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It’s National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day- Tips for Perfect Cookies

May 15, 2014 by Renee

Today, May 15th,  is National Chocolate Chip Day! Chocolate chips are an essential ingredient in dozens of delicious treats—from chocolate chip pancakes, chocolate chip muffins, chocolate chip brownies, to chocolate chip ice cream and so much more! But it’s the humble chocolate chip cookie that takes the lead and is the star among chocolate chip uses.

In the 1930s, Ruth Graves Wakefield created the original chocolate chip cookie at her Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts. Ruth intended to bake chocolate cookies for her guests, but she ran out of baker’s chocolate. She substituted with chopped up semi-sweet chocolate morsels and discovered that the pieces did not melt into the dough as she expected. Her cookies were an instant hit. Today, nearly 1/3 of all the cookies baked in the United States are chocolate chip!

I was thinking of recipes I could use and while the Almost Healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies are the ones I usually make (and is one of the first recipes I posted here on the blog way back when), I also dreamt of Dulce de leche chocolate chip cookies as well as a salted caramel bacon chocolate chip cookie or even a gooey chocolate chip cookie pie. But no matter how exotic, outrageous or trendy a recipe I thought of, the best chocolate chip cookie remains the unadulterated one. A simple chocolate chip cookie with a glass of milk is the most satisfying.  And that’s exactly what I made.

In honor of the holiday, Nielsen-Massey sent me a bottle of their Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Extract to help make my chocolate chip cookies even that much better than they already are.

NMV-Mad-8-oz-small

Nielsen-Massey really stands apart from other vanilla producers . In the December issue of Bon Appétit, the magazine listed 50 products in four categories that “will upgrade every aspect of your culinary life, guaranteed” and awarded  the Bon Appétit Seal of Approval to Nielsen-Massey’s Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Extract for Best Vanilla Extract.

Nielsen-Massey takes hand-selected vanilla beans that have been cultivated on the Bourbon Island of Madagascar, and using their proprietary cold extraction process gently draws out and preserves the vanilla’s over 300 flavor compounds. This method produces  a sweet, nutty and mellow vanilla flavor with velvety after-tones making it the perfect “all purpose” vanilla extract.

During the research I also learned  that one tablespoon of vanilla extract is equivalent to one vanilla bean. That’s a fact I actually never knew before.

Batch One: FAIL! 

For some reason, but perhaps maybe the fact that it was 10pm when I started and I was barely awake and feeling lazy, the first batch was a complete visual fail. The cookies were flat- so flat that they looked more like pancakes than cookies. They were nearly sheer. On the plus side, they still tasted great and the littles don’t mind eating the failures.  (Neither did I as a midnight snack!)

Here’s where I think I went wrong-the butter was too melted, the dough was too wet and my oven temperature was too low (I need to buy an oven thermometer (read: new oven!) as it’s been wonky for a while now). I know better. I should have only melted half of the butter, and then I should not have overworked the butter, sugar and eggs with the mixer.  Finally and probably the most important part, I should have added more flour when I saw that the dough was not the right consistency and too wet.

I probably should have chilled the dough too. But I didn’t and the flour did not have the time it needed to absorb the moisture and let the gluten relax. But perhaps that may not have even mattered as I didn’t have enough flour to start with. I’ll be honest and say that I only chill the dough on occasion, but I do find it is easier to work with when it’s cold. So there is obviously some argument to support that theory.  But when it’s late and you just really want the instant gratification of cookies this is a step that is often skipped.

For the second batch, more flour was added as were more chunks and chips and the oven temperature was raised.  I love a gooey, melty chocolate chip cookie and every bite should have both a crisp outside and a soft middle. Happy to report that this batch turned out perfectly. Those small things really make a difference.

After the second batch, it was well past my bedtime so I put the rest of the dough in the fridge.  Tonight, I’ll be making the rest. This will probably be the best batch.

Here are some tips in mind when making your own perfect chocolate chip cookies:

Use the best ingredients you can afford. Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Extract and Ghirardelli Chocolate Chips are a great place to start. I always like to add chunks of chocolate too. Use a fine dark chocolate bar and chop it into small chunks. I prefer Michel Cluizel but Lindt will do when I haven’t stocked up- and you can always sneak a piece for yourself too.

Start with room temperature ingredients. Use salted butter and only melt half of the butter, this will help your consistency stay a bit firmer as you cream the sugars and eggs together.

It’s best to add the flour by hand and just mix it until the dough comes together and pulls away from the side of the bowl. If it’s too wet, then add more flour a tablespoon at a time. But don’t overwork your dough.

Add the chocolate chips and chunks last. Reserve some to press into the tops of the balls right before they go into the oven. You want the tops to look extra chocolatey!

This is a maybe tip- refrigerate your dough for at least an hour if not overnight. I know you “should”, and I know the cookies “usually” come out better then, but really, who wants to wait that long? So you can take that one or leave it. Up to you!

You may use a scoop if you’d like but I prefer to roll the dough into balls by hand.  They always come out perfectly round when you do it this way and it’s one less gadget in your drawer and one less thing to wash.

Try to use a Silpat mat or parchment to line your trays. One, it keeps your trays in better shape and two, it helps keep the cookie bottoms from getting too dark before the tops get done.

And lastly,

Resist the urge to lift the cookies from the tray the moment they come out of the oven. This one is hard, because who doesn’t love cookies straight from the oven? Letting them rest a few minutes before moving them to a cooling rack lets them settle into themselves. Besides, boiling chocolate will really leave a nasty burn! The cooling air will help the bottoms crust a bit and the tops firm up so they don’t look like a Salvador Dali when you try to lift them with your spatula.

Best served warm with a big glass of ice cold milk.

Enjoy!

Salted Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
 
Print
Prep time
15 mins
Cook time
11 mins
Total time
26 mins
 
Author: Renee
Ingredients
  • 2½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt (Maldon Sea Salt works great)
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, melt one stick, leave the other at room temperature
  • ¾ cup granulated sugar
  • ¾ cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Extract)
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1½ cups of chocolate chips
  • ½ cup fine dark chocolate, chopped into bits
Method
  1. Mix the flour, baking soda and sea salt in a small bowl. Set aside.
  2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and pure vanilla extract until creamy.
  3. Add the eggs, one at a time and just mix to incorporate them into the butter and sugar.
  4. Remove the bowl from the mixer and add the flour while stirring with a large spoon or fork. Mix well but just until the flour is absorbed.
  5. Add the chocolate chips and chocolate chunks, reserving ¼ cup to add to the tops of the cookies right before baking. Mix in the chips and chunks but don’t overwork your dough.
  6. At this point, you may either refrigerate the dough for an hour (or overnight) or shape the dough into round small round balls for baking.
  7. Preheat Oven to 375 degrees F.
  8. Prepare your cookie trays by lining them with a Silpat or parchment.
  9. Form round balls by rolling the dough in your hands. Place the balls of dough on the trays about 3” apart. (I usually get a dozen on one pan.)
  10. Press some of the chocolate chips and chunks gently into the top of your balls of dough without pressing them down too much.
  11. Bake 9-11 minutes or until the tops just start to brown from the bottoms upwards. Remove from the oven and cool on the trays for 2 minutes before removing them to wire racks to cool.
Notes
Variations: I prefer purely chocolate cookies, I don't add nuts or dried fruits but you may choose to do so- add ¼ to ½ cup of your favorites at the same time you add the chocolate.

You can also make this recipe into bars by using a 10 x 15-inch pan and baking for 20-25 minutes.
3.2.1310

Chocolate Chip Cookies-1

Disclosure: I received a bottle of Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Extract to try for this recipe. As always, all opinions are my own and I was not compensated for this post. Except that cookies are always good to make and I’d take them as compensation. 🙂

 

 

Filed Under: Eat, Kitchen Sink, Desserts, Product Reviews Tagged With: Chocolate Chip Cookies, Chocolate Chips, Nielsen-Massey, Recipe, Vanilla

Creamsicle Pudding Recipe

February 25, 2011 by Renee

This recipe was originally supposed to be submitted to the Food52 pudding contest, but today, while I was making the Candied Orange Peel, I realized that 12am on 2/25 actually meant last night and not tonight. So here I am, a day late, having missed the contest completely. Oh well!  I will learn to tell time eventually. I am still enjoying this creamy, very sunny pudding that is reminiscent of the long, hot summer days. I have to credit Ari for coming up with the idea for the Creamsicles. They are his favorite treat at the beach, being the perfect combination of vanilla and orange, creamy, cool and refreshing. Sand optional.

We have oranges on the mind and there has been a lot of discussion between us about Orange Julius’ lately too. (Remember those?) We have been snacking on orange citrus fruits of all varieties this entire month. They’ve been incredibly sweet, juicy and really, just beautiful to look at right now versus all the grey we have been seeing lately. It’s a glimpse of summer in hopes that it comes soon.

The idea of a Creamsicle is a vanilla center surrounded by orange. But we have reversed it and layered the orange pudding between two layers of vanilla pudding and topped it with fresh whipped cream and slices of candied orange peels. The candied orange peel recipe has been adapted from Jacques Torres, Dessert Circus.

 

Candied Orange Peel

This recipe takes about three hours to prepare, so plan accordingly.

Ingredients

2 Navel Oranges or other thick skinned citrus (grapefruit, lemons, limes)

1 cup Sugar

Water

Method

Using a sharp knife or a citrus stripper cut strips from the orange’s peel about ¼ inch wide. Try to make them the same lengths if possible and leave some of the white membrane on the peels but no fruit.

In a small saucepan, add enough water to cover the peels by about 1 inch. Place over high heat and let the water come to a boil. Once boiling, remove from heat and drain the water. Return the peels to the saucepan and add enough fresh water to cover the peels by about 1 inch. Boil again. Repeat this process four times.

While it seems like a lot of work to boil and drain four times, it really goes fast and is very important as the process removes the bitterness from the peels.

After the fourth boil and drain, return the peels to the pan and add enough water again to cover by at least 1 inch. Add the sugar and stir to mix.  Reduce the heat to low.  Simmer for 2 hours then remove from heat and let cool.

You will now have a thick syrup filled with translucent, tender peels..

You may now keep them in the syrup and store them in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to three weeks.

When you are ready to use them, they can be served either in the syrup or drained of the syrup and rolled in granulated sugar to coat them. You can use them as garnish either in strips or cut into small pieces. Once they have been rolled in sugar, they can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days.

Creamsicle Pudding

For the Vanilla Pudding:

Ingredients

2 tbs sugar

1 tbs cornstarch

1/8 tsp salt

1 cup milk

1 egg yolk, slightly beaten, in a bowl set aside

1 ½ tsp butter

1 vanilla bean

Method

In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch and salt. Gradually stir in the milk.

Cook, constantly stirring over medium high heat until thickened and bubbly.  Reduce the heat and cook another 3 minutes. Remove from heat.

Temper the egg yolk by adding a little of the hot milk into the  bowl with the egg yolk, stirring constantly so as not to cook the yolk. Pour the yolk and milk mixture back into the pan and return to medium heat and bring to a gentle boil. Reduce the heat to low and add in the butter and the vanilla bean and it’s seeds. Continue stirring and remove from the heat.

Cool for 10 minutes and spoon into your dessert dishes about 1/3 the way up for three layers. Cover the saucepan with the remaining pudding as well as the dessert dishes and refrigerate for one hour.

Meanwhile, prepare the orange pudding.

For the Orange Pudding:

Ingredients

2 tbs sugar

1 tbs cornstarch

1/8 tsp salt

3/4 cup milk

1 egg yolk, slightly beaten, in a bowl set aside

1 ½ tsp butter

¼ orange juice concentrate, defrosted

Method

In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch and salt. Gradually stir in the milk.

Cook, constantly stirring over medium high heat until thickened and bubbly.  Reduce the heat and cook another 3 minutes. Remove from heat.

Temper the egg yolk by adding a little of the hot milk into the  bowl with the egg yolk, stirring constantly so as not to cook the yolk. Pour the yolk and milk mixture back into the pan and return to medium heat and bring to a gentle boil. Reduce the heat to low and add in the butter and the orange juice concentrate. Continue stirring and remove from the heat.

Cool for 10 minutes and spoon (or use a piping bag) into your dessert dishes that already have one vanilla layer. Cover the saucepan with the remaining orange pudding (you won’t need this but save it to eat alone!) as well as the dessert dishes and refrigerate for another hour.

When the orange layer is set, you can use the remaining vanilla pudding to spoon (or pipe with a pastry bag) on top of the orange layer.

To serve, top with fresh whipped cream and diced candied orange peels. You can use either the sugared or non sugared peels.

 

Enjoy!

 

 


Renee & Ari 

Kitchen Conundrum

Filed Under: Eat, Featured Posts, Desserts Tagged With: Creamsicle Pudding, Gluten Free, Kosher, Orange, Pudding, Recipe, Vanilla

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