Chocolate Chip Cookies

[elleng]

'You may have memorized the foolproof gem on the back of the Toll House bag, given to the world by Ruth Graves Wakefield in the 1930s. But this may become your new favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. It’s a little more complicated, and you’ll have to plan ahead: after assembling the dough, you must chill it for at least 24 hours before baking it, and preferably up to 36. This allows the dry ingredients time to soak up the wet ones, which results in a firmer dough. It leads to a marvelously chewy, chocolate-rich cookie. Don’t skimp on good chocolate, and the sea salt is not an option -- it’s the beacon at the top of this gorgeous treat.'

http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015819-chocolate-chip-cookies?

[Warpy]

1. Or leave out the egg and eat the dough raw

It's too damned hot to think about baking anything here.

[SheilaT]

2. This is an overly complicated recipe.

I claim to make the very best chocolate chip cookies ever, and could probably bring about world peace with them.

Here's my recipe:
Chocolate Chip Cookies
(not high altitude adapted)

2 ¼ cups unbleached white flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup shortening
½ cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 package chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts

Cream together the shortening and sugars. Add the vanilla and eggs, mix well. Add the dry ingredients and again mix well. Last of all add the walnuts and chocolate chips.

If you want, flip the amounts for regular granulate sugar and brown sugar. I actually prefer them that way.

Bake on a lightly greased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes, depending on your oven.

Done right, these are a combination of crispy and chewy when fresh out of the oven that is amazing.

Notes: Always use real vanilla. Always. Use Crisco for the shortening, and not the butter-flavored one. The walnuts are optional, but I like them a lot.

For a variation, you can substitute butterscotch chips and pecans for the chocolate chips and walnuts, and they are likewise excellent.


The note about not high altitude adapted is important because I do happen to live at high altitude. PM me if you also do. My recipe is adapted from a cookbook from the 1930's, old enough that it says to chop up a bar of semi-sweet chocolate. The instructions to chill are bullshit. Not necessary. I am impressed that they're giving a recipe that isn't all standard measurements, but the combination of regular flour and bread flour is an unnecessary complication. Also, don't waste your time with butter. Use Crisco. Not butter flavored, but regular Crisco. Real butter (which I use in many recipes) will burn at a lower temperature, making these cookies a lot fussier than they need to be. Trust me. Use my recipe and you won't go wrong.

I often claim these cookies could bring about world peace. And this is how I'd do it: Get any two warring sides together in a room with a kitchen next door. I mix up these cookies and bake. As soon as they are out of the oven I give each side a taste, no more. Once they come to agreement they can have as many as they like.

I used to bake these cookies and bring them to the small secular private school my son attended. The kids (and the teachers) were very fond of them, to the point where they were scarfed up as soon as I arrived. I'd also bake them and bring them to class on test days at the local junior college where I was taking various classes. I liked to claim that the reason I got straight A's was because of my cookies.

More to the point, the recipe in the link is complicating things far beyond what they need to be. Trust me. Follow my recipe and you'll make many friends.