the Would-be Baker

There's something so magical about baking. If this week is any indication (1 batch of brownies, 1 strawberry-rhubarb pie, 3 loaves of banana bread, 1 batch of cookies, 2 double-layered cakes ... ), I can't help myself.  I'm not necessarily good; I'm just addicted.

But I think I've done it. Found the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe, that is.  In my determination to succeed, I've never used the same recipe twice. (I actually don't really like to use recipes ever--maybe I'm prideful, maybe I'm stubborn. I call it creative license.) From the moment that I mixed up my first batch of chocolate chip cookies, I have been on a journey to find the mother of all homemade chocolate chip cookies. When I pulled these babies out of the oven, KA-CHING. It just LOOKED like a chocolate chip cookie should. Originally printed by the New York Times (I knew I liked that city), the recipe takes at least 24 hours and 45 minutes to be properly executed. Yes, you MUST let it refrigerate an entire day. Allows the sugars and yumminess to mellow.  No cheating.

Chocolate Chip Cookies  

Adapted from Jacques Torres  

Time: 45 minutes (for 1 6-cookie batch), plus at least 24 hours’ chillin' 

2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour
1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves, at least 60 percent cacao content (see note)
Sea salt

1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside. 

2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.

3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside. 

4. Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Or, if you're like me and you'd prefer many smaller cookies as opposed to 18 monstrous ones, scoop mounds of dough the size of baby golf balls to yield about 2 1/2 dozen 2.5-inch cookies. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes (or 16 minutes if using smaller mounds of dough). Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day.  Or don't and just eat it raw.  

Yield: 1 1/2 dozen 5-inch cookies.
Note: Disks are sold at Jacques Torres Chocolate; Valrhona fèves, oval-shaped chocolate pieces, are at Whole Foods.  

Now I can die a happy lady.  For a more danceable baking experience, turn on some tunes.  Ready, set, go.

1. You Can Tell the World, Simon and Garfunkel
2. Tell' Em, Sleigh Bells
3. Milord, Edith Piaf
4. Down With the Trumpets, Rizzle Kicks
5. Party, Beyoncé