Food Fare: Bake some ooey, gooey goodness ahead of National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day
When we put together cookie bags for friends at the holidays, my wife always makes the chocolate chips, recreating the treats a neighboring mom made in her childhood. The original Nestle Toll House recipe, made with margarine (not butter), chopped pecans (because she’s not fond of walnuts) and baked on a basic sheet pan rather than a fancy cookie sheet, for just the right texture. I love those cookies: They are crisp, buttery, with melty chocolate chips and just the perfect caramelization, and they bring back memories.
So what drives our personal attachment to these gbd (golden, brown & delicious) nuggets? In her CNN column “What makes chocolate chip cookies so addictive?” Lisa Drayer suggest that first and foremost it’s familiarity, a connection to the past. For many folks my age, our first experience with homemade cookies was a chocolate chip cookie, made by a mother, grandmother or neighbor (lady or gentleman), warm out of the oven with perhaps a glass of cold milk. Chocolate chip cookies were easy to make, the recipe was on the back of every bag of chocolate morsels, and the process was simple enough for a kid to get involved without risk of injury or too much mess.
Drayer goes on to suggest that the ingredients in a chocolate chip cookie are, in themselves, addictive as well. Evidence indicates that sugar can stimulate reward and craving centers in the brain just as addictive drugs do. Furthermore, chocolate contains anandamide, which targets the same receptors as THC (the active ingredient in marijuana). You won’t get high on chocolate, but there may be a chemical basis to the pleasurable feelings we experience eating it. The rich flavors of butter or shortening, a pinch of salt to enhance the sweetness and the satisfying crunch or chew of a perfectly baked cookie round out the appeal.
I read a lot of cookie blogs, and many cookie bloggers seem to have started their baking with chocolate chip cookies.
“Even today, after eating and living with them for 40 years, I still can’t stop eating them,” says Kathleen King, founder of Tate’s Bake Shop in Southampton, New York, and creator of the top-rated chocolate chip cookie according to Consumer Reports. “I am either eating no cookies, or I am eating several. I can’t have one. ... If I’m celebrating, I can have a couple of cookies, but if I’m sad, I want 10 cookies,” she said. “While the cookie is in your mouth, that moment is happiness — and then it’s gone, and you’re sad again, and you have another one.”
The happiness that comes from sharing homemade chocolate chip cookies cannot be underestimated. King, who started baking chocolate chip cookies and selling them when she was 11 years old, said her biggest motivator for baking them was the joy they brought other people. “That really made me happy — and probably, a lot of people that bake will say the same thing: Sharing (chocolate chip cookies) makes people happy.”
Going through my calendar this week I noticed that (at least according to some sources) May 15 will be National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day. As much as I love the cookie of my youth, I decided to explore some other versions of this well-loved favorite for today’s column.
Tessa Arias, author of "The Ultimate Cookie Handbook," says that her “obsession with cookies began with the classic chocolate chip,” so it’s only fitting that she dedicates an entire chapter of her book to this one cookie with variations on texture, shape, size and flavor.
Spend some time reading recipes and you’ll find versions for chocolate chip cookies that are crisp, chewy, cakey, soft, fluffy, made with semisweet chocolate, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate, double chocolate, nuts, no nuts, with peanut butter, pretzels, oatmeal, coconut, graham cracker, baked on a cookie sheet, in a muffin tin, in a cast-iron skillet ... and on and on.
So here’s what you might bake this week.
First there is a Caramel Crunch-Chocolate Chunklet Cookie by the amazing baker Dorie Greenspan. This recipe uses both granulated and confectioner’s sugar, which helps give it a crispy shortbread-like quality. The trick is that it’s cooked in a muffin tin, which helps caramelize the bottom and sides, giving it the taste and texture of a traditional chocolate chip but in a thicker cookie. A plus is that the center sinks slightly, making it perfect for holding a dollop of ice cream.
Second: a Chewy Double Chocolate Chip Cookie. As my wife said, it’s hard to go wrong with this one and the recipe got 5 out of 5 stars from 63 voters. It’s a fudgy cookie, with lots of chips (the tops are dipped in additional chips before baking for the ultimate load). Baked on a cookie sheet, they are soft and chewy, on a sheet pan they are a little flatter and more crispy. Overall they got a 5-star rating from us as well.
And finally, we’ve got a Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie created by America’s Test Kitchen. The cookie gets its unique flavor from browning the butter before mixing in the other ingredients and it’s quick to make as you don’t have to shape the cookies and cook them individually. This was the softest cookie of the three. Sliced into wedges it’s perfect for a party table, and baked in my new 3.5-inch cast-iron skillets, it makes an adorable, individual dessert.
So bake up a chocolate chip cookie or two on May 15 for National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day. And should you really need an excuse for more chocolate chip cookies, Aug. 4 is International Chocolate Chip Cookie Day and Dec. 4 is National Cookie Day. Of course, according to Cookie Monster, every day is a good day for cookies, chocolate chip or otherwise. Just remember to share some with friends to spread the love.
Caramel Crunch–Chocolate Chunklet Cookies
Source: Samantha Seneviratne, Food 52, April 27, 2022.
2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into chunks, at room temperature
½ cup sugar
½ cup confectioners’ sugar
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 ounces dark or milk chocolate, chopped into small chunks
About ½ cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans, toasted or not (or more chocolate chunks)
1. Working in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat the butter, both sugars and the salt together on medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the vanilla.
2. Turn off the mixer, scrape down the bowl and add the flour all at once. Pulse the mixer a few times, just until the risk of flying flour has passed, and then, working on low speed, beat until the flour is almost completely incorporated, a couple of minutes. Don’t beat too much — you want the mixture to be more clumpy than smooth. Still working on low speed, mix in the chocolate and nuts. Then finish incorporating the chunky ingredients with a flexible spatula.
3. Turn the dough out onto the work surface and knead it to bring it together. Divide the dough in half and shape each hunk into a 6-inch-long log (the rolls will be a scant 2 inches in diameter). Wrap each log well and refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours. (You can refrigerate the logs for up to 3 days. Or you can freeze them, wrapped airtight, for up to 2 months; let stand at room temperature for about an hour before slicing and baking, or defrost in the fridge overnight.)
4. WHEN YOU’RE READY TO BAKE: Center a rack in the oven and preheat it to 350 degrees. (If you can’t fit two muffin tins on one rack in your oven, position the racks to divide the oven into thirds.) Butter two regular-size muffin tins — you can use bakers’ spray, but butter is really nicer for these.
5. One at a time, mark each log at ½-inch intervals and, working with a chef’s knife, cut into rounds. Place each puck in a muffin cup.
6. Bake for 20-22 minutes, rotating the pans if necessary, or until the cookies are golden on top, browned around the edges and slightly soft in the center; they’ll firm as they cool. Transfer the pans to racks and let rest for 3 minutes, then gently pry each cookie out with the tip of a table knife and place on the racks to cool. You can serve the cookies warm, but their texture shines brighter at room temperature.
7. STORING: Kept in an airtight container at room temperature, the cookies will be good for at least 5 days.
8. A NOTE ON MUFFIN-TIN BAKING: You might be tempted to use a baking sheet, but I hope you won’t — the texture is really best in the muffin tins.
9. PLAN AHEAD: The dough needs to be refrigerated for at least 2 hours
Chewy Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
Source: by Elizabeth Marek, Sugar Geek Show.
1 1/8 cups unsalted butter melted (2 sticks plus 2 tablespoons butter)
1 cup light brown sugar packed
1 cup granulated sugar packed
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder, natural
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1. Melt the unsalted butter in a medium-sized mixing bowl.
2. Once the butter is melted, add in the cocoa powder and stir until it’s smooth and combined.
3. Add in the melted butter and cocoa powder mixture, brown sugar and white sugar to the bowl of your stand mixer.
4. Mix the ingredients on medium speed for 1-2 minutes with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Scrape the bowl when needed.
5. Add in the room-temperature eggs.
6. Mix again on medium speed for 1-2 minutes until it’s light and airy.
7. Scrape the bowl.
8. While mixing on low, add in the vanilla, salt, baking soda, flour and chocolate chips.
9. Mix the dough just enough so that it’s combined. Finish by hand to make sure there are no pockets of flour left in the dough.
10. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and prepare a sheet pan with parchment paper.
11. With a #20 cookie scoop, divide the dough into 2 tablespoon-sized balls. I like to dip the top of each ball into a bowl of chocolate chips to get even more chocolate into the cookies.
12. Place the cookie dough balls onto a sheet pan about 3 inches apart.
13. Let these cookies sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes to give time for the flour to absorb the liquids. This will help reduce the amount of spread on your baked cookies. You can also chill the cookie dough balls in the refrigerator for 30 minutes if you want the cookies to spread even less.
14. Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes, or until they are no longer shiny in the center and the edges are set.
15. Allow the cookies to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet.
16. Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack to allow them to cool all the way.
Notes: Important Things To Note Before You Start
1. To bring your eggs to room temperature I like to put my eggs (still in the shell) in a bowl of hot water for 5 minutes. Room temperature eggs ensure that everything creams up nice and fluffy and you get that craggly top to your cookies.
2. Let your cookie dough rest for 30 minutes for less cookie spread.
3. If you have leftover dough, bake up all of the cookies and then you can freeze them. That way, you can have thaw and have baked cookies whenever you want.
4. It is important to not crowd the pan, these are large cookies and will bake into each other. When too many cookies are on the pan they don’t bake as evenly and can spread more than they do with more space. More space around the cookie allows more even air flow and makes a prettier cookie.
Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie
The Perfect Cookie, America’s Test Kitchen (America’s Test Kitchen, 2017)
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
12 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
1 large egg plus 1 large yolk
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1. Adjust oven rack to upper middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Whisk flour and baking soda together in a bowl
3. Melt 9 tablespoons butter in a 12-inch cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, until the butter is dark golden brown and has a nutty aroma, about 5 minutes. Transfer browned butter to a large bowl and stir in remaining 3 tablespoons butter until melted. Whisk in brown sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla and salt until incorporated. Whisk in egg and yolk until smooth with no lumps, about 30 seconds.
4. Let the mixture stand for 3 minutes, then whisk for 30 seconds. Repeat process of resting and whisking 2 more times until the mixture is thick, smooth and shiny. Using a rubber spatula, stir in flour mixture until just combined, about 1 minute. Stir in the chocolate chips.
5. Wipe the skillet clean with paper towels. Transfer the dough to now-empty skillet and press into an even layer with the spatula. Bake until the cookie is golden brown and edges are set, about 20 minutes, rotating skillet halfway through baking. Using pot holders, transfer skillet to a wire rack and let cookie cool for 30 minutes. Slice cookie into wedges and serve.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Bake some cookies before National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day
