WTD: A More Complex Chocolate Chip Cookie.

[lisa_antonia]

I prefer my chocolate chip cookies slightly crunchy and on the thinner side. I've been very dissapointed recipes from Tartine, Alice Medrich's Cookies and Brownies, and a few other sources that I usually love.

The best chocolate chip cookie i've had recently came from a local creperie. It has a combination of APF, buckwheat flour, and ground oatmeal along with huge chuncks of good quality bittersweet chocolate. It has a very solid crust, but remains pretty soft in the middle.

Do any of you have recommendations for intriguing chocolate chip cookies? I'm tired of underbaked, rather flavorless lumps of flour.

[paulraphael]

some good info here:

http://baking911.com/cookies/chocolate_chip.htm

and

http://baking911.com/recipes/cookies/chocchip_3ways.htm

[dockhl]

The best chocolate chip cookie i've had recently came from a local creperie. It has a combination of APF, buckwheat flour, and ground oatmeal along with huge chuncks of good quality bittersweet chocolate. It has a very solid crust, but remains pretty soft in the middle.

This is the $250 Neiman marcus cookie recipe (available all over the net) which has oatmeal. I like it a lot but use choclate chunks rather than chips and sometimes add dried cherries. Pecans might also be nice (BTW, Neiman Marcus has offered up their recipe HERE which is not the same ! )

(Recipe may be halved.):

2 cups butter

2 tsp. soda

5 cups blended oatmeal**

2 cups brown sugar

1 8 oz. Hershey Bar (grated)

2 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. vanilla 4 cups flour

2 cups sugar

24 oz. chocolate chips

1 tsp. salt

4 eggs

3 cups chopped nuts (your choice)

** measure oatmeal and blend in a blender to a fine powder.

Cream the butter and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla; mix together with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and soda. Add chocolate chips, Hershey Bar and nuts. Roll into balls and place two inches apart on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees. Makes 112 cookies.

Edited April 30, 2007 by dockhl (log)

[annimal]

My new trick is to add some coffee liquor to the batter. Last time I did it i think it was around 2 tbs, but it wasn't enough to really taste. It mostly brings out chocolate flavors.

[ludja]

My new trick is to add some coffee liquor to the batter. Last time I did it i think it was around 2 tbs, but it wasn't enough to really taste. It mostly brings out chocolate flavors.

←

This sounds like a great idea, annimal. Thanks for sharing it. I have a few recipes for chocolate frosting (not mocha) in which a little coffee adds a great depth to the flavor.

I like nuts in my chocolate chip cookies. I usually use the classic walnut but sometimes use pecans or hazelnuts for a different flavor.

I wonder if using a mixture cacao nibs and dark chocolate would interesting.

...

The best chocolate chip cookie i've had recently came from a local creperie. It has a combination of APF, buckwheat flour, and ground oatmeal along with huge chuncks of good quality bittersweet chocolate. It has a very solid crust, but remains pretty soft in the middle.

...

←

This sounds intriguing as well; especially with the addition of buckwheat.

I recently posted in a thread where I listed the Toll House recipe as one that I don't like to muck with as I like the results of the basic recipe very much but the coffee liqueur and the buckwheat additions sound good.

Edited April 30, 2007 by ludja (log)

[phaelon56]

My new trick is to add some coffee liquor to the batter. Last time I did it i think it was around 2 tbs, but it wasn't enough to really taste. It mostly brings out chocolate flavors.

←

Are you referring to an alcoholic coffee flavored beverage such as Kahlua or to some sort of concentrated coffee liquid?

[Live It Up]

I'm really not a fan of chocolate chip cookies, mostly because everyone makes the same toll house recipe and it's just so boring. I made this giada de laurentis recipe once. I did the whole ice cream sandwich thing, but the cookies were really good on their own. I substituted frangelico for the amaretto and hazelnuts for the almonds.

[annimal]

i'm referring to kahlua. the alcohol all cooks off during the baking. I got the trick from Fox and Obel here in Chicago, where they have the best chocolate chip cookies i've EVER eaten. They use Callebaut chocolate and pecans, and i think they use a good healthy amount of coffee liquor (one day i got a cookie package with an ingredient list... woohoo!). Dang, I want one of those cookies NOW. Next time I make cookies I'll use a LOT more kahlua.

[MarkIsCooking]

This recipe for White Chocolate Chunk Cookies is pretty awesome. A slightly different take on the old standby.

Chocolate White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Recipe Summary

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Yield: 40 to 48 cookies

1/2 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature

2/3 cup good unsweetened cocoa

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 1/2 pounds good white chocolate, coarsely chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Cream the butter and 2 sugars until light and fluffy in the bowl of an electric

mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the vanilla, then the eggs, 1 at a

time, and mix well. Add the cocoa and mix again. Sift together the flour, baking

soda, and salt and add to the chocolate with the mixer on low speed until just

combined. Fold in the chopped white chocolate.

Drop the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, using a 1 3/4-inch

ice cream scoop or a rounded tablespoon. Dampen your hands and flatten the dough

slightly. Bake for exactly 15 minutes (the cookies will seem underdone). Remove

from the oven and let cool slightly on the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to

cool completely.

Recipe posted on: www.MarkCooks.com

[ludja]

^Thanks for the white chocolate chunk cookie recipe; I will try this and maybe also add macadamia nuts.... I do lilke that combo.

[heidih]

My new trick is to add some coffee liquor to the batter. Last time I did it i think it was around 2 tbs, but it wasn't enough to really taste. It mostly brings out chocolate flavors.

←

Ina similar vein I add Angostura bitters.

[MONTHANNAH]

Could you help me make thin crispy chocolate cjip cookies? I have tried many recipes and they are always chewy...PLEASE HELP! thanks

[MONTHANNAH]

I meant chocolate chip cookies ...oops!

[jlwquilter]

Could you help me make  thin crispy chocolate cjip cookies? I have tried many recipes and they are always chewy...PLEASE HELP! thanks

←

When I want thin crispier chocolate chip cookies I use the old Betty Crocker recipe. But I sub in almost all butter... the recipe calls for half butter, half shortening. And I bake them with freshly made dough, not chilled. The cookie spreads and thins out. The very center is a bit soft but not by much, especially after cooling.

I love doubling this recipe, using 1 cup of butter with 1/3 cup of butter flavored Crisco and baking it all in a 9 x13 pan for 35 minutes (375 oven) for awesome cookie bars. My family actually prefers the cookie bars to the standard cookie.

[prasantrin]

Could you help me make  thin crispy chocolate cjip cookies? I have tried many recipes and they are always chewy...PLEASE HELP! thanks

←

Were you unhappy with all the suggestions people made in this topic?

I'd make a very butter oatmeal cookies and add chocolate chips. Like someone mentioned in the other topic you started, very butter cookies spread out more, and become very crisp.

[CKatCook]

I saw in David Leibovitz website/blog a chocolate chip cookie that contains mesquite flour. They are very interesting...this was taken directly from his site.

Mesquite Chocolate Chip Cookies

About 60 cookies

Adapted from Super Natural Cooking (Ten Speed) by Heidi Swanson

I got quite a bit more cookies than I thought, since I make them Euro-sized (you Americans and your jumbo cookies!) so feel free to freeze half of the dough in a zip-top bag for use another time. Tip: If you form them into mounds first, then freeze them, you can simple pop them onto a baking sheet later on.

Feel free also to chop up your own chocolate and use those bits in place of the chips.

2½ cups (330 g) flour

1 cup (160 g) mesquite flour

1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

¾ teaspoon fine sea salt

8 ounces (220 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 cups (400g) sugar

3 large eggs, at room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups (230 g) rolled oats or a mixture of rolled grains

2 cups (360 g) chocolate chips

Two baking sheets covered with parchment paper or lined with silicone baking mats. Preheat the oven to 375F (190C).

1. In a bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

2. With an electric mixer, or by hand, beat the butter until soft. Add the sugar and beat until creamy. If using a mixer, stop it once or twice and scrape down the sides.

3. Add the eggs one at a time until completely incorporated, then the vanilla.

4. Add the flour mixture in three batches, incorporating it as you go.

5. Mix in the oats and chocolate chips. The dough is quite stiff at this point and if you're not using a powerful standing electric mixer, you may wish to roll up your sleeves and use your hands, like I did.

6. Drop mounds, about two tablespoons of dough each, evenly-spaced onto the baking sheet.

7. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until just beginning to set. Heidi's admonition in her recipe should be ringing in your ears at this point..."Don't overbake these; if anything, underbake them" certainly holds true.

Oh yes, and my secret:

Here's a tip to help keep chocolate chip cookies moist when they cool: When you pull the cookies out of the oven, take a tablespoon and tap the top of each cookie once or twice to flatten any peaks and level them.

Then let them cool as usual for the moistest, chewiest chocolate chip cookies imaginable!

[alanamoana]

also, check out paulraphael's recipe in recipeGullet. i think using different sugars, forms of butters, etc. can give the cookie a depth of flavor not usually found in standard cc cookies.