Woah...

I don't usually post two in one day, but I just realized that "Joe Pastry" says to chill the cookie dough another forty-five minutes after having put it on the baking sheets. I definitely did not do that, and they still turned out amazing. How much more amazing would they be if I had?

I Have Finally Achieved Greatness (Chocolate Chip Saga, Pt. IV)

And by greatness, I mean that I have baked the perfect chocolate chip cookies.

That other post, from way back when, where I claimed to have created a definitively good recipe?

Not even close.

No, this batch that I made on Friday for a birthday get-together on Saturday was perfection. The texture, the flavor, the chocolate to cookie ratio--it was all as I remembered from my past. It was all that I could have hoped for. I am on cloud nine. And I must give props to this guy, a great blogger whose chocolate chip cookie post completely enlightened me as to the nature of cookie-baking and the question of texture. I took the original Wakefield recipe he posted and combined it with my old recipe to see what would happen. All I can say is, it was a damn lucky guess.

So, without further ado, I give you my new and improved recipe:

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 3/4 sticks butter

1/2 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar (shipped from America, yeah!)

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract (also shipped from America)

most of a bag of bittersweet chocolate chips (yes, I also had someone send me these from the U.S.)

Mix dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking soda) together in one bowl. In another, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and the vanilla and beat until well-incorporated and fluffier, if that's possible. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Now comes the important part: take the batter, and STICK IT IN THE FRIDGE for AT LEAST ONE HOUR. You can also stick it in the freezer for a little bit to speed up the process.

When you have yourself a big bowl of cold batter, take it out of the fridge, take a tablespoon, and start spooning out cookie-sized portions. Roll each portion into a ball (work quickly, though, so the batter doesn't get too warm), and place on an ungreased cookie sheet, or on a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper (this is actually what I did--really reduces mess and cleaning time). You can also use an ice-cream scoop.

Bake for 9-11 minutes (or until beginning to turn golden brown) at 365˚F or (190˚C).

They're so good. Seriously.

Chocolate Chip Saga--Pt. III (A Photo Narrative)

There aren't really chocolate chips here in Germany, so this is what we did instead:

 

Chocolate Chip Saga--Pt. II

I will preface this by admitting to myself that nobody really cares about my adventures in baking. Readers (if there are any, which is somewhat debatable) may even find my meandering sentences about cookies and cakes extremely boring.

However, I cannot be stopped. My love for the chocolate chip cookie is too great.

A few nights ago, the mood struck. I needed chocolate chip cookies, and I still had experimenting with proportions to do. This time, I used the same recipe as before, but instead of decreasing the flour further, I increased the butter just a little--from one stick to one and a quarter. I increased the vanilla from one teaspoon to two. I increased the amount of salt from (as I recall) a quarter teaspoon to a half teaspoon. I didn't use the liquid called for in the original recipe, because I cut down the flour enough that the batter wasn't at all dry. In addition, I added about one and a quarter bags of chocolate chips, because...well, because I love chocolate. I also added a cup of pecan pieces, because the chocolate chip cookies I enjoyed so much in the past usually contained pecans. Unlike last time I baked these cookies, I did not leave the dough overnight, because I wanted cookies immediately.

Wow. These cookies were great. The increased butter, vanilla and salt gave them a greater depth of flavor, and the high proportion of chocolate made this batch extra-delicious. They didn't spread out during baking; I feel I've achieved a good balance between flavorful, buttery but also cakey and not greasy. Best of all, I made these smaller than usual--as a result, I have many, many cookies. Surprisingly for how much I enjoy baking, I move through cookies and sweets very slowly (I don't actually have much of a sweet tooth, besides my love for certain chocolate and these cookies). I'm looking forward to enjoying these with friends over the next few weeks. They keep really well, an added bonus for someone without much of an appetite for dessert.

So, here is the recipe. I couldn't resist posting it, because I'm proud of how delicious it is.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/4 sticks unsalted butter

1/2 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

3 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/4 bags semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup chopped pecans or pecan pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). Combine flour, baking soda and salt, then set aside.

In another bowl, cream butter and white sugar, then add the brown sugar and beat until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla. Slowly beat in flour mixture, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. When finished, stir in the nuts and the chocolate chips.

Grab a spoon, and drop bits of dough (roughly a tablespoon) onto an ungreased cookie sheet, about an inch to an inch and a half apart. If you want smaller cookies, you can go with a roughly a teaspoon of dough per cookie.

Bake for 10 to 15 min. (I baked mine for 12 and they were perfect, but my oven is from the 1950s, so newer ovens will inevitably produce different results.) Enjoy!

P.S. While baking, I highly recommend playing some music. My playlist for this batch of cookies included Animal Collective, Starfucker, and MGMT (among others)....awful, maybe, but strangely energizing.

Chocolate Chip Saga--Pt. I

I cannot remember a time when I didn't love chocolate chip cookies. Semi-sweet chocolate chips melting into brown-sugary vanilla chewiness...these simple and versatile cookies are perhaps my favorite dessert of all time. They are one of my closely held comforts in life, evoking memories I tend to forget, and making the world seem calmer, lighter, more satisfying with each bite. Starting a few years ago, I began to bake several batches of chocolate chip cookies a year--whenever I was in need of a calming, satisfying activity, I'd start mixing up a batch, perhaps taking a walk to the store to obtain the necessary chocolate morsels. It was in the first few months of my cookie baking resurgence that I noticed something--all of my cookies were coming out too thin. I remembered fondly the cookies of my childhood, baked by my mother on cold days. They were perfect, always seeming to come out buttery but a little more cakey than chewy; this consistency has managed to stick in my mind, urging me on. But those first cookies I made, after having gone years without making so much as one, were not as I remembered. They were far too chewy and greasy. I decided to do some research, and that is what kicked off what I now refer to as 'The Chocolate Chip Saga'--my quest for the elusive cookie of my childhood.

After much research (thanks, Harold McGee, and others, for taking the time to put cookie info into your books), I managed to get the information I needed to improve upon my recipe. My mom had always used the one provided on the back of the chocolate chip package, but the two sticks of butter it recommended were causing the cookies to spread out too much during the baking process. A large amount of fat in proportion to the amount of flour results in a cookie that spreads more, becoming thinner and more chewy. In addition, the amount of white sugar (3/4 cups) was the same in this recipe as the amount of brown sugar. White sugar crystallizes when baked, resulting in a thin, crispy texture that I didn't want. I researched the various repercussions of more versus fewer eggs, but in the end decided that my first task on the quest for a better cookie would be to tweak the flour:butter:sugar ratio.

With this in mind, I set out to find a new recipe that contained less butter. A jaunt through the books in my kitchen soon yielded results: The Joy of Cooking, that lovely book used by generations of home cooks, contained a recipe that only called for a stick of butter, and much less sugar. Unfortunately, it didn't use nearly enough flour to bulk up the cookies--once again, they spread out in the oven, becoming chewy and just a tad too greasy. They were also strangely salty (though I, being a fan of the chocolate chip fleur de sel cookies at a certain local bakery, rather liked this unexpected detail). The Joy of Cooking had not exactly failed me, but I wanted more out of my cookies. I baked my way through those in The Best Recipe (for all their trial and error, the cookies were not that good and were too crispy) and in the Doubleday Cookbook (my mom's alternative to the chocolate chip package--didn't turn out the way I remembered them at all). I tried combining different portions from all of the above, but could not get the consistency I was looking for in a cookie.

I was beginning to give up hope. Then, one day, my friend Paige gave me a chocolate chip cookie from a batch she'd baked the night before. My god! It was nearly perfect. That cookie was a beacon of hope for me. I realized that I was not crazy, that my memories of cookies past were not mere figments of my imagination. Suddenly, I was inspired to continue my research. Did I, like any sensible person, politely ask Paige what recipe she had used? No. The thought didn't cross my mind until much later. Needless to say, that perfect cookie was the catalyst that enabled my later discoveries. Not long after the day of Paige's cookie, I was informed of the death of an amazing woman and long-time family friend. She was funny, interesting, intelligent, and renowned for making some of the best chocolate chip cookies around. They were a staple in her household--she always had a fresh-baked batch on hand. These cookies were very cakey, and while delicious, were slightly different than those I remember my mother baking for me. Nevertheless, I was overjoyed when I received an e-mail containing the legendary recipe. I made a batch as soon as I could. Voilà! These cookies were cakey--not greasy at all. This was a result of the butter to flour ratio: one stick of butter to three cups of flour. Additionally, this recipe calls for the addition of liquid (milk or juice--I opted for milk) and uses more brown sugar than white. I, however, being my finicky self, was not satisfied, despite the newfound texture. Much of the delicious buttery/brown sugar flavor was lost because of the excessive amounts of flour. I wanted a cookie that was less dense and dry; a perfect balance between cakey and buttery. 

The next time I made the recipe, I decreased the amount of flour to two and a half cups. This did not produce much of a difference in the cookies. I was disappointed. But in the last week, being snowed in, I finally got the chance to work on the recipe once more. I cut down the flour once again, this time to two and a quarter cups. I increased the amount of vanilla (from a half teaspoon to almost a full teaspoon), hoping to bolster the flavor of the cookie a little, as the large amount of flour tends to leave it a little flat. This time, I also left the dough in the fridge overnight, as I've been reading that it greatly improves texture. The next day, when I baked the cookies up, they came out looking beautiful. They were really nicely browned this time, and did not spread out too much. Best of all, they did not puff up quite as much this time, which I assume is the result of my second decrease in flour.

It was time for the taste test. My assessment: improved, but there's room for even more improvement yet. The cookies this time were slightly less dense, but they still lack an overall roundness of flavor. Next time, I'm thinking of increasing the vanilla and salt, as well as continuing to decrease the flour by small increments. Hopefully, I'll be able to arrive at a happy medium between dense and thin, without having to completely start from scratch. Who knows--it may come to that. For now, all that's certain in that my quest continues. And I will not give up. Stay tuned for Part II of the Chocolate Chip Saga. There probably won't be much of a wait.