One of the most satisfying, mom-put-this-in-my-lunchbox cookies to make is the chocolate chip cookie. It tastes great right out of the oven, a few days later, dipped in milk, straight from the freezer, or with ice cream sandwiched in between two cookies. We all have our favorite versions, to which many are steadfast and true. Mine has always been the Original Toll House recipe (click here for a Wikipedia article about the creation of the recipe), but, of course, I have created my own variations over the years.
Malted Chocolate Chip Cookies
4 ½ cups flour 1 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp baking soda 2 cups packed brown sugar
2 tsp salt 2 tsp vanilla2 cups (4 sticks) 4 large eggs
salted butter
¾ cup malted milk 2-4 cups chocolate chips
With a whisk, combine flour, baking soda, salt and malted milk in a small bowl. Set aside. In a large mixer bowl, beat softened (but not melted) butter, sugars, and vanilla until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, until well combined. Add flour mixture 1 cup at a time, until well combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Using a small ice cream scoop, place cookie dough on a parchment lined baking sheet. At this point, I bake off a few cookies as a reward for all my hard work (9-12 minutes). But, the rest I scoop out onto a parchment lined baking sheet, then put in the freezer to be baked off in smaller batches. This also aids in making them better cookies. They’re a little more dense, but still very chewy. You can even refrigerate the dough overnight to develop this density.
Another variation I love to make is a play on the whole sweet-salty thing (what my friend, Stephanie, calls yin yang cooking). I make the chocolate chip cookies without the malted milk and, instead of plain salt, I use the Smoky Chocolate Salt from Golden Fig. This is an amazing, hand-blended salt with sea salt, Alderwood smoked sea salt, vanilla and cocoa. I also sprinkle a little of the salt on top of the cookie before baking. You can also use coarsely ground salt, instead of the Smoky Chocolate Salt.
Sometimes, I have this blasphemous urge to make the chocolate chips smaller, or get rid of them altogether. Strike me down now, oh Lord of the Chocolate Chip Cookies. For the salted cookies, I actually coarsely grind the chips before adding them. This results in a very nice, gesamtkunstwerk experience. (I can't believe I actually used "gesamtkunstwerk" to describe a cookie. It's a term used by Richard Wagner, the 19th century composer, and refers to a performance which includes all the arts - music, dance, painting, literature - all on equal footing. So, instead of the chocolate chips stealing the show, you get a lovely balance of flavors. Who said I would never use my master's degree. So much for telling Sallie Mae I'm not using it - now I'll have to pay my loan.)
Then there's the kitchen sink approach to chocolate chip cookies. I found this one on the Quaker Oats lid and made my customary changes to the recipe.
Chewy Choc-Oat-Chip Cookies
1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter 1 3/4 cup flour
1 1/4 cup packed brown sugar 1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup granulated sugar 1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs 2 1/2 cups uncooked oats
2 tbsp milk 2 cups (12 oz) chocolate chips
2 tsp vanilla 1 cup chopped, toasted pecans
1 cup coconut
1 cup raisins, craisins, or other dried fruit
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Combine flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. In a mixing bowl, beat together butter, and sugars until creamy. Add eggs, milk and vanilla and beat well. Stir in oats, chocolate chips, pecans, coconut and dried fruit. Using a small ice cream scoop, place on a parchment lined pan and bake for 9-10 minutes.
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Now, pour yourself a large glass of cold milk, dunk all the cookies you want (hey, we're grown-ups and can have cookies and milk for dinner, if we so choose) and listen to the Ride of the Valkries. Even Richard Wagner couldn't deny the culinary arts in his gesamtkunstwerk list.
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