My dad's birthday is today (August 7th) and my mom told me that he didn't want a birthday cake. Well I found that a little strange simply because I love desserts. And it just seems wrong not to have cake on someones birthday right?
But my dad has never been a huge cake fan, thus my mom's news wasn't all that surprising. See my dad would much rather have a bowl of ice cream topped with some of his favorite goodies than a big slice of cake any day!
So instead of baking a cake, I decided I would make cookies. But these aren't just any cookies. These are cookies people endlessly rant and rave about. These are cookies that have a recommended 36 hour refrigeration period. 36 hours?? That's a LONG time! That's like two days? And when you are baking cookies - who really wants to wait two days before they can even have a taste test? I know I don't, but it was my dad's birthday, and I figured he deserved something special. So 36 hours it would be. However, I didn't have 36 hours - his birthday was in less than 36 hours. Still I forged on.
This chocolate chip cookie recipe is originally from the New York Times, but instead, I used Molly Wizenberg's adapted version posted on her blog, Orangette.
And then I adapted her adapted version. I used regular all-purpose flour instead of bread and cake flour. I didn't go for the fancy chocolate chips. And deemed it unnecessary simply because I added peanut butter m&ms in along with the chocolate chips for some extra sweet, peanut buttery goodness. So I veered off from the recipe a bit. And now that I am looking through the ingredients, I think I may have forgotten to add the vanilla, which is really unlike me since I add vanilla to everything. So maybe I didn't? Also, I forgot to buy parchment paper and/or nonstick mats for baking the goods - so the bottoms were a little dark, but then again that has been the end result for EVERY single cookie I have baked in our oven. So maybe it's just our oven?
However, I did follow her ice cream scoop recommendation - and scooped them onto a platter before refrigerating. And I should also mention that I refrigerated the dough for just 25 hours rather than the recommended 36. 36 hours was just TOO long and I hadn't planned far enough in advance for that! But I don't think those 11 hours made a difference in the regards to the cookie's goodness because those cookies are delicious! Kind of crunchy on the outside and all soft and chewy on the inside. My kind of cookie!
So folks here is the recipe...
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from The New York Times, David Leite, and Jacques Torres
If you have a kitchen scale, I highly recommend using it here. This recipe is written in both volume and weight, but I chose to use the latter, so that I wouldn’t have to mess with measuring cups. It was unbelievably quick: just put a bowl on top of the scale, tare it to zero, and go.
2 cups minus 2 Tbsp. (8 ½ oz.) cake flour
1 2/3 cups (8 ½ oz.) bread flour
1 ¼ tsp. baking soda
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 ½ tsp. coarse salt, such as kosher
2 ½ sticks (1 ¼ cups; 10 oz.) unsalted butter, softened
1 ¼ cups (10 oz.) light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. (8 oz.) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 ¼ pounds bittersweet chocolate chips or chunks, preferably about 60% cacao content, such as Ghirardelli
Sea salt, such as Maldon
Combine flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Whisk well; then set aside.
Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars until very light and fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Reduce the mixer speed to low; then add dry ingredients, and mix until just combined. (Unless you have a plastic guard that sits around the rim of the bowl, this will make a big mess at first, with flour flying everywhere. I found that carefully holding a dish towel around the top of the bowl helped a lot.) Add the chocolate chips, and mix briefly to incorporate. Using a standard-size ice cream scoop – mine holds about 3 fluid ounces, or about 1/3 cup – scoop the dough onto a sheet pan or large platter, or anything that will hold about two dozen dough portions in a single layer. Cover tightly with plastic wrap, and chill for 24 to 36 hours - and up to six days.
When you’re ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat.
Place six mounds of dough on the baking sheet, making sure to space them evenly. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt, and bake until golden brown but still soft, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then transfer the cookies onto the rack to cool a bit more.
Repeat with remaining dough.
Note: I may be the only person in the world who feels this way, but I like room-temperature chocolate chip cookies better than warm ones. (Yes, I fully expect to be burned at the stake for saying this.) When they’re warm, they taste too rich to me, and some of the nuances of their flavor get lost. I suggest that you try these cookies both ways and decide for yourself.
Yield: About 24 (5-inch) cookies.
If you have a kitchen scale, I highly recommend using it here. This recipe is written in both volume and weight, but I chose to use the latter, so that I wouldn’t have to mess with measuring cups. It was unbelievably quick: just put a bowl on top of the scale, tare it to zero, and go.
2 cups minus 2 Tbsp. (8 ½ oz.) cake flour
1 2/3 cups (8 ½ oz.) bread flour
1 ¼ tsp. baking soda
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 ½ tsp. coarse salt, such as kosher
2 ½ sticks (1 ¼ cups; 10 oz.) unsalted butter, softened
1 ¼ cups (10 oz.) light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. (8 oz.) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 ¼ pounds bittersweet chocolate chips or chunks, preferably about 60% cacao content, such as Ghirardelli
Sea salt, such as Maldon
Combine flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Whisk well; then set aside.
Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars until very light and fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Reduce the mixer speed to low; then add dry ingredients, and mix until just combined. (Unless you have a plastic guard that sits around the rim of the bowl, this will make a big mess at first, with flour flying everywhere. I found that carefully holding a dish towel around the top of the bowl helped a lot.) Add the chocolate chips, and mix briefly to incorporate. Using a standard-size ice cream scoop – mine holds about 3 fluid ounces, or about 1/3 cup – scoop the dough onto a sheet pan or large platter, or anything that will hold about two dozen dough portions in a single layer. Cover tightly with plastic wrap, and chill for 24 to 36 hours - and up to six days.
When you’re ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat.
Place six mounds of dough on the baking sheet, making sure to space them evenly. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt, and bake until golden brown but still soft, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then transfer the cookies onto the rack to cool a bit more.
Repeat with remaining dough.
Note: I may be the only person in the world who feels this way, but I like room-temperature chocolate chip cookies better than warm ones. (Yes, I fully expect to be burned at the stake for saying this.) When they’re warm, they taste too rich to me, and some of the nuances of their flavor get lost. I suggest that you try these cookies both ways and decide for yourself.
Yield: About 24 (5-inch) cookies.
And here are the cookies...
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