New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookie

            If you’re a baker or a blogger or a baking blogger, chances are you have probably heard of this recipe: the infamous New York Times best chocolate chip cookie recipe, the game changer, the cookie to compare all other cookies to, the recipe that will instantly become your go to chocolate chip, etc. I’ve heard it all. You literally can’t swing a dead cat (if you were want to do such a thing) without hitting up a food blogger who has devoted at least one entry to this cookie.

            I myself first encountered this recipe nearly two years ago, when I had just begun to take my new found baking hobby seriously and was beginning to stray away from my Nestle Tollhouse cookbook in favor of internet recipes. A frequent poster (and professional mom blogger) on the LiveJournal community bakebakebake was the one to post this recipe and as someone who, at the time, had never gone beyond the standard Tollhouse cookie, I was intrigued by the idea that a major paper such as the Times actually recommended this particular cookie. I clicked the link, I looked at the ingredients and the prep work and, being little more than a novice at the time, was a bit overwhelmed by it all. So I saved the recipe, said “someday” and moved on.

            Years later I grew a little bit more experienced in the baking world (wouldn’t call myself an expert as the idea of working with yeast and certain pastries still makes me anxious) and kept bumping into the recipe again and again. Then one day one of my favorite food blogs, Brown Eyed Baker, posted a big “chocolate chip cookie throw down.” Having always been a fan of BEB’s Thick and Chewy cookie recipe, I expected that to be the instant winner, but no! The New York Times cookie won!

            That was the tipping point. I told myself then and there that I would bake that cookie and, three months later (hey you see how infrequently I update this blog, you already know I’m a procrastinator), I did just that. And… meh.

            Now this is by no means a bad cookie. It is good. Very good. The bread flour/cake flour mix certainly does give it a very chewy texture as well as a flavor that is unique and hard to place. Furthermore, the fact that it calls for a lot of chips means you get a mouthful of chocolate in every bite and what’s not to like about that?

            On the other hand, while the cookies are big, they do come out somewhat flat and I don’t really like thin cookies. And while the flavor is unique it doesn’t knock my socks off. I understand that the whole thing that makes this recipe stand out is the idea of letting the dough rest overnight, but having baked for several years that doesn’t exactly seem revolutionary to me.

            Again, this is just my opinion and I honestly think that everyone should at least try their hand at this recipe, because for you it just may be the best cookie you’ve ever tasted. For me, I think it could use a bit of tweaking, like maybe adding some self rising flour for thickness or using at least one stick of browned butter to give it that caramel taste I that adore. So even though it didn’t win me over, I don’t think that I am done with this recipe yet.

            Even though everyone and their mother has seen this recipe, I’ll repost it here just for the heck of it.

The New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookie (adapted from Jacque Torres’s recipe)

Ingredients:

2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8½ ounces) cake flour
1 & 2/3 cups (8½ ounces) bread flour
1¼ teaspoons baking soda
1½ teaspoons baking powder
1½ teaspoons kosher salt
1¼ cups (10 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1¼ cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 & 1/3 cups (20 ounces) dark chocolate chips, at least 60% cacao content
Sea salt, for sprinkling

Directions:

1. Sift together the cake flour, bread flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a large bowl and set aside.

2. Cream together the butter and sugars on medium speed until very light, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition, then add the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low, gradually add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the chocolate chips.

3. Press plastic wrap against the dough and refrigerate for at least 24 hours, up to 72 hours.

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

5. Scoop 3 1/2-ounces of dough, roll into a rough ball (it should be the size of a large golf ball) and place on the baking sheet. Repeat until you have six mounds of dough on the cookie sheet. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer the parchment or silicone sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then transfer the cookies onto another cooling rack to cool a bit more, until just warm or at room temperature. Repeat with remaining dough (or keep some of the dough refrigerated for up to 3 days, and bake cookies at a later time). Store leftover cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

M&M Marshmallow Cookies

This is actually a recipe that I have been meaning to share for a while now and I feel that it’s perfect for the back to school season. If the mini marshmallow and candy coated chocolates weren’t enough to sway you, then you’ll absolutely love the added flavorful gooeyness you get from the special ingredient: white chocolate pudding mix.

I came up with this recipe after modifying this older version, which is itself a modified version of this original recipe.


The star ingredients

In my opinion my version is the best, but I mostly came up with it by being a bit of a cheapskate. As many of you bakers may have noticed, the prices of chocolate chips have really gone up recently. I believe that only a few months ago most chocolate chip brands were around $2 for a twelve ounce bag, now the same size has gone up to nearly $3! So when I went shopping for ingredients I decided to nix the chocolate chips all together and replaced them with M&M minis. (Baking M&Ms will also work, but they have recently disappeared from stores in my area, so I was unable to use them.) Personally I feel that using more M&Ms not only gives the cookies a fun look, but also adds a nice bit of crunch to the chewy texture.


Can’t you just smell them through the screen?

M&M Marshmallow Cookies

Ingredients
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup butter, softened
¾ cup packed brown sugar
¼ cup white sugar
1 package instant vanilla pudding mix
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups M&M minis (or baking M&Ms)
1 cup mini marshmallow

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Finally, stir in the M&Ms and marshmallows. Drop dough by rounded spoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven until the edges are a golden brown.

Makes approximately 4 dozen cookies.

Snickerdoodles

After baking two cakes in a row (only one of which I posted about here obviously), I figured it was time to move on to a different type of dessert. I decided that snickerdoodles would be my next project since I not only had all the ingredients, but had been meaning to bake some for my friend for a while.

Snickerdoodles and I have something of a love hate relationship. I love the way they taste, but I absolutely hate how messy they are to make. Yes, baking in general can be very chaotic at times, but since I’m so pampered I just can’t stand getting my hands dirty. It’s something that I’m just going to have to grow out of… someday… Until then, snickerdoodles will be a rare treat in my household.

The recipe that I like to use comes from Simple Old-Fashioned Baking, but I tweeked it a bit.


For this recipe I used unsalted butter, eggs, flour, sugar, cream of tartar, baking soda, ground cinnamon, and almond extract. I tend to throw in almond extract into a lot of recipes since the bottle I have is so darn big, but trust me when I say that it works very well to compliment the cinnamon sugary taste of snickerdoodles.

Combine flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt together in a bowl and then set it aside. Next, in a medium mixing bowl, cream together butter, sugar, almond extract, and eggs. Stir in flour mixture and then place dough into fridge for at least one hour. Believe me when I say that it’s best to chill this dough, because the next step works best when its firm.

Preheat your oven to 350°F and in a small bowl blend together four tablespoons of sugar and one teaspoon of cinnamon (you can add a little more if you want, but keep in mind that one teaspoon can go a long way). Take dough out of fridge.

Now here’s where things get messy. Take two spoons and gather a small bit of dough, then roll the dough into a ball. Place your ball of dough into the cinnamon sugar mixture and roll it around making sure to cover every inch with powdery goodness. Next place the balls on a cookie sheet, two inches apart, and then flatten them with the bottom of a jar, glass, etc. Don’t overdo it or your cookies will turn into crepes. Basically your cookies should go from this:

To this:


Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, rotating your trays midway through. And then you’re all done! Yummy cookies to share with your friends. All you need now is glass of milk.



Snickerdoodles

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 ½ cups plus 4 Tbsp sugar, divided
2 eggs
2 ¼ cups flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp almond extract

Directions

Combine flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt together in a bowl. Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, cream together butter, sugar, almond extract, and eggs.

Stir in flour mixture and then place dough into fridge for at least one hour. Believe me when I say that it’s best to chill this dough, because the next step works best when its firm.

Preheat oven to 350°F and in a small bowl blend together four tablespoons of sugar and one teaspoon of cinnamon. Take dough out of refrigerator then roll into a ball. Place your ball of dough into the cinnamon sugar mixture and roll it around. Next place the balls on a cookie sheet, two inches apart, and then flatten them with the bottom of a jar, glass, etc.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, rotating your trays midway through. Yields approximately 4 dozen cookies.