The New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies [A Review]

Let me start by saying that I am probably late in the game in choosing to blog about this recipe. However, I chose to make these cookies and blog about them in order to share with you why this recipe works. Many people look at this recipe and think one of two things (or maybe, like me, both):

1) The beauty of chocolate chip cookies is that they are quick. Unlike a cheesecake or a cupcakes, there isn't any waiting on them. A recipe that requires 24 hours of chilling is NOT for me. Can't I just skip the wait and bake them immediately? -or-
2) Why does it call for both cake flour and bread flour? Can't I just substitute all-purpose flour?

The answer to both of those questions is "no." And I promise that I give you this answer after I tried three different batches of these cookies: One batch made exactly as the recipe says; one batch made with all the ingredients called for but skipping the chill time; and one batch substituting all purpose flour for the cake flour.

The results of our test testing.

The best were the ones where the recipe was followed exactly. They were the chewiest and had the most tender crumb. Second best were the ones where we skipped chilling the dough for 24 hours. These were slightly less chewy than the chilled version but still had a tender crumb. And the least good (but still quite tasty) were the cookies from the batch where we substituted all-purpose flour. These cookies were similarly chewy to the unchilled batch but (ironically) were cakier than those made with cake flour.

So here's the "science" behind it:

Why Bread Flour?: Bread flour is much higher in gluten content than all-purpose flour (around 12%). It is this high gluten content that helps makes bread chewy.

Why Wait 24 Hours?: Chilling the dough gives the gluten time to develop a more complex structure, making them even chewier.

Why Cake Flour?: Cake flour is the exact opposite of bread flour in that is has the lowest percentage of gluten of any of the flours (around 6%). It is this low gluten content that makes cakes have a light, tender crumb.

I had the pleasure of making these cookies with my dear friend, Catherine. She came down from New York for a wedding shower and fit in a visit to Winston-Salem so that she could meet Audrey. She seemed really enjoy her time playing with and cooing at the baby; she must have professed her love for Audrey at least a dozen times! And then while Audrey slept, we made two different batches of cookies (the unchilled + the all-purpose flour batches) and reviewed them. I can't express how wonderful it was to see her and how much I wish that we lived closer to one another. I couldn't help but include some photos of Catherine + Audrey in addition to the cookies.

The New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies

The New York Times

In a large electric mixing bowl, combine:
1 1/4 cups unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
1 1/8 cups sugar
Cream together on high for 4-5 minutes.

One at a time, add:
2 eggs
Scrape down sides of bowl after each addition.

Mix in:
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Scrape down sides of bowl.

In a separate medium bowl, sift together:
1 7/8 cup cake flour (this is the same as 2 cups minus 2 tablespoons of cake flour)
1 2/3 cups bread flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
In three batches, mix into wet ingredients until just combined. Be careful not to over mix.

Mix in:
1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate

Pour batter onto large piece of plastic wrap and refrigerate for 24+ hours.

Preheat oven 350

Spoon large balls of dough onto greased cookie. Use hands to form balls of dough.

Sprinkle with coarse sea salt. [Don't be afraid of the salt; it is delicious.]

Bake 15-20 minutes until centers are just set. Do not overcook.

Let cool on baking sheet for at least 10 minutes (they'll fall apart if you try to remove them too soon). Transfer to wire cooling rack. Either let them cool completely and store in an airtight container, or - and this is the better option -

Eat up immediately!

Batch #2

Batch #3

All together now.

Smiles all around.

Crazy hair + elbow dimples.

Baby bliss.

Baby bum.

Fighting a nap.

This was a gift from Catherine + her mom, Pam. Pam MADE this entire doll!! I love it.

Love.

Love II.

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

So I was shooting pictures of Audrey at the six week mark (two weeks ago), when my camera suddenly died. I was extremely irritated and had a really bad feeling that it wasn't gonna be an easy fix. I tried finding a camera repair shop in town, but the best I could do was a general electronic repair store in a sketchy ass shopping mall. It took them a week to look into the problem, only to conclude that they didn't know what the problem was. This left me with only two choices: 1) Buy a new camera, or 2) Send it to Texas and pay nearly $300 to have Sony fix it. Neither of these choices sounded like anything I wanted to do, so I decided to think on it. Meanwhile, I posted a message on Facebook inquiring whether anyone knew of a camera rental store. I did get a couple of suggestions about rental possibilities, but I also got a number of kind, generous friends offering to let me borrow their cameras so that I wouldn't miss out on photographing Audrey during the several weeks that I'd be camera-less.

Even though I was sans camera and figured I wouldn't be able to blog about it, I decided that I wanted to make a lemon poppy seed cake for no reason in particular other than I like making cakes. So yesterday between Audrey's wakeful periods and excellent visits with friends, I made cake. [Aside: Baking a cake with a baby is actually better for me because I don't just sit there and wait for the cake to cool before frosting it. No, I am required to wait because Audrey doesn't much care that I have a kitchen project when she wants to eat, play, or poop :)]

After the cake was complete, I hacked off a quarter of it and gave it to Natalie + Carol (who ate it with a shared plastic spoon as they walked home from their visit). I gave a generous slice to my friend and co-conspirator in new motherhood, Rachel. Then I ate a slice myself and thought, This is heavenly. I have got to give more of it away if I ever want to fit in my skinny jeans again. So I put two more hefty slices into two tupperware containers and walked one over to my neighbor, Karen, and the other to my neighbor Ann.

When I handed the tupperware to Ann, she remarked about how she sees me taking pictures of my food for this blog on my back porch periodically (the light in my kitchen makes it really tough to take a decent picture sometimes). I sighed and shared with her that my camera had broken, so I wouldn't be able to post about the cake. Her response? You can have mine. I told her that my friends were going to let me borrow their camera so it wouldn't be necessary. She shrugged me off and said, No, no. Mine just sits in the corner of my room. I haven't used it in ages. Stay right there, let me go get it. Ann is my elder, so I did as was told and stood in her foyer as she went to fetch the camera.

And what a camera it is! In fact, it is a nicer camera than the one I own. I spent the better part of the last two days learning how to use it. And as luck/fate/irony would have it, my best friend, Erica, and her boyfriend, Ben (an excellent photographer), came to visit us today, so I even had a private tutor help me start to figure it out! (Check out Ben's work here.)

I haven't decided the best way to proceed - I can't possibly accept such a generous gift outright - but for now I am going to photograph the heck out of food and babies and be thankful for all the wonderful people in my life.

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
adapted from Technicolor Kitchen

Preheat oven 350º

In a large electric mixing bowl, combine:
3 cups cake flour
1 3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons poppy seeds
zest of one large lemon, minced
Mix for 30 seconds.

Add:
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
Mix on low until butter has moistened the dry ingredients.

While mixer is still going, slowly add:
1 cup buttermilk
Increase speed to medium high and beat for 30 seconds. Scrape down sides and bottom of the bowl and beat for an additional minute to aerate the batter.

In a small bowl, combine:
5 egg whites
1/4 cup buttermilk
Use fork to break up whites and mix with buttermilk. In three additions, add egg mixture to the batter. Mix on medium for 20 seconds and scrape down bowl after each addition.

Pour batter into two 9" cake pans that have been greased and lined with parchment paper.

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Let cool in pans for 10-15 minutes. Remove and let cool completely on cooling rack before glazing and frosting.

Lemon Syrup
In a small bowl, combine:
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons water
juice of one large lemon
Microwave for 30-60 seconds or until the sugar is completely dissolved.

Lemon Zest Cream Cheese Frosting
In a large electric mixing bowl, combine:
1 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
1 cup salted butter, softened
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
zest of one large lemon, minced
Beat on high until ingredients are well combined.

One half cup at a time, beat in:
1 pound confectioners sugar (This is a rough estimate; I usually just add sugar a couple of spoonfuls at a time until the consistency seems right.)
Periodically, scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Assembly
Place one cake layer on serving dish. Use basting brush or carefully pour half of the glaze on top of the first layer. Frost first layer using roughly one cup of frosting. Place second cake layer on top of the first. Use basting brush or carefully pour remaining glaze over cake. Frost sides and then top of cake. Garnish with poppy seeds. (I had leftover frosting - about a cup and a half - which I froze for later use.)

Eat up (+ share with your neighbors, of course)!

Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies

Almost every time I make these cookies, I get raving compliments and people ask for the recipe. Which is quite funny since it is literally on the back of the bag of every single bag of chocolate chips. I do make a couple adaptations, most notably adding oatmeal, but even if I were to make the recipe exactly as is, they'd be delicious. And it's such a simple recipe because you basically plop all the ingredients in the bowl and mix!

Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies
adapted from recipe on bag of chocolate chips

Preheat oven 350º

In an electric mixing bowl, add:
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
Mix on medium speed until all ingredients are incorporated.

Add:
1 1/2 cups oatmeal
half or three-quarters bag of chocolate chips
1/2 cup walnuts [optional]
Mix until these are evenly distributed.

Spoon onto greased cookie sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes, depending on the size of your cookie. (Also, this makes a mean cookie cake. Just pile all the cookie batter on a large cookie sheet so that it forms a rough circle. Bake for ~45 minutes or until the middle is set. Then decorate as desired.)

Eat up!

Working Towards A Better View

a collection of instagram photos [weeks three-six]

Dear Audrey-

Your father and I have made it six weeks with you in our lives and to our knowledge, we don't seem to have damaged you in any permanent way. Thank God.

You've come a long way in the last month. You are now flashing your contagious smile at us all the time. I like all of your smiles, but they have an uncanny ability to melt my heart when you flash one at me just after I've changed your diaper for the second time after a 4 a.m. feeding. That's right...a second time. Because girl, you poop a lot without much concern for the fact that I've just put a new diaper on that cute little bum of yours. And you are a gassy little thing. Sometimes as I am finally drifting off to sleep, I hear you tooting away in the other room and have to let an audible little giggle escape from my sleep-deprived lips.

Let's talk about sleeping for a minute. Little one, I want you to know that there have been a couple of truly frustrating nights. I want you to know this so that in some far off time when you have your own little gassy darling, you won't feel like a bad momma when you hit a wall and have to call in the support troops. It's HARD to have someone yell at you for hours. But it doesn't mean you love them any less; it just means that you're tired and you're frazzled and you need to call me to tell me all about it...just like I call your Grammy for words of comfort and advice.

At your one-month appointment with Dr. Warner, he said you were in perfect health (at 9 pounds 12 ounces, you are in the 75th percentile for weight, evidence that you eat like a champ)! He also told us to start with tummy time. I must say that you love tummy time. Ever since you were born, you've been practicing tummy time whenever you lay on your dad's chest by frantically pushing your legs against his lap to "stand up" and by pushing your arms against his chest. Only now that you are stronger, you are able to lift up your torso so that you can look him right in the eye and give him that show-stopping smile. You haven't perfected holding up your head, but now when you do, it is for more than just a second or two. You are one determined little girl, demonstrated by both your facial expressions and vocal grunts as you try to get your body to cooperate with what your brain is telling it to do. We normally don't end tummy time because you're tired but because your frustrations drive you to real cries.

Speaking of figuring things out, three days ago you were in your vibrating chair when I caught you looking at your right hand. Audrey, I swear that at that very moment you came to the realization that those adorable five-fingered things were your hands and, what's more, that you had some semblance of control over them. Since then, whenever you look at a mobile that is within reach, you stare hard at it, stick out your tongue and concentrate on getting your hands to reach out and touch it. Just as with tummy time, sometimes we have to end these learning sessions because you get frustrated that things aren't happening as quickly as you'd like them to happen. It's really quite endearing.

Once you've gotten fussy, I quickly walk into your nursery and stand in front of the mirror. One glimpse at yourself or me in that reflective glass will yield at least a pause in the shockingly loud shrieking cries that escape from that tiny little mouth of yours.

In the last month you have been quite the socialite, garnering looks from every direction when I take you out! It doesn't matter if it is in line at the post office as you spit up all over me (that was super pleasant) or you're passed out in a wrap at lunch with your Grandpa and me at Whole Foods, you draw people in. You've visited with my co-workers, Grammy's Wednesday wining girlfriends, and even attended your first Game Night. And as you get older, you spend longer and longer with your hands against my chest, pushing yourself away from me so that you can get a better view of this great big world where adventure certainly is just around the corner. I can't wait to see where you'll go!

Love,
Mom

four weeks

Minestrone Soup

Our church hosts a fellowship meal every Wednesday evening called "Fling." Last fall I learned that there was a committee that helped prepare these meals - a fact that should have been obvious but one I'd clearly missed. Seeing as I love all things cooking, I figured that this would be a great way to help contribute to my church community. This past Wednesday we deviated from our usual meal of fried chicken and all the fixin's and served Minestrone Soup in observation of Ash Wednesday. Because Audrey is still too young to face crowds in flu season, instead of preparing it at the church, I made this at home during two of Audrey's naps.

Parenthood is funny in that somehow you have both a lot of time on your hands and no time to do anything. This conundrum is because babies don't operate on schedules. Sometimes Audrey sleeps forty-five minutes; sometimes four hours. Sometimes she eats every hour and a half; other times she'll wait three. So you can see that planning anything becomes impossible. There are days when all I have time to do is feed her, change her, put her down for a nap, feed myself and pee before I do it all again! Other days I have a couple of hours to do things like chores (ugh), cook (yay), or go out to lunch with a friend (double yay).

There are many well-intentioned folks who think that parenthood means I can no longer do anything "normal" and many days that holds true (and on days like that, I am so very thankful to have that pot pie in the freezer or Chipotle delivered). But during those lovely periods where Audrey decides to nap for two - even three! - hours, it is a project like making a soup for church or preparing a Friday night meal for friends that keep me sane and help me keep my life in perspective. As Debbie, an associate pastor at Highland, so wisely understood, projects like this help me "remember that there's a bigger world outside; a world which someday my little one will know about."

Minestrone Soup
adapted from original recipe by Debbie Layman

Serves 8-10

In a large pot, heat:
1/4 cup olive oil

Add:
1/2 medium white onion, finely diced
4 large carrots, coarsely diced
2 stalks celery, coarsely diced
Saute for 10 minutes.

Add:
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil
Let cook 1 minute, stirring constantly to prevent garlic from burning.

Add:
2 cups diced potatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 15 ounce can skinless tomatoes, diced
1 15 ounce can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
8 cups vegetable stock
Let simmer 10 minutes.

Add:
2 cups fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into bite-sized pieces
Cook 5-7 minutes or until green beans and potatoes are tender.

Salt + pepper to taste

Serve with a nice loaf of crusty bread.

Eat up!