Seated with hamburgers, thanksgiving dinner, and apple pie on the hallowed throne of ubiquitous American cuisine, chocolate chip cookies are one of the best. They're so perfect, that I've always imagined them evolving from Mayan sweet cakes made of cacao chunks and masa to a European delicacy enjoyed during afternoon tea to a favorite among the masses in the advent of the industrial revolution, when chocolate and sugar became available for every home kitchen. Such perfection must be developed and improved upon over centuries and millenia, like wine making or baking bread or building cathedrals. It seems wrong that this iconic treat was accidentally born one morning in a Massachusetts diner in 1933.
Yet it was. There are conflicting stories over the precise circumstances of the creation of the famous cookie. But the accepted convention is that a Mrs. Wakefield of the Toll House Inn (yes, the same one) accidentally put chocolate into her batter, and instead of throwing out the “ruined” batter, decided to give them a try. So the chocolate Chip Cookie is only 75 years old. What did children leave out for Santa before then? Rudolph Valentino died never having tasted one! It’s like imagining the world before penicillin—miserable and dangerous.
But as the warm, gooey, salty/sweet memories wash over me, a few mealy, poorly proportioned, unbalanced ones sneak in too. I’ve had some terrible chocolate chip cookies. Usually at school functions, where I'd have to squeeze my juice box onto the hardened lump in order to chew it. Or worse, it would crumble in my hands, smelling of stale flour, suffused with waxy “chocolate.” Like anything with the potential for greatness, perversions thrive.
Luckily for me, my mom is an excellent cookie baker (see Anzac Biscuits). Hers are a great mix of salty/sweet, nicely balanced with the semi-sweet chocolate. But then another happy accident occurred. I was baking a batch of her cookies and realized we had no chocolate chips. Scrounging around the pantry I found a large block of Scharffen Berger semi sweet chocolate. So, with a butcher’s knife, I shaved off ribbons of chocolate and cut the rest into irregular chunks. When I lifted them from the oven I found them transformed from my mother’s more cakey cookies into chewy, thin, ultra chocolately ones. I have never looked back. By using irregularly cut chocolate (some of which is powder-fine), the chocolate suffuses into the batter, causing the cookie to spread more when it bakes. As they cool, crunchiness sets in, making them the perfect companion for a glass of cold milk.
Ingredients:
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
½ cup white sugar
1 cup salted butter, softened
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups very good semi-sweet hand cut chocolate chips (10 ounces)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
In medium bowl combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl with an electric mixer blend brown and white sugar at medium speed.
Add butter and mix to form a grainy paste, scraping down the sides of the bowl.
Add eggs and vanilla extract, and mix at medium speed until just blended.
Taking a block of chocolate, shave and cut irregular pieces until you have approximately 2 cups. These are your chips. Add the chips to the flour mixture and stir once to combine, then add to the mixer and blend at low speed until just mixed. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet (I also use a silicon mat), 2 inches apart. Bake 22-24 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer cookies immediately to a cool surface.
Pour a large glass of cold milk and you're good to go!
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