Yes, that's me. Yes, my love of chocolate chip cookies started early.
Y'all, TODAY is Chocolate Chip Cookie Day.
If you know me AT ALL, you know this might as well be my birthday. Sure, I have a thing for s'mores, but there is only one dessert that lives in my heart and that dessert is the chocolate chip cookie. It is my favorite food. Period.
When I was pregnant with Griffin, my blood pressure spiked in the last couple days of my pregnancy. My midwife made it very simple for me. No sugar. No salt. Vegetables and lean meat. Luckily, my blood pressure went down but life without chocolate chip cookies (ESPECIALLY when you are nine months pregnant!) is not really life. Obviously, Griffin agreed because he arrived only a few days after I started the diet.
I gave birth to my firstborn child. I kissed his sweet face and then I said one thing.
"I want a chocolate chip cookie."
When we completed the Whole30, I felt great. I felt free of sugar and processed food. And yet...the last night of the 30 days I walked into my kitchen and made myself the most perfect, most delicious chocolate chip cookie of all time and felt even better.
My preferred chocolate chip cookie recipe after YEARS of research is Jacques Torres’ Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe adapted by the New York Times.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Jacques Torres
Time: 45 minutes (for 1 6-cookie batch), plus at least 24 hours’ chilling
2 cups minus 2 tablespoons
(8 1/2 ounces) cake flour
1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves, at least 60 percent cacao content (see note)
Sea salt.
1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.
2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.
3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.
4. Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day. Eat warm, with a big napkin.
Yield: 1 1/2 dozen 5-inch cookies.
Is this recipe ridiculous? YES. But is it the best? YES!
In a pinch, you can make a skillet cookie. If you’re feeling healthy, you can make these paleo chocolate chip cookies, which I also love.
Just celebrate Chocolate Chip Cookie Day! Because if chocolate chip cookies aren’t worth celebrating, NOTHING IS.
