This weekend, I gorged on chocolate chip cookies. I mean who wouldn’t? Look at these things. Just look at ‘em. Seductive, no, served alongside a cool glass of milk?
I totally thought I’d settled the question of world’s best chocolate chip cookie recipe for good. But I find I may have to re-open the topic (it’s of the utmost importance, you know) and thrown in another contendor.
First, let’s figure out if we’re in agreement here. Do you like your cookies chewy? And soft? With that characteristic give when you first bite into them? Do you like them bronzed and flat and ripply on top, ready to dunk into cold milk?
That’s how I like my chocolate chip cookies. And my long-time standby has been Kim Boyce’s whole wheat chocolate chip cookies—yeah, the ones that spread like wildfire in the blogosphere. They’re ridiculously good, with the whole wheat flour stealing the show.
But for times when I want a slightly lighter cookie, one that’s not quite as… bold let’s say, I think I’ll be reaching for this recipe. It’s plain old comfort food, albeit comfort food I could eat at any time. It’s the classic chocolate chip cookie, no frills, no fancy ingredients, and I’m having a hard time keeping my hands off them. My solution is usually to shove a bunch in a bag and hand them off to friends, but I find myself oddly protective of these.
In my heart, there’s room for two favorites.
I’ve had The New Best Recipe sitting on my bookshelf for awhile. Bless those giant, comprehensive compendiums. I put a lot of confidence in America’s Test Kitchen for its reliability and rigorous kitchen methods. In the book, you can read about the entire trial and error process—the countless alterations tried—before a recipe was deemed perfect. It’s really informational. For instance, did you know that “when melted butter is added to a dough, the proteins in the flour immediately grab onto the freed water molecules to form elastic strands of gluten?” I didn’t know that.
In the case of these chocolate chip cookies, their focus was on chewiness. Which is why melted butter and an extra egg yolk are called for. And they invented an elegantly simple way of shaping the cookies so they come out with that classic rippled top (instructions in the recipe).
CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Recipe from Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies in The New Best Recipe
Makes about 18 large cookies (I ended with 14)
Ingredients:
2 cups plus 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
12 Tbsp (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until just warm
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, plus 1 large egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 to 1-1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Update 8/22/12:I made these with half whole wheat flour and they turned out a success.
Directions:
Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper (or bake the cookies in batches like I did). Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
Mix the butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined. Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed until just combined. Stir in the chips to taste.
Roll a scant 1/4 cup of dough into a ball. Holding onto it with the fingertips of both hands, pull the ball apart into two equal pieces. Rotate both pieces so that the jagged, ripped edge is facing upwards, then push both halves together again with the jagged edges still facing upwards. Place the dough on the baking sheet, spaced about 2-1/2 inches apart.
Bake 15 to 18 minutes, until the cookies are light golden brown. Rotate the baking sheet about halfway through for even baking. Don’t overbake! The cookies will harden when cooled and the centers will set.
your blog… well there goes my evening. *happy sigh*
hahaha, that’s how i felt when i found your blog!
I’m so glad you left a comment on my blog — now I get a chance to discover yours! It is so lovely.
Yay for new blog discoveries! I hope your 50mm lens is working out for you.
Oh this is too funny… I JUST finished eating off two of Kim Boyce’s whole wheat chocolate chip cookies for dessert. I made them for the first time today and am really impressed with them. BUT! My favorite chocolate chip cookie is this exact version you’ve posted here! It looks like we’re the same when it comes to picking two favorite chocolate chip cookie recipes.
Glad to see we have similar tastes– and timing!
What a coincidence! Seriously. I felt crazy for wanting to bake up chocolate chip cookies at this time of the year. I definitely agree w/ you on this recipe—the cookies are simply delicious, just like they should be.
What wonderful looking cookies. I’m not inspired to buy the book.
Wow, looks like everyone is on the lookout for a new choc chip cookie fave! Having just moved into an apartment with limited kitchen cupboard space I’m trying to simplify the number of flours I have on hand, so am also wanting to go back to basics. Wonder if this would work with coconut oil (just what I have on hand atm, have nothing against butter) – I’m on a real coconut oil kick at the moment!
I have been noticing a lot of chocolate chip cookie recipes floating around recently… I wonder what’s up with that?
Anyway, regarding your question about coconut oil, here’s what the ATK folks have to say:
“In its solid state, butter is an emulsion of butter and water. When butter is melted, the fat and water molecules separate. When melted butter is added to a dough, the proteins in the flour immediately grab onto the freed water molecules to form elastic strands of gluten. The gluten makes a cookie chewy.”
So, depending on the composition of coconut oil, using it might affect the chewiness of the cookie. I believe oil is an emulsion of water and fat, but I’m not sure what the ratio is compared to butter. Anyway, I think it would work better in this recipe than in one that called for solid butter. Let us know!
I just tried this recipe…these cookies definitely have the chewy factor going on! I did the two halves trick, but used a squeeze-and-release cookie scoop. After the first batch turned out big, pale cookies, I upped the temp to 325 and made slightly smaller cookies in the next batches.
The one thing this recipe lacked was that blend of salty-sweet. I used salted butter; next time I’ll put in a heaping 1/2 tsp of salt and see if that doesn’t help.
Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Thanks for the input Roberta! I agree, a little sprinkle of sea salt on top—or just salt in the batter—would definitely improve the taste a lot.
Edited to add 335 degree, instead of the stated 325…