Chocolate Chips on Kitchen3N

The Last Chocolate Chunk Cookie

Thu, 04 Jan 2018 00:00:00 +0000

When I die, I want this recipe printed on my tombstone. Just kidding, Muslims don't do tombstones. But this really is the cookie I've been searching for all my life. Free of all the silly things people add to chocolate chip cookies (CCC's from here on out) to one up their game like extra SALT on top or TAHINI or the worst of all, NUTS. I don't understand the need to muck up the most brilliant baking invention of all time with things that are not chocolate, flour, sugar, butter, leaveners, salt or vanilla. The original Nestle Toll House recipe, as brilliant as is, is missing a little complexity, and little texture. I've tried SO many CCC recipes. Bang on a Pan. The Chewy. The Thin. Something from Buzzfeed. Tahini. Nestle. America's Test Kitchen. And they all have their redeeming qualities. But for me, the NY Times recipe by David Leite is the closest I've come to perfection: a combination of cake flour and bread flour, one makes it tender, the other adds a chewy texture. A full 2 tsp vanilla for extra flavor. Refrigerating the dough to let the gluten relax. I did need to tweak it to my tastes. I use my trusty OXO medium cookie scoop for perfect sizing. I use chocolate chunks in lieu of chocolate disks/feves/chips and I reduce the amount of chocolate from the original recipe. I know I make fun of my husband a lot for his critiquing the amount of chocolate in the original recipe, but he's kind of right. The 16oz that I have here gives you a generous amount of chocolate (use good quality!) while allowing you to taste the nutty, buttery, chewy cookie. This is the only recipe I use my scale for, mainly because the measurements are so fussy otherwise, with so many cup measures, plus or minus tablespoons. But this recipe is worth the fuss. Think of every delectable high quality CCC you've had at the best bakery - this one is it. Everything from the size (it's big enough so the centers are chewy, the edges are crispy), to the proportions, to the wait time - it's sheer perfection. Pro tip - if your brown sugar hardens, don't toss it! Place in a microwave safe bowl, cover with a damp paper towel and microwave at 30 second intervals at medium power until softened. Final tip, I don't know about your sieve, but salt doesn't go through mine. So I usually sift the flours and leaveners together, then add the salt. Whisking to combine. Don't let the butter get too soft, and that's it. Happy baking!

Ingredients

2 cups minus 2tbsp cake flour (8 1/2oz)
1 2/3 cup flour bread flour (8 1/2oz)
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups (10oz) light brown sugar
1 cup plust 2 tbsp (8oz) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla
16 oz chopped bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, or a combination of both

Directions

In a large bowl, sift together the flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of your stand mixer or in a large bowl using an electric hand mixer cream the butter and sugars together at medium speed for 5 minutes. It should be light and fluffy. Add one egg at a time. Stop to scrape down the bowl before turning on mixer again. Add vanilla. Then, with the mixer on low add the dry ingredients, stopping occasionally to scrape down the bowl. Finally, add the chopped chocolate and stir with the mixer if it can handle it, if not, use a wooden spoon.
Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a 1 3/4in cookie dough scoop (I use the OXO medium scoop), scoop out balls of dough until sheet is full. Flash freeze for 30 minutes. Take out then plop them into large ziploc bags or plastic containers. I recommend sticking them in the fridge to let the dough rest and the gluten to relax, as well as the flours to absorb some of the flavors/moisture. Refrigerate between 24 and 72 hours or freeze them if you'd like to bake them a week or two later*.
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place on a parchment paper or silpat lined baking sheet with plenty of space between each. Bake in preheated oven for 12-14 minutes, at least 15 if taking directly out of freezer. Bottoms should be caramelized, nutty brown. Tops may look underdone but that's ok as it continues to cook on the pan, even after taking out from the oven. After they cool completely, store in an airtight container and consume within 2 days.**

*I know I can't help but bake some off right away, so please go ahead and do so (after the 30 minute freeze), but do save some for baking later so you can taste the difference! **It loses freshness after that, but probably still edible dipped in milk.

Double Chocolate Brownies

Wed, 22 Oct 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Apologies for the month of silence from Kitchen3n. The dog ate my computer. More like the Apple store took my malfunctioning iMac for a week and couldn’t reproduce the problem we are CONSISTENTLY having at home. Does anyone else’s mac do this thing where it just randomly starts producing a lot of noise (like the fans are in hyperdrive) even though there are NO CPU intensive programs running? Then just goes berserk and shuts off? Any ideas would be much appreciated. I just barely got to edit these photos before the issue started up again and am finishing up this post from my laptop.

Chocolate Chip Banana Pancakes

Wed, 12 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Were the first year or two out of college a big smack in the face for anyone else? I remember sitting around my freshman year sociology class discussing Durkheim, or learning about the Coriolis effect in Intro Mechanics, or even listening to Bashir Abu Manneh’s impassioned lectures on Fanon, thinking, “I’m good enough to get this far, I can do pretty much whatever I want to do.” Well, I couldn’t. Not for a long time. For many of us who graduate from Liberal Arts schools without ultra competitive job offers, Teach For America gigs, or grad school acceptances, life after college is a bitch. One of my peers in Physics had a nanny gig lined up after graduation. Mindy Kaling, even with her Dartmouth education, nannied for a while when she first moved to the city. I got a part time job pushing paper at a consulting firm (that led to better opportunities later on). I searched for jobs for over a year and a half, whereas I believed with my degree, landing one would be a cinch. It was a humbling experience. I realized that as while you’re dishing out the dough, you can be fooled into a false sense of entitlement. But when it comes to earning a few of those dollars back, intelligence is rarely enough. You need to be practical. Don’t fall into the same millenials boat. Moral of the story is this: don’t go to a liberal arts school. Of, if you do, do incredibly well, so that you graduate at the top of your class. Become a pharmacist. Or learn to code. Make sure you have a decent internship lined up before your senior year. Harass people to get a decent job offer - persistence pays. I wish someone had told me any one of these. What does all this have to do with chocolate chip banana pancakes? Well, I have a lot of time to think while babysitting these guys on the stove. I make these like once a week and they are so incredibly good. I rarely have enough overripe bananas for banana bread, but often have one or two. The perfect amount for providing a hint of sweetness and banana flavor to regular pancakes. They are so light and fluffly…not like these ricotta pancakes I had at brunch a few weeks ago at a pretty popular Greenpoint spot (could NOT finish those dense giants).

Homemade Hot Fudge

Tue, 03 Dec 2013 00:00:00 +0000

It’s bad enough that hot fudge you get from the ice cream spot around the corner is crack. But when you make it at home with good quality ingredients, Ghirardelli (like I did) or even better…Callebaut or Valrhona? This happens:

(Image courtesy of Tumblr, katty-mee)

We were entertaining some old friends and so I thought I’d set up a little sundae bar with some of my favorite toppings: this hot fudge sauce, walnuts, and sprinkles (the ROUND kind, not those silly cylindrical ones. hmmph. who came up with those?? i’ll tell you who, someone with kids because they know once these sprinkles make landfall, they get scattered EVERYWHERE.) Get fancy with bananas, gummy bears, whatever you like. Just not whipped cream. I just don’t get whipped cream over ice cream. The latter is so much more rich and flavorful, what is the point of the whipped cream?? If your opinions on this are as strong as mine, please comment below.This is the first thing I made from my copy of Rose Levy Berenbaum’s The Cake Bible. Ok second. First was Swedish pancakes, which were a disaster. Anywho, she says to use dutch processed cocoa, but honestly, I have such a hard time finding dutch processed cocoa (in fact most of her chocolate cake recipes call for it. I’m going to have to experiment with subbing natural cocoa and making the appropriate leavening adjustments) and never get around to ordering it online, so I just went ahead and made it with good old fashioned natural cocoa. As many of you know, dutch processed cocoa is less acidic than natural and usually has a darker color, but I can tell you I did not miss a thing. And for the solid chocolate, I am sure she finely chopped 3 ounces of THE BEST CHOCOLATE IN THE WORLD, but I just used my semi sweet chips from Costco. They are already flavored with vanilla, so I did not add any, as the original recipe calls for. Make this for your next lunch/dinner party!

Kitchen Sink Cookies

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Not the most appetizing name for a cookie, I know. But take one bite, and who? wha? What’s in a name? These are actually based off the kitchen sink cookies from a certain famous/infamous bakery that has taken Queens by storm (Martha’s, if you must). Why the duality? You either love it or you hate it. Their chocolate mousse and rainbow cookies: perfection. Their cheesecakes and gelato: leave something to be desired. Pretty much everything else is lukewarm, considering it opened shop in a city that is overrun with foodies, michelin award winning pastry chefs and french macarons that are flown in from Paris daily. Enough about their kitchen sink cookies. Mine have a tad fewer ingredients (nix the white chocolate and toffee bits) and satisfy a craving for chocolate chip cookies that have just a little extra something. The addition of coconut made them appealing even for all the South Asian mouths I have to feed around here. And obviously the oats make them a healthy and nutritious snack so when your toddler stuffs her face with them you’re not thinking “I’m a terrible parent” rather “just look at all that fiber she’s getting”. Lastly, after baking chocolate chip cookies for the past 15 years, I will leave you with some things I’ve realized: