This past week I had a chocolate chip cookie smackdown between my 'awesome' chocolate chip cookie recipe (the one I've made a hundred times) and the New York Times best chocolate chip cookie recipe. The NYT recipe is fussy. It takes two types of flour, weird amounts of ingredients, and the dough has to sit in the refrigerator at least 24 hours before you make cookies out of it. I've made the recipe twice now, and both times I'm consumed by the thought of the homemaker who developed it. I'm absolutely sure she was a 'pinch of this' and a 'shake of that' and a 'whatever-you-have-in-the-pantry' kinda gal who had a daughter-in-law who exclaimed "I must have the recipe for this!" The homemaker MIL probably gave her general directions (oh, a dash of baking powder) and the DIL (who was probably a little OCD like me) likely trailed behind the MIL and measured everything to come up with the exact amounts. I mean really. One-and-a-quarter teaspoons of baking soda. Does that extra quarter of a teaspoon take these cookies from merely good to starring in the New York Times and in every person I know's Pinterest board?
Maybe. Because the sad truth is, these cookies won my smackdown. In fact, by a landslide--unanimously among my family and almost hands-down at work. And I even took the easy route for parts of the recipe, where I thought it was just ridiculously picky (what in the heck is feves anyway?).
It's possible that these cookies are very good because the recipe does, in fact, call for two different types of flour. That might be because homemaker MIL didn't have enough of one of the kinds, or it might be something funky with flour chemistry.
I blended the dry ingredients, and indeed, it does all look about the same. This recipe calls for an inordinately long time for beating the butter and sugar. That might be because homemaker MIL had to step away from her Kitchenaid to pour herself some coffee and take a phone call. Or, it might just make the mixture particularly light and fluffy.
Typically sugar cookie recipes do call for some time in the refrigerator to harden the dough, but this is the only chocolate chip cookie recipe I've seen that called for refrigeration. It could be because homemaker MIL ran out of time and couldn't bake them the same day she made the dough. Or it could be that the long refrigeration time causes all of the ingredients to really do their thing.
Ok. Sidetrack. When we built our home in 2007, I shopped a ton for granite countertops. The one I chose was described by the salesperson as "similar to chocolate chip cookie dough." I guess he was sort of right. Does it look like my dough is camouflaged here?
Anyway. The refrigeration makes putting the first batch on the pan less-than-fun. I use a scooper from Pampered Chef, and it was work to scoop the dough into the scooper. The subsequent batches are much easier as the dough warms and softens.
Note to self: just get the dough out and leave it on the counter for 10 minutes before trying to scoop it out.
You will note the recipe (below) calls for gigantic-sized cookies. In the interest of fair comparison for the smackdown, I made both recipes using a small scoop. Even without the smackdown, I would use the small scoop because it's portion control. I'm teaching my kids that a hand-sized cookie isn't average.
But I digress. You will also note this recipe calls for more than the normal amount of chocolate chips. Or feves or disks. Out here in Iowa, we just use chocolate chips. We aren't fancy or anything. The extra chocolate was what one tester hypothesized made this recipe better than the other, and she could be right. I also did not sprinkle the cookies with salt. I'm not quite sure what kind of accident might have caused homemaker MIL to do that, so maybe she did it on purpose. I'm not really into the whole sweet-and-salty thing. This salted caramel everyone is raving about isn't for me. So we skipped the salt too.
They really do turn out yummy. Sort of crispy, yet chewy, and definitely full of chocolate. They made my son smile. And my coworkers. So I guess the extra time and effort really was worth it.
The New York Times Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
Taken directly from the NYT article.
2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour
1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves, at least 60 percent cacao content (see note)
Sea salt.
1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.
2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.
3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.
4. Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day. Eat warm, with a big napkin.
Yield: 1 1/2 dozen 5-inch cookies.
Note: Disks are sold at Jacques Torres Chocolate; Valrhona fèves, oval-shaped chocolate pieces, are at Whole Foods.
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