Tag: Chocolate Chips

Thomas Keller’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

Thomas Keller's Chocolate Chip Cookies

Thomas Keller's Chocolate Chip Cookies
Thomas Keller's Chocolate Chip Cookies

Thomas Keller's Chocolate Chip Cookies

You know how everyone is always on the hunt for the best chocolate chip cookie? When I was younger, our family friend Anita was known for making the best chocolate chip cookies around. Whenever we went over to her house we (my sisters and I) were excited because we knew we would get those delicious cookies. Despite staying close to her family, I do not have her cookie recipe… Odd.

Anyway, the other day I felt like baking (strange, huh?) and Jonah requested classic chocolate chip. I wanted to do a variation, like those thyme and sea salt chocolate chunk cookies I made a while back. But after having no luck finding anything before heading to the store, I remembered Thomas Keller having a recipe for chocolate chip cookies in the Ad Hoc cookbook. I figured, “Hey, that guy kind of knows what he’s doing,” so I pulled out the recipe and went to the store.

I will tell you now that these are possibly the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had (besides Anita’s). You know the great debate: Crunchy or chewy? These are perfectly both. They are crispy on the edges (thanks to our old friend, butter) and chewy and soft in the middle. Oh my goodness. And they spread out when they bake, so they’re pretty big, which makes you feel like you’re really getting a good portion of cookie when you eat one. And if one seems large enough to be satisfying, you would think it’d be easier to not eat like 10 of them. But it’s not. You just get more full.

Side note: Jonah bought me these wonderful baking sheets for Christmas. The brand is Chicago Metallic; they came in a package with two pans and a cooling rack. These pans need no liner or greasing. Nothing EVER sticks to them (knock on wood). They are heavy duty with a wire around the edge so they don’t warp, and industrial-kitchen sized. I love them. I highly recommend them if you’re looking for new pans.

Thomas Keller’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

2 1/3 cups plus 1 Tbl all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt
5 oz. semi-sweet chocolate (think 55%), cut into chip sized pieces (about 1 1/4 cups)
5 oz. dark chocolate (think 70-72%), cut into chip sized pieces (about 1 1/4 cups)
2 sticks cold unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar (preferably dark)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper (or just grease them a little bit).

Ok, sorry. Now, sift the flour and baking soda into a medium bowl, and stir in the salt. Usually if a recipe says to sift flour, I ignore it, but I had a lot of time on my hands, and hey, I’m not gonna ignore Thomas Keller. I would say that it made a difference. Put the chips of chocolate you’ve cut in a fine mesh basket strainer to get out all the “chocolate dust.”

Using an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, beat half of the butter (1 stick that has been cut up into small pieces) until it’s smooth and creamy. Now add the sugars and the rest of the butter (also cut into small pieces) and beat until well combined and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well between them. Be sure during all of this to be scraping down the sides of the bowl to get everything well-incorporated. Now add the dry ingredients and mix them in.

Thoroughly fold in the chocolate chips. It’s a little tricky because the dough is really thick, but stick with it, it’s worth it. You wouldn’t want those cookies from the bottom of the bowl to not have any chocolate in them, would you? No. No you would not. At this point you can wrap the dough up and refrigerate it for up to 5 days or freeze it for 2 weeks. But I just don’t understand, you’ve gotten this far, why would you not just make the damn cookies at this point?

If you’re continuing on, take about 2 tablespoons of dough, roll into a ball, and place it on the cookie sheet. You only want to put about 8 on a sheet because these suckers need their space. They spread out for real. Leave 2 inches between each ball of dough. Bake for 12 minutes, turning the cookie sheet halfway through baking. Let the cookies cool on the pan for a couple minutes before removing them to a cooling rack to cool the rest of the way (if you can wait that long). Enjoy with a glass of cold milk.

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies + Happy Holidays!

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

So many of our friends have left Portland to go home for the holidays. Luckily for us, one of our dear friends, Carmelle, was still in town during the earlier part of this week. And her boyfriend, Mac (one of Jonah’s bestest friends ever), was out of town, so we had her all to ourselves. Carmelle is a baker extraordinaire (I believe I’ve mentioned her a couple times before), and so I thought it’d be fun if she came over and we made something together for the blog.

This recipe for Chocolate Peppermint Cookies is hers, and I just want to warn you all that while I usually have pretty good self control when it comes to not eating sweets that are laying around are kitchen, these cookies have broken my good habits. They are amazing. So incredibly good. So be warned, if you’re not taking them to a party or giving them as Christmas gifts, you will eat them all yourself.

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp peppermint extract
1 3/4 – 2 cups flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 – 2 cups chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugars together. Then mix in the egg and extracts. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt, mixing well. In batches, add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in the mixer.

Now fold in the chocolate chips. Grease a cookie sheet, and place balls of the dough (about 1 1/2 – 2 Tbl in size) on the sheet. These guys spread a bit, so leave enough space between them.

Put them in the oven for 7-11 minutes. I think we ended up doing 9 minutes. You want them not to fall apart, but you still want them to be a little gooey and chewy. After removing them from the oven, let them cool a little bit on the pan and then transfer them to a cooling rack. I advise trying one while still pretty warm and the chocolate chips are all melted. Oh lordy, very very good.

And that’s it! These are, once again, great holiday time cookies. Enjoy with a big ol’ glass of milk. After we had eaten our fill of cookies, we lit the menorah that Jonah made for me and played cards. It was a lovely, relaxing evening. I hope you all have just as lovely holidays!

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

Sea Salt and Thyme Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Sea Salt and Thyme Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Sea Salt and Thyme Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Sea Salt and Thyme Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Sea Salt and Thyme Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Sea Salt and Thyme Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Last weekend when I was in Seattle for my dad’s birthday, he informed me that he had been wanting some cookies or something sweet around the house. My sister and I were a bit dumbfounded because my dad always hated having sweets around the house when we were younger. Of course I told him I’d take care of it. So I pulled up a recipe I had saved on my pinterest for sea salt and thyme chocolate chunk cookies. This recipe is adapted from Desserts for Breakfast, a blog I discovered about 2 weeks ago, and it looks so lovely, so I couldn’t wait to try something from it.

These cookies were so delicious. After baking, the thyme becomes really aromatic. I was a little worried you wouldn’t taste it, but you definitely do. It’s not too strong though, so don’t worry. And the salt and chocolate is a perfect combination. These are just a really lovely grown-up version of a chocolate chip cookie. Enjoy!

Sea Salt and Thyme Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour
1 2/3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp coarse salt
2 Tbl fresh thyme leaves
2 sticks butter, room temperature
1 cup dark brown sugar
2/3 cup white sugar
1 Tbl molasses
2 eggs
1 cup semisweet chocolate chunks, more or less if you like
1 cup dark chocolate chunks, more or less if you like
sea salt

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease your cookie sheets. In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients: bread flour, all purpose flour, baking soda, salt, and thyme. Set aside. In your mixer, cream the butter, then add brown sugar, white sugar, and molasses. Beat until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the eggs, mixing well after each addition. Then, slowly add the dry ingredients (think a few batches). Combine well! Now fold in the chocolate chunks.

Now, form the cookies using about 2 Tbl of dough, rolling it into a ball, putting it on the pan, and pressing down slightly. These guys spread a bit, so make sure they aren’t too close together. Now sprinkle a little bit of sea salt on each cookie.

Pop them in the oven for 12 minutes or until the edges are just turning brown, rotating the pan halfway through. When you remove the pan from the oven, let the cookies cool on the pan for 2 minutes and then move them to a plate or cooling rack to cool completely.

Banana Bread

Banana Bread

This banana bread recipe came from my aunt Judy’s neighbor. It is honestly the best banana bread I have ever had in my life. And let’s be honest, anything my aunt thinks is delicious probably is because she really knows what she’s talking about. Why? Because she writes cookbooks. Yes, food and cooking runs in the family. Her latest book (which she wrote with her husband, my hilarious uncle) just came out and it’s wonderful, especially if you’re a fan of Mad Men. You can find info on the book and order it here.

Anyway, so Judy fed this banana bread to us one time and now it’s the only banana bread I’ll make.

Banana Bread

Makes 2 loaves

Ingredients

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon of salt
2 3/4 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs, beaten
4 or 5 mashed bananas
3 tablespoons of milk
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1-2 cups chocolate chips, optional
chopped walnuts, optional

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two bread loaf pans. In a bowl, combine baking soda, baking powder, salt, and flour. In a separate bowl or an electric mixer if you’ve got one, beat together sugar and vegetable oil. Add eggs and bananas. In a small cup combine milk and lemon juice, mix to curdle. Add this to the liquid ingredients along with the vanilla. Slowly add dry ingredients and mix well. Add as many chocolate chips and/or walnuts as you want (some people like it plain, some really chocolatey, some with just a few chocolate chips).

WARNING! When I mix in the chocolate chips before putting the batter into the pans, my chips always sink to the bottom. What I’ve started doing is just sprinkling them on top and mixing them in a little bit so they’re more evenly spread out.

Anyway now you can divide your batter between the two loaf pans and bake for about 50 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean (except for any melted chocolate…yum). Allow to cool.

These breads can be wrapped in foil and a freezer bag and frozen for a while. It’s good in case you are one of those people who can’t help eating stuff that’s around the kitchen, you can make one loaf disappear and save it for later.