Thanks Deb
A few weeks ago, I tried to replicate City Bakery’s absolutely, undeniably, maddeningly perfect chocolate chip cookies for
IMBB. I failed. Mine were some yummy cookies, but not my own personal cookie nirvana: they turned out thin and crispy instead of thick and chewy-inside-crunchy-outside, and a little greasy to boot. Not long after that, I complained in these pages about my weight gain, and swore off baking for a while. Suckers! Of course I can’t stop baking. It was just a question of finding the right excuse. Luckily, yesterday was my brother-in-law’s birthday, and everyone knows there’s no better gift than a batch of made-with-love chocolate chip cookies…
We don’t live near BIL, so I planned to make them in time to mail. Taking a suggestion from Angela at A Spoonful of Sugar, I tried refrigerating the dough first. She told me she shapes hers into hockey pucks, then chills them before baking. Frankly, I’m a little too lazy for that, so I thought I’d try going the Pillsbury route by making a homemade cookie schlong:
It came in at an impressive 14 inches. I chilled the schlong for a good hour or two, then sliced and baked as usual—making my own version of the hockey puck shape. Strangely, the cookies were even thinner and crisper than before! Almost lacy. Absolutely delicious, mind you, but the exact opposite of what I was looking for. The yield was also greater—I got about 26 cookies, instead of my usual 23—so that may have made the difference. (And Angela, because I didn't follow your suggestion exactly, this was entirely my fault!) Since they were still so yummy, I packed them up to send to my BIL—and then S realized that we’d be seeing him on Saturday, so we may as well just deliver them in person. And since it was only Wednesday when we realized this, it didn’t make sense to just let all those cookies sit around when I really should bake him a fresh batch… Yes, that’s right, we ate them. S and I brought some with us to see Sideways yesterday (what a GREAT film—I could write a whole post just on that, and how sad it made me that over the last few months I’ve developed some sort of allergy to wine that makes me break out in hives…oops, sorry, I digress), and froze the rest.
In the meantime, I posted a query on eGullet, a profoundly fun and helpful site for all us foodies. Several generous people chimed in right away with suggestions, and I incorporated a few of them:
1. Cream the butter and sugars together at the beginning, eliminating the initial creaming of the butter alone—apparently the double-creaming in the original recipe was a waste, and contributed to the flat greasy quality
2. Do all mixing on low speed, rather than medium—this made the butter-sugar mixture hold the flour differently, and spread out less
3. Refrigerate dough (in bowl) before baking—this was an adaptation of Angela’s tip, and an eGullet person’s suggestion to freeze the dough first
The result: PERFECTION. This is the chocolate chip cookie recipe of my dreams. Seriously, I did a victory dance around the kitchen that involved doing the Butter Churn until my sweatpants fell down, evoking hearty laughter from S. It’s still not City Bakery’s—I think I may just have to save that experience for when I’m in their neighborhood—but it’s the cookie recipe I want to pass down to my future children.
Unbelievably Good Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Ingredients:
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ t. baking soda
½ t. salt
¼ pound (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
½ cup sugar
¾ cup tightly packed light brown sugar
1 ½ t. vanilla extract
1 large egg, at room temperature, lightly beaten
7 oz bittersweet chocolate, cut into 1/2 inch chunks [I just used half a 12-oz bag of bittersweet Ghiardelli chocolate chips]
1) Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.
2) Using a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugars on low speed until it is smooth and lump free, about 3 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle.
3) Add the vanilla and egg and beat on low speed for 15 seconds, or until fully incorporated. Do not overbeat. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle.
4) On low speed, add the flour mixture. Beat until just incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the chocolate chunks and mix until they are just incorporated. If using a hand mixer, use a wooden spoon to stir them in. Refrigerate dough for at least an hour.
5) Preheat oven to 350. Adjust racks to lower and upper thirds of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpats. Spoon the dough using a cookie scooper 2 inches apart onto the prepared baking sheets. (makes about 23 3-inch round cookies)
6) Bake for 11-13 minutes [it’s 13 in my oven] or until golden brown around the edges, turning the sheets front to back and switching racks halfway through.
Remove the sheet from the oven and carefully slide the parchment or Silpats directly onto a work surface. When cookies are set, remove them to a cooling rack. Wait at least 5 minutes before serving or 20 minutes before storing in an airtight container for up to 3 days at room temperature.
