On Sunday I whipped up a half-batch of the following recipe, making only one minor adjustment. I added vanilla...I had to...it's my favorite part of a chocolate chip cookie (well, besides the chocolate chips) and I know that Thomas Keller purposely did not add it and though I trust his chef abilities, I had to satisfy my baker urge to add it - just a little bit.
Ad Hoc at Home Chocolate Chip Cookies
(makes about thirty 3-inch cookies)
2 1/3 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
5 ounces 55 percent chocolate, cut into chip-sized pieces
5 ounces 70 to 72 percent chocolate, cut into chip-sized pieces
8 ounces (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup packed dark brown sugar, preferably molasses sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
Position racks in the lower and upper thirds of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with Silpats or parchment paper.
Sift flour and baking soda into a medium bowl. Stir in the salt.
Put chips in a fine-mesh basket strainer and shake to remove any chocolate “dust” (small fragments).
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, beat half the butter on medium speed until fairly smooth. Add both sugars and the remaining butter, and beat until well combined, then beat for a few minutes, until mixture is light and creamy. Scrape down sides of the bowl. Add eggs one at a time, beating until the first one is incorporated before adding the next and scraping the bowl as necessary. Add dry ingredients and mix on low speed to combine. Mix in chocolate.
Remove bowl from mixer and fold dough with a spatula to be sure the chocolate is evenly incorporated. The dough or shaped cookies can be refrigerated, well wrapped, for up to 5 days or frozen for 2 weeks. Freeze shaped cookies on the baking sheets until firm, then transfer to freezer containers. (Defrost frozen cookies overnight in the refrigerator before baking.)
Using about 2 level tablespoons per cookie, shape dough into balls. Arrange 8 cookies on each pan, leaving about 2 inches between them, because the dough will spread. Bake for 12 minutes, or until the tops are no longer shiny, switching the position and rotating pans halfway through baking.
Cool cookies on the pans on cooling racks for about 2 minutes to firm up a bit, then transfer to the racks to cool completely. Repeat with second batch of cookies. (The cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 days.)
His technique with the cold butter, whipping half alone and half with the addition of sugar, was quite unique. I am not sure of the rationale behind this, but I did it anyway! For the chocolate, I used used a 3.5 oz bar of Ghirardelli dark chocolate 72% and then one Hershey's Special Dark (yuck, I know, Derek had it leftover from his Christmas stocking - it's not my favorite chocolate) which is really only about 46% dark chocolate (lame) and then an additional 60% chocolate Ghirardelli square (remember, I did a half recipe so it was only about 1 1/4 cup chocolate total).
For me, these were good but still not perfect. Mind you, my execution may not have been perfect, though I did follow the recipe, but the cookies were a little flatter than I like - not completely flat, but the higher butter to flour ratio typically lends itself to a flatter cookie. Perhaps it would be different if I chilled the dough a little before cooking?
The flavor of the cookies were somewhat butter-heavy. You can certainly tell it is there which makes for a decadent and enjoyable cookie. And when you use quality chocolate - you can tell. Another difference between this cookie and a traditional chocolate chip cookies is the lack of "chips" and introduction of mini slabs of chocolate that make for fantastic chocolate-heavy bites throughout the cookie.
Though these were good, they were not my end all-be all in my search for the perfect chocolate cookie...the search continues.
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