Cookie Carnival: The Ultimate Chewy and Soft Chocolate Chunk Cookies
November 29, 2008 at 8:52 pm | Posted in cookies & bars, events, sweet things | 16 Comments
I can’t believe it’s been so long since I’ve participated in Kate’s Cookie Carnival! Things (like free time, for instance) really seem have gotten away from me since we’ve moved back to New York. I realize that I haven’t to you what I’ve been up to. A few days after getting back, I started a job at a little bakery in Brooklyn (some of you may even have their cookbook…hmmm). I find the work to be a bit more repetitive than what I’m used to in restaurants, but so far, so good. We’ve also been putting a lot of legwork into the apartment hunt. There’s not much out there right now in the neighborhood we really want to live in, so we’ve taken on a short-term lease in the Financial District until after the holidays. After a full day of standing at work and then running around looking at apartments, I just want to chillax with a plate of chocolate chip cookies and reruns of Seinfeld— and that’s where this month’s Cookie Carnival comes in!
Probably just like you, I’ve made a zillion chocolate chip cookie recipes in my time, but this particular one is from a favorite baking book of mine (and Kate’s, too, I’m happy to see), Regan Daley’s In the Sweet Kitchen. It’s really a fantastic cookbook, and I’ve featured other recipes from it here before. Daley calls these “the ultimate,” but I can’t say that I’m too finicky about chocolate chip cookies. Is that bad?? I mean, I’ve read the article, and I know how obsessive people can be about them. As long as they’re freshly baked, preferably a little warm, and have heaps of good chocolate, I’ll take ’em thin and crisp or fat and cakey…heck, even a little raw in the middle is a-okay.
These are of the fat and cakey (and uber-chocolatey) variety, and that’s just fine by me. I like to keep my cookie dough wrapped in plastic in the fridge, and then just scoop out and bake off a few each night. Fifteen minutes to warm cookies, and total relaxation!
The Ultimate Chewy and Soft Chocolate Chunk Cookies
adapted from Regan Daley’s In the Sweet Kitchen
1 c unsalted butter, room temp
1 c light brown sugar, tightly packed
1/2 c granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 t pure vanilla extract
3 c plus 2 T all-purpose flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
16 oz bitter or semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
-Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, or lightly butter them, and set aside.
-In the bowl of an electric mixer, or stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, or a large bowl if mixing by hand, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Beat in the vanilla.
-Sift the flour, baking soda and salt together in a small bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the butter-sugar mixture, and mix until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chunks.
-Using your hands (or an ice cream scoop), shape knobs of dough about the size of a large walnut and place them two inches apart on the baking sheets. Stagger the rows of cookies to ensure even baking. Bake 12-15 minutes for smaller cookies, 14-17 minutes for larger ones or until the tops are a light golden brown. If the cookies are neither firm nor dark when they are removed from the oven, they will cool chewy and soft.
-Cool the cookies on the sheets for five minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool further. They may be stored airtight at room temperature for up to one week.
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a whisk and a spoon 
Diiiiiivine!!
Comment by VeggieGirl— November 29, 2008 #
Great to see I am not the only one who isn’t too finicky about choco chips. How fun that you are working in a bakery. I checked out the other posts from this cookbook that you linked up. The rhubarb brulee tartlettes look amazing. I might just have to buy this one. Your cookies look yummy!
Comment by Mary Ann— November 29, 2008 #
oh my goodness. these look amazingly delicious! i HAVE to try these!
Comment by ash— November 29, 2008 #
these look great. I made them too and they were good. I like them. 🙂 great photo too
Comment by snooky doodle— November 30, 2008 #
Did you say chewy and soft chocolate chip cookies?
If I am going to have one, it will be the way you made them. They look so good, Steph!
Comment by Kim— November 30, 2008 #
Hey, it’s good to catch up with you. All the best with the apartment-hunt.
Comment by Cynthia— November 30, 2008 #
they look delicious! I liked them, but they were just a little too cakey for mw
Comment by Tammy— November 30, 2008 #
I’m always looking for the perfect chocolate chip cookie…could this be it!?
I love fat and cakey cookies!
Comment by Sues— December 1, 2008 #
Asfgdhg jhfxf I want!!
Comment by Indigo— December 1, 2008 #
i do agree that these were so easy to put together. and i kinda love the texture too! Great job with the cookies!
Comment by Sihan— December 1, 2008 #
Wow! Looks perfect for relaxing.
Comment by Candy— December 1, 2008 #
Yum.
Those looks seriously delicious.
Comment by Milly— December 2, 2008 #
LOL, I’m like you… not too picky about my CCC. As long as they’re not dry, hard, and crunchy.
Yours look decadent with the melty chunks on top. Yum!
Comment by Jacque— December 2, 2008 #
Gorgeous…really really pretty. Great job! I need to step up my cookie making skills…I always have good intentions, but then I sort of don’t follow through as December gets so busy…this year might be different!
Comment by Kayte— December 2, 2008 #
OOohhhh!! I want! I want!! Those cookies look so good. I came looking for your Caramel Cake though…
Comment by Dharm— December 5, 2008 #
HAHA! Glad you liked them! That is so awesome that you’re working a a bakery. I’m so jealous. I made these cookies for CC and I really didn’t care for them. To each her own. 😉
Comment by Sugar Betty— December 6, 2008 #