The New Standard: Chocolate Chip Coolies

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The New Standard: Chocolate Chip Cookie

The search for the chocolate chip cookie

BY Kevin Semagin

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Story 1

Getting to know Fernet Branca, and the Industry Sour

I don’t know about you, but for me, the isolation of being mostly at home during the ongoing pandemic has caused me to crave nostalgia in the form of comfort food. I realized that I hadn’t made “regular-old” chocolate chip cookies in years. I’ve spent much of my recent baking life making Rye Chocolate Chip cookies from Milk Street, Homemade Oreos from Flour Bakery, or those surprisingly delicious, sandy, World Peace Cookies from Dorie Greenspan, what was missing was the good old, nostalgic, comfortable, chocolate chip.

First up was the recipe I made as a child, the Blue Ribbon Chocolate Chip Cookies from the Mrs. Fields book. They tasted about how I remembered, which I guess was the point. These cookies are better than the “Kids Bake em” recipe from the same book and are not all that different than most people’s old standard, Toll House. I moved on.

Story 2

#1. First up, J. Kenji López-Alt, the author of The Food Lab, and Every Night is Pizza Night, and the Chef/Owner of the Wursthall Restaurant & Bierhaus, and the chief culinary consultant of Serious Eats. This recipe was recommended by a friend and was an instant hit in my house. The Food Lab’s Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe can be found on Serious Eats, or in the book.

These cookies accomplish the quintessential crispy outside/chewy inside and deliver exactly what I look for in a chocolate chip cookie without any apologies or pretentiousness. There are a few things about the recipe that make it work well.

Browned butter offers a richer nuttier flavor, and with the water added back in by way of ice cube, the moisture content is not different than standard butter.
Double the vanilla extract compared to many other recipes emboldens that flavor, without putting it over the top.
Chopping the chocolate gives you a wide range of chuck sizes creating more textural variety.
Refrigerating dough overnight allows enzymes to break down large carbohydrates helping with browning and deeper flavor development.
A light sprinkle of salt when they come out of the oven heightens flavor and makes it more complex without cookies tasting salty.

Story 3

Armed with this new experience and information I went out into the world and caused a bit of trouble. If I was out with a friend, and they proposed getting a round of shots, I would suggest that we get a round of Fernet Branca. Most of the folks that I hung out with at the time were young enough to have not come across Fernet quite yet so the intrigue of trying something new coupled with their ignorance of the flavor profile led to some funny faces to say the least. No one truly cursed me for this little joke, I’m sure because I was right there alongside them, and we could share in discussing the nature of the drink.

Results

I love this cookie. It is quintessentially a chocolate chip cookie and is also elevated. This cookie is crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside in just the right way. The browned butter adds nutty butterscotch tones, chopped chocolate makes it interesting, and finishing salt really brings it to the next level.

Story 2

#2. Famous Department Store Cookies from King Arthur Flour.

I’ve heard this story, and have heard that it had been debunked. I’ve also had some excellent cookies at department stores. I figured I should try it for, you know, research.

The story tends to go that somebody at Neiman Marcus, or sometimes some other store, asked for the recipe. When told that it would be “Two Fifty,” they said sure and handed over their card. Upon returning home, this protagonist saw that they had been charged two hundred and fifty dollars instead of what they thought, $2.50, and in an effort to get even they shared the recipe with the world. While it seems like this didn’t happen, the cookies are good - So let’s look at them.

Results

A truly excellent cookie but felt a bit far off from a chocolate chip for me. The ground oats add really good flavor without turning it into an oat cookie. The nuts also added to it but took it further from my nostalgic journey. If I were going on a trip, camping, or having a picnic, I would take this cookie with me any day.

Story 3

#3 Pan Banging Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sarah Kieffer released this recipe in her book, the Vanilla Bean Baking Book and it went viral. Home bakers near and far delighted in posting photos of their wrinkly cookies. The pan bang technique results in cookies that are soft and doughy in the middle with rippled crispy edges.

The dough for this recipe has noticeable differences from other chocolate chip recipes but the obvious difference is during the baking process. Kieffer must have needed to vent about something when she was making these and found that slamming the pan down during baking resulted in cookie collapse. Doing it repeatedly caused a wrinkly and rippled edge. The cookies bake for 10 minutes, then you begin dropping the pan from a couple inches every two minutes until they are finished. She says, “This will feel wrong, but trust me.”

Results

This cookie is all about texture. It is doughy and buttery in the middle yet has crispy edges that you don’t normally see. It is a little different than the classic cookie in my head but if you love this texture there is nothing else like it. The flavor is subtler than others. It still boasts that classic flavor, but doesn’t need to announce its presence. I’d call it, purely meant in a complimentary way, “a sugar cookie in chocolate chip cookie’s clothing”. Everyone should try this recipe and it is an excellent choice when you are in the mood for this type of cookie.

Story 2

Summary

Here are some “Chocolate Chip Takeaways” from all three recipes

Brown your butter for more complex flavor.
Chop your chocolate for textural variation.
Use more vanilla. 1 1/2 or 2 tsp’s did not hurt these recipes and produced excellent flavor.
Roll all of your dough into balls and freeze the ones that you don’t want immediately on trays. Once frozen these can be stored in a ziplock and you will have ready to go fresh cookies whenever you want.
A touch of finishing salt immediately when you take your cookies out of the oven will heighten flavor and add complexity.

Ingredients

INGREDIENTS

1 c (2 sticks; 227 g) unsalted butter
1 average ice cube
1 1/2 c (180 g) bread flour
½ c rye flour
¾ tsp baking soda
¾ tsp diamond kosher salt
¾ c (297 g) granulated sugar
1 c (50 g) loosely packed dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
8 oz (170 g) semi-sweet chocolate (or a combination of semisweet and bittersweet), chopped into bite-size pieces with size variation
Flaky salt

Procedure 1

This recipe was developed after an exploration of classic chocolate chip cookies as described in The Search for the Chocolate Chip Cookie. I hope it brings joy to your home the way fresh baked cookies should. Classic style chocolate chip cookies bring me right back to childhood, and we could all use a little bit of that.

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, set aside.

Preheat oven to 325.

Procedure 2

Brown your butter

1 cup (2 sticks; 227 g) unsalted butter
1 average ice cube

Cut butter into 8 equal pieces and melt in a wide saucepan over medium heat. Swirl the pan adjusting the heat and motion to keep the butter simmering but not boiling. Continue swirling the pan until butter starts to brown and smell nutty. Remove from heat quickly to avoid burning the butter. Let cool for about 10 seconds and then whisk in the ice cube. Transfer to a small bowl or container and refrigerate for 20 minutes, whisking 3 times, every 5 to 6 minutes.

Procedure 3

Mix it Up

1 1/2 c (180 g) bread flour
½ c rye flour
¾ tsp baking soda
¾ tsp diamond kosher salt
¾ cup (297 g) granulated sugar
1 cup (50 g) loosely packed dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
8 ounces (170 g) semi-sweet chocolate (or a combination of semisweet and bittersweet), chopped into bite-size pieces with size variation

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the eggs and both sugars on medium for about 3 minutes. Add the browned butter and vanilla. Reduce to low and mix for another minute, until combined. Add the flour mixture and mix on low until there are no dry clumps, about 30 seconds - Be careful not to overmix. Add the chopped chocolate and mix for about 5 more seconds.

Procedure 4

Shape and Bake

Shape cookies by scooping balls of dough about 3 tablespoons each, and rolling them with your hands. They should be generally spherical but not perfectly round. Imperfections are after all, the spice of life. Arrange dough balls a couple of inches apart on prepared sheet pans.

Bake 1 tray at a time for 11 to 14 minutes on the center oven rack. After 9 minutes lift the tray a few inches and smack it down on the oven rack, quickly repeat this 2 more times and close the door. Cookies are done when the edges are firm and beginning to turn golden, but the centers still look slightly underdone.

Take out and immediately sprinkle each cookie with a few grains of flaky or coarse salt. Let cool on pans for at least 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.