Chocolate Chip Cookies

2

June 29, 2010 by Dana

This weekend we celebrated my stepdad’s birthday (Happy Birthday Pete!).  You know what that means… another excuse to make something deliciously fattening to try a piece of and pawn off on to gift to someone else! 0:)

So last week I called Pete and asked him: what’s your favorite cookie of all time?  And of all the cookies in the world, you know what he chose? Chocolate chip.

I thought, really? Chocolate chip? How boring.  Any ten year old kid with a bag of Nestle chocolate chips can make a decent chocolate chip cookie.  But then I decided not just to make a “decent” cookie.  I would go beyond the recipe on the back of the Nestle bag, and make an AMAZING cookie!

To get some ideas, I googled “best chocolate chip cookie recipe.” Not helpful.

Apparently everyone that has ever had access to the internet has posted their Nana’s chocolate chip recipe because obviously her’s is the absolute best recipe in the whole world and no one else’s can possibly compare.  There were about a million search results.  Most of them were the Nestle Toll House recipe.  Real original, Nana.

But one recipe did catch my eye: a recipe in the New York Times accompanied by an article explaining how the recipe was created and why it was so successful.  I knew I wouldn’t use the exact recipe (because it called for two different types of flour, which seemed excessive and unnecessary – I’m more of an all-purpose flour kind of girl), but I did learn some useful tips:

1. Refrigerate the cookie dough overnight in order to ensure that the flour absorbs all of the moisture from the eggs
2. Make 18 large sized cookies instead of several dozen smaller cookies, to allow the cookies to bake into three distinct flavor “rings”: crunchy outside, toffee-like mid-layer, and soft center
3. Use good quality chocolate pieces of at least 60% cocoa or higher

Using these tips and combining aspects of several different recipes that caught my eye, I created my very own Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe!

Ingredients

2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1.5 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 sticks unsalted butter
¾ cups sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
12 oz. 60% cocoa dark chocolate chips

Directions

1.  In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.  Set aside.

2.  In another large bowl, beat together butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla until creamy (about 5 minutes).  Add one egg to mixture and beat well.  Add second egg and beat well.

3.  Very gradually, add flour mixture to liquid and mix well.

4.  Cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 24-36 hours.

5.  When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°F.  Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

6.  Drop six large mounds of dough (about the size and shape of a small muffin top) onto the baking sheet.  Make sure to leave plenty of space between each cookie, as they will expand to about 5 inches in diameter.

7.  Lightly sprinkle cookies with sea salt.

8.  Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until golden brown.  Repeat two more times to make a total of 18 cookies.

9.  Let cookies cool completely on a wire rack before serving.

I know that some of these steps seem excessive for a “simple” chocolate chip cookie, but BELIEVE me, they are worth it.  These cookies really are AMAZING!  I may just have to agree with Pete… these cookies may be my new favorites :)