I'm sure you have a favorite, tried and true, chocolate chip cookie recipe...I have two recipes that I love - adore - drool over...and this is, sadly, not one of them. Oh, don't get me wrong, this is definitely one of the best tasting cookies I've ever made...but it's flat, and it has very little "chew-factor," something I feel is necessary in a chocolate chip cookie. So, I hear you asking, why did I make this recipe if I already have two that I love? Well, I'll tell you...two words...Dorie Greenspan. Dorie is to baking what fat is to my thighs...she is the guru of everything good, rich, decadent...she is also the author of Baking With Julia and Baking: From My Home to Yours; two must haves for any serious baker. But enough about Dorie, I could write volumes about how much I love her recipes...so when I read that THIS was Dorie's all-time favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe I just had to make it.
Telling you this is not in my top two fav's was misleading...I should have said it's in my top three because I did LOVE this cookie - and really, how could I not? It has TWO sticks of butter in the recipe, plus two teaspoons of vanilla - very few recipes for chocolate chip cookies are THIS rich...so the cookie is seductive in a way...you'll be half-way thru your third cookie before you realize that you could easily be a cookie addict! And the only reason these are not my favorites, because they DO taste amazing, is because they are just SO flat...not a good look in a cookie or me!
Chocolate Chip Cookies - Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt (1 1/2 teaspoons if you really like salt)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
12 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips, or 2 cups store-bought chocolate chips or chunks*
1 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)*
* I used chocolate chips and Reese's mini-peanut butter cups and I did not add nuts.
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone mats or parchment. Whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda and set aside.
In the bowl of a standing mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed for about 1 minute. Add the sugars and beat for another 2 minutes or so, until well blended. Beat in the vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each egg goes in. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients in 3 portions, mixing only until each addition is incorporated. On low speed, mix in the chocolate and nuts, if using.
Spoon the dough by slightly rounded tablespoonfuls onto the baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between spoonfuls. Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, for 10 to 12 minutes, or until they are brown at the edges and golden in the center; they may still be a little soft in the middle, and that's just fine. Allow the cookies to rest on the sheet for 1 minute before removing to racks to cool. Makes about 45 cookies.
"One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating." ~Luciano Pavarotti
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One year ago today: Fabulous Finds
