Recipes for Chocolate Chip cookies often create controversy. Everyone has an opinion on which are the best. Some insist on flat cookies, some love soft centers, some love more loft and bulk – some love nuts – some don’t. In my house, I love toasted pecans – always – but my kids don’t want any nuts in these! My son Ryan, a man with a very particular palate, has had the opportunity to sample many varieties over the years. I had a request for this recipe from Aunt Cindy yesterday. These are the cookies whose picture resides on the Kitchen-Inspirational Facebook Page. They are (currently) Ryan’s favorite and, I guess our new family favorite:
SOFT AND CHEWY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES – courtesy Saveur Magazine
2 1/8 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
12 tablespoons unsalted high fat or European Style Butter (I use Cabot if Plugra or another high fat butter isn’t available and the results are fine)
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup white sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups dark or bittersweet chocolate, chopped into 1/2″ chunks
Preheat oven to 325F. In a medium bowl, sift flour, salt and baking soda. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Add egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and mix to incorporate. Add dry ingredients to wet until just combined. Gently fold in chocolate chunks. Scoop in 1/4 cup measures (I use an ice cream scoop) portions and place on parchment lined baking sheets. Bake about 15 minutes, rotating pans 1/2 way through. When fully cooked, cookies should have golden outer edges which are slightly crisp and the middles should be slightly soft. Cool on cookie sheets for 5 minutes or until set and transfer to wire racks to cool completely or until they are all eaten in about another 5 minutes!!!!!
And, just in case you should want to – for comparison purposes, here is the David Lebovitz famous Chocolate Chip Cookies:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
8 tblsp unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1/2″ pieces
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips or chunks
1 cup toasted walnuts or pecans, chopped
Preheat oven to 300F. Beat sugars and butter together in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until smooth. Mix in egg, vanilla and baking soda until completely blended. Stir together flour and salt. With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients to the wet, mixing just until there is no flour visible. Scoop the dough in 2tblsp balls onto parchment paper lined baking sheets, placing 4″ apart. Bake for 18 minutes or until pale golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool on wire racks.
In my opinion, both of these are great cookies. Try them both and see!
And, next on the list for experimentation in my kitchen are the:
SPICE ROLL-OUT COOKIES from DORIE GREENSPAN –
NOTE: throw out your old spices for this and invest in new – you will be happy you did!!!! And, comments on this recipe called for possibly doubling the quantities of spices – this is another area for debate – did the bakers who commented on this and wanted a spicier cookie use old spices or were these really in need of a boost. Dorie Greenspan is an excellent baker and she knows what she is doing. But, even I question the small quantities here – so I will experiment and let you know. And, DO NOT OVERBAKE!!!!!!!
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg (freshly ground is best)
1/4 tsp dry mustard
1/8 tsp ground cloves
2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup mild molasses
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Royal Icing
Sift flour, spices, salt and baking soda into a large bowl. In another bowl and using electric mixer, beat
butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add brown sugar and beat 1 minute. Add molasses and beat until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg and beat until well-blended, about 1 minute. Reduce speed to low and beat in vanilla. Add flour mixture, also on low, just to blend. Gather dough into a ball and divide in half. Form each half into a ball; flatten into a disk. Wrap disks separately and and chill until firm – at least 4 hours. Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled.
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out dough between 2 sheets of waxed paper to 1/8″ thickness for smaller (2″) cookies and 1/4″ for larger (3-4″) cookies. Cut out cookies with your favorite cookie cutters and place on prepared cookie sheets. If dough becomes too soft, place in freezer for a five minutes before continuing. Gather scraps and re-roll, repeating until all dough is used.
Bake one sheet at a time until cookies are firm on top and slightly darker around edges, around 8 minutes for smaller cookies and up to 12 minutes for larger cookies. Cool completely on rack. Line baking sheets with new parchment paper as needed.
Decorate with royal icing as desired.
Royal Icing:
3 1/4 cups (or more) powdered sugar, sifted
2 large egg whites
1 tsp strained fresh lemon juice
Using electric mixer, beat 3 1/4 cups powdered sugar and egg whites until thick and shiny, adding more powdered sugar by the tablespoon if mixture is too thin to spread, about 3 minutes. Add lemon juice. Cover until ready to use. Pipe onto cookies as desired.