Chocolate Chip Cookies
Before I get to the recipe, I'd like to point out a few common mistakes. My mom makes all 3 of these mistakes btw. It's not a coincidence that I was desperate to learn how to cook when I was a teenager.
1. Baking the cookies directly on a greased sheet pan. The dough will splooch out and the edges will get very thin and burnt before the center of the cookie is done. You can always tell when someone bakes their cookies this way from the thin overdone edges.
2. Using iodized salt. It tastes bitter and awful, which is especially bad when you put it in sweet things. Use sea salt. It doesn't have to be some outrageously expensive pink mermaid vagina salt or whatever. Just not that bitter table salt ****. Also, add the salt with the sugar at the beginning of mixing. This will help it get evenly distributed and it will disolve into the butter and eggs. If you add it with the flour, as most recipes tell you to do, it won't disolve and you'll probably end up with clumps of salt grains in some cookies and none in others.
3. Not creaming the butter/sugar/eggs enough. You want to cream the butter and sugar until it's pale and fluffy looking. Then add the egg(s) and mix until it looks smooth and emulsified. Not mixing the butter/sugar enough will result in a dense sandy crumbly texture.
Here's the recipe:
113g (1 stick) butter
110g light brown sugar
50g sugar
50g corn syrup
1/2 t sea salt
1 egg
1 t vanilla extract
180g all purpose flour
1/2 t baking soda
180g chocolate chips
Cream the butter, sugars, corn syrup, and salt in a mixer until pale yellow and light in texture. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until emulsified. It helps if the ingredients are at room temperature, including the egg. Add the flour and baking soda, mix until the flour is about halfway mixed in. Add the chocolate chips and mix just until almost all the flour is incorporated. Remove from the mixer and scrape down the bowl. Mix in whatever flour is left by hand.
Put the dough in a bowl, or roll into logs about 1.5 inches in diameter using parchment paper. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours.
Heat the oven to 350*, get a
good thick commercial grade sheet pan that's not dark colored, and line it with parchment paper. DO NOT put any oil or butter on the parchment. If the dough is in a bowl, scoop out with spoons, or a
cookie scoop will be a little faster and easier. If the dough is in logs, slice them about 1/2 inch thick.
Another option is to make cookie bars. Get a good 8x8 inch
stainless steel baking pan line it with parchment, dump all the dough in and smooth it out.
Cookies will take about 10-12 minutes. Cookie bars will take 30-40 minutes.
Notes on ingredients:
- Corn syrup is not necessary, but it makes the cookies softer and chewier. If you don't have any corn syrup, or prefer a more crunchy cookie, then don't use corn syrup and double the white sugar.
- I suggest Nielsen-Massey vanilla extract. The vanilla flavor is much better than Mccormick or some other generic brand. I've never been in a professional kitchen that had a brand of vanilla extract other than Nielsen Massey.
- I usually use Ghiradelli chocolate chips. They're widely available, cheap, and clearly a step up from Nestle. I don't use high end chocolate for baking, the subtle flavors will be lost, and in fact sometimes they become very bland (Callebaut for example).
Last edited by how do u say...; 08-25-2013 at 08:01 PM.