Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Tasty Treat: Best Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Einstein's theory of relativity changed the course of science; so too will my Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies change the course of, well, my baking at least. It's been years and years of off again on again experimentation and finally, finally, finally I've discovered the most amazing chocolate chip cookies. Crispy, chewy edges with soft chewy innards, my dream cookie, are now a reality.


I'm one of those people who's tried every single chocolate chip cookie recipe: The Neiman Marcus Cookies, the New York Times Cookies, Willie Mae's cookies. I've ripped recipes out of newspapers and magazines and copied them from books. However, what changed things for me was finally realizing that brown sugar makes things softer - that's what Dorie Greenspan said. So, rather than add equal parts white and brown sugar, I shook things up and bet in favor of brown, dark brown muscovado sugar to be exact. The only problem was, while the cookies were chewy, they were also pancake-flat.

To unflatten them, I remembered back to a time long before the great brown sugar discovery. Two years ago, my niece and I made cookies together at my grandmother's beach house. While we got the eggs from a farmer's market, they might have been from a farm on 3 Mile Island because every single egg had a double yoke. Seriously, it was weird. While we used two eggs like the recipe called for, there were four yolks. I expected a disaster, but those cookies were soft and perfectly shaped: thin, but not flat.

So last Sunday, before I realized that baby girl was running a 104.5 fever, I whipped up these cookies. Straight from the bowl into the oven they were pretty tasty. Almost there. But, because baby girl required lots of mommy cuddles, the extra cookie dough went into the fridge overnight. There, my friends, is how baby girl's fever helped me make the best ever Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies: chewy, soft, chocolatey, sugary and worthy of a milk-dunk.


Best Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
(Like my good friend, Martha Stewart, I use an ice cream scooper to get uniform cookies. It works really well and allows me to know exactly how long to bake them: for my ice cream scoop size, 14 minutes is perfection.)

What You'll Need:
2 cups White Whole Wheat Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt plus a pinch to grow on
1 cup Sweet Butter at room temperature
2/3 cup White Sugar
1 1/3 cup Muscovado Sugar (or dark brown sugar)
2 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 cups Guittard Extra-Semisweet Chocolate Chips

Add the dry ingredients to a bowl, whisk them together and set aside.

In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, blend the sugars and butter together on medium-high until light and fluffy. Turn off the mixer and scrape down the sides. Set the mixer on medium and add the eggs one at a time and then the vanilla. Scrape down the sides and turn down the mixer to low. Slowly add the flour mixture and mix until just incorporated. Turn off the mixer and incorporate the chocolate chips by hand. Place the dough in the fridge and chill for a couple hours or overnight. 

When you're ready to cook them, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and then scoop out equal size balls of dough and place on your cookie sheet. Mine were perfect after 14 minutes in the oven, but it really depends on how big your cookies are. You want them to be brown around the edges and soft in the middle, not raw. Cool them on a rack and enjoy!



Approximate Cost:
Groceries: $7
Cost per Meal: I think you'll get 3-4 dozen cookies out of this

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29 comments:

  1. I agree that refrigeration is key. I always do this now, after my own recent choc chip cookie experimentation.

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  2. Christine at Origami MommyMarch 30, 2010 at 2:09 PM

    Wow, these look great! Yum! I am always in search of the perfect chocolate chip cookie too. I discovered last year that refrigeration was necessary because once I made cookies that were so soft and flat they spread all over the pan.

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  3. I have been in search of that allusive perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe and I've yet to find it. I love that you used all whole wheat, but I'm still a little hesitant about trying these out. I recently tried again the Nestle cookie recipe and refrigerated it for a whole 2 days and still the cookies ended up running all over the pan. But with your advice, I'll give it another try.

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  4. Thanks for sharing this secret! My husband loves chocolate chip anything. I'll bake him some cookies over the weekend!

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  5. Thanks everyone!

    Mykidseatsquid - you'll find this recipe is pretty different from the Nestle recipe. The sugars ratio, the extra egg yolk and the refrigeration all contribute to a chewy cookie.

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  6. The cookies look amazing - and hopefully baby girl's fever is gone along with the cookies (I'm sure there are no leftovers, right?)

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  7. These look delish. You can't get commercial chewy cookies here in NZ- they are crunchy biscuit freaks, so I'm looking forward to giving this one a go. Plus I love the beautiful brown colour of them.

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  8. I'm not searching for the best chocolate-chip cookie recipe; I'm searching for a good friend who has one. Goal!

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  9. My husband is the baker around here, and he's on a similar quest for the best chocolate chip cookie. Passing this on to him, and ultimately to my hips!

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  10. And yet another one of your recipes I've bookmarked!

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  11. Mmm... these look so good. I am bookmarking these so I can give them a whirl the instant I'm off of this low carb insanity!

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  12. Great recipe. I'm bookmarking it daaaahling.
    *kisses* HH

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  13. Hi,Peggy. I enjoyed your post on CC cookies; I've done the same, trying many recipes over the years (including buying a dedicated cookbook on such treats in the 1980s, "The Search for the Perfect CC Cookie" - not the chewy paragon, however!).

    I've settled on the America's Test Kitchen recipe, which is wonderful and somewhat similar to yours (e.g, extra egg yolk), but I like your variant of white whole wheat flour. I'll give it a try soon.

    Thanks.

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  14. Sounds delicious! I've tried the Neiman Marcus cookie recipe, and it seems like it turns out differently each time I make it. (The first time was delicios but the second time it fell flat.) I love the idea of using an ice cream scoop. When I took a cupcake baking class, the instructor suggested the same thing, and it worked really well.

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  15. Thanks everyone for the wonderful comments.

    Sheryl - thank you, baby girl is all better and back in action

    Islandeat - of all things, I don't think I've tried the America's Test Kitchen cookies!! It's nice to know we're on the same page about the egg yolk.

    Kare - hope you ring in the end of your low-carb with some of these cookies!

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  16. I am a lousy baker. These look divine. Do share.

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  17. This look so good. I love that they are made with whole wheat flour. I am making them as soon as Passover is over!

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  18. Oh, my, these sound amazing! I'm going to try a gluten-free version of your recipe. Of course, if that doesn't work, I won't be blaming you. :) What I love is your explanation of how understanding the ingredients (brown sugar, the extra yolk) and the process (refrigeration, ice cream scoop) can make such an impact on the recipe. I'll definitely be using that information. Thanks!

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  19. I don't bake much anymore now that the kids are grown. But, I'm still saving this recipe for when I get a chocolate chip cookie craving.

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  20. Oh my, now don't these look absolutely delicious! My cookie attempts haven't been all that successful. Yet. I must try this recipe soon. It really doesn't matter if they're super thin as long as they taste great!

    I have one question though. About white whole wheat flour, is that the same as all-purpose flour? Because the only type of whole wheat flour I have is the brownish one.

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  21. Sorry, Licketysplat, I only just saw this question. I use White Whole Wheat flour which is whole wheat flour, but it's from a finer type of flour so, when ground, the whole wheat is nearly as fine as white flour. King Arthur's Flour makes it and I use it for absolutely everything.

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  22. I Am SOOOO HAPPY!! I have been in search of a great cc-cookie recipe since I was about 12. My friends grandma made cookies once, and I have never found anything to come close to comparing to the fabulous cookies she prepared! THIS IS IT! These cookies are by far, the very very best! I am not a big fan of cc cookies, so I have tried endless recipes in search of the right ones. These are pure perfection! Thank you So much for this wonderful recipe!

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  23. Woo hoo! Thanks so very much, Trina!! So glad you like this recipe. It took me years to develop.

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  24. Can you tell me your ice cream scoop size? That's one of the most important thing before you say 14 mins is the perfect for your ice cream scoop size. Thank you.

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  25. If you don't know the size of you ice cream scoop, can you tell me how many cookies do you bake off from this recipe? Then, I can weigh the cookie dough. Thank you.

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  26. can i substitute the flour and use all purpose white flour??

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  27. Yes, white flour will work just as well. Let me know how the recipe works for you!

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