oven for one minute as warm chocolate chip cookies are the best.