Thursday, May 31, 2007

Chocolate Chip Cookies


Sometimes a simple cookie is the best cookie. I was surprised to realize that I haven't made chocolate chip cookies in a really long time and don't have a recipe for them on the blog...

Two weeks ago I received an enthusiastic email with the following recipe. My understanding is that this recipe is Martha Stewart's favorite chocolate chip cookie. Well, why not make them?!?!!!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes approximately twenty-six 5-inch cookies or 8 1/2 dozen 1 1/4-inch cookies

Ingredients:
* 1 pound unsalted butter
* 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
* 2 1/4 cups packed light-brown sugar
* 4 large eggs
* 3 cups plus 2 tablespoons pastry flour
* 3 cups bread flour
* 1 tablespoon salt
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 2 teaspoons baking soda
* 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
* 2 pounds Jacques Torres House (60 percent cocoa) Chocolate or other best-quality bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick baking mats; set aside.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Reduce speed to low and slowly add both flours, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla, and chocolate; mix until well combined.

3. Using a 4-ounce scoop for larger cookies or a 1-ounce scoop for smaller cookies, scoop cookie dough onto prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake until lightly browned, but still soft, about 20 minutes. Cool slightly on baking sheets before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

First published by Martha on: May 2007

NOTE: I was able to bake my cookies for about 16 minutes. 20 minutes and they would have been on their way to over done!



I got about 120 cookies! Bringing most of them to work to share.

5 comments:

Stef said...

Dude. While I hated that job, I do really miss working with you cuz you would bring in the best treats! I hope your coworkers realize how lucky they are to benefit from your experiments. :-)

Darn. Now I want cookies!

Lady Brandenburg said...

So, this is best made if you have a fancy mixer, right? I mean, what is an alternative for us mortals who don't have a cool ass Kitchenaid?

I would love to try to make cookies from scratch - I'm a mom now, and I think there is some law that moms need to know how to bake at least one kind of cookie!!!

ScottE. said...

The Kitchenaid is a huge help. Do you have a handmixer? That will work well. If not, you'll need a big bowl, a wooden spoon and some endurance, but you can do it!!!

Lady Brandenburg said...

Also, how did you get so many cookies - did you quadruple the recipe?

And... we don't have any good baking sheets (just ratty old ones that we use to catch spatters when cooking frozen food in the oven). What kind of baking sheet do you suggest - and did you use parchment paper or the mats? What brand are the mats?

ScottE. said...

I got all those cookies from the regular recipe! I scooped them out with a small ice cream scoop...about 1 TB size. This one. When they cook down they are just about the size of a Chips Ahoy cookie...I think that's a good size. Of course if you make them bigger you'll have fewer. I do think this would be an easy recipe to cut in half.

The Chocolate: I used regular Toll House chips.

Baking Sheets & Parchment: I love Parchment Paper! I get mine at Giant near the aluminumummun foil (could never spell that word!).

Pans: We got ours from Williams Sonoma. These are the ones and they are really good. We actually got ours from the WS outlet in Leesburg...cheap!

The Silpat mats are great, but I don't use them for cookies. With the parchment, when the cookies are done, you can just slid the paper (& cookies) off the pan onto the cooling rack! So the pan cools down quicker for the next batch and the cookies cool down quicker for eating!!!