Izzy (and Mama) Eat: The Gourmand Goes To College...

Tales of Empty Nest and College Boy Eats.. The Next Chapter

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Now This is A Serious Chocolate-Chip Cookie


The endless search for the "best" chocolate-chip cookie is not over but this one is a serious contender. I found it on Serious Eats , just the place to find great recipe comparisons and all other food-related minutiae.

When I saw that they had posted a recipe for "the best" chocolate-chip cookie, I felt the overwhelming inclination to give it try, as I am always looking for the "perfect" cookie. I had the perfect excuse to bake, as the cookies will accompany a gift that Izzy will be presenting to someone tomorrow. I followed the recipe except in one respect. I made slightly smaller cookies so my recipe made 19 cookies instead of the 16 mammoth ones which the original recipe suggested.
The result? This cookie will not disappoint, especially in the realm of texture. Warm from the oven they do have a slight crunch but are soft and chewy inside. The true test will be to see how they taste tomorrow, when they are fully cooled.
Next day notes: The cookie did not maintain its softness which definitely demotes it from being a top-notch cookie. Perhaps I overbaked them though they were certainly not browned...Bake at your own risk!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Have you tried the chocolate chip cookies from The Best Recipe? The soft and chewy are super fabulous.

Izzy's Mama said...

What is the Best Recipe? Link please..I have tried the ones that Amander Hesser wrote about. Are those the ones?

Anonymous said...

Sorry -- Cooks Illustrated's Best Recipe....

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Published: January 1, 1996
Makes 1 1/2 dozen 3-inch cookies





These truly chewy chocolate chip cookies are delicious served warm from the oven or cooled. To ensure a chewy texture, leave the cookies on the cookie sheet to cool. You can substitute white, milk chocolate, or peanut butter chips for the semi- or bittersweet chips called for in the recipe. In addition to chips, you can flavor the dough with one cup of nuts, raisins, or shredded coconut.
INGREDIENTS
2 1/8 cups bleached all-purpose flour (about 10 1/2 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), melted and cooled slightly
1 cup brown sugar (light or dark), 7 ounces
1/2 cup granulated sugar (3 1/2 ounces)
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 - 2 cups chocolate chips or chunks (semi or bittersweet)


See Illustrations Below: Shaping Thick Chocolate Chip Cookies

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions. Mix flour, salt, and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.
2. Either by hand or with electric mixer, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Mix in egg, yolk, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients; mix until just combined. Stir in chips.
3. Following illustrations below, form scant 1/4 cup dough into ball. Holding dough ball using fingertips of both hands, pull into two equal halves. Rotate halves ninety degrees and, with jagged surfaces exposed, join halves together at their base, again forming a single cookie, being careful not to smooth dough’s uneven surface. Place formed dough onto one of two parchment paper-lined 20-by-14-inch lipless cookie sheets, about nine dough balls per sheet. Smaller cookie sheets can be used, but fewer cookies can be baked at one time and baking time may need to be adjusted. (Dough can be refrigerated up to 2 days or frozen up to 1 month—shaped or not.)
4. Bake, reversing cookie sheets’ positions halfway through baking, until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft and puffy, 15 to 18 minutes (start checking at 13 minutes). (Frozen dough requires an extra 1 to 2 minutes baking time.) Cool cookies on cookie sheets. Serve or store in airtight container.



STEP BY STEP: Shaping Thick Chocolate Chip Cookies

1. Creating a jagged surface on each dough ball gives the finished cookies an attractive appearance. Start by rolling a scant 1/4 cup of dough into a smooth ball.


2. Holding the dough ball in the fingertips of both hands, pull the dough apart into two equal halves.


3. Each half will have a jagged surface where it was ripped from the other. Rotate each piece 90 degrees so that the jagged edge faces up.


4. Jam the halves back together into one ball so that the top surface remains jagged.

Izzy's Mama said...

Thanks! I will give it a try but I have to say, since that last batch, I am wary of chocolate-chip cookie recipes with melted butter.

Anonymous said...

let us know...they really do get raves from the youngin's and adults alike. They don't last long at my house so I really can't comment on their "lasting power" Good luck