Wake 'n Make: Chocolate Chip Cookies

Everybody thinks they have the recipe for the Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever. I find there's too much variation in preferences to make a valid claim. Some like them chewy, others crispy. The topic of rasins/walnuts/oats is one of contention. The real snobs will even argue the quality of the chocolate...

While I can't guarantee that I have found the best recipe for chocolate chip cookies, I can tell you that I haven't used any other recipe after finding this one. Thank you, New York Times!

The claim to the true secret to this recipe is the wait time. By requiring the dough to rest for at least 24 hours, the dry ingredients have a chance to fully absorb the moisture from the wet ingredients.

In a pinch, you could probably sub the cake and bread flour with all-purpose and not suffer too much damage. The differences between types of flour is gluten (protein) levels. Cake and bread flours sit on opposite ends of the gluten spectrum, while AP sits in the middle. Thus, you may not even notice a difference in replacing them all with AP, but I haven't tried it yet.

Recipe from the New York Times
Yield: 2-3 dozen cookies, depending on the size

Ingredients:

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, room temperature
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
16-20 oz of chocolate chips, disks or fèves
Sea salt

The arsenal (including homemade vanilla extract! The topic of a future post):

Cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes).

Sift the flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together.

Mix the eggs and vanilla extract into the sugar/butter mixture. After well-incorporated, add the dry ingredients and mix until just-combined.

Add the chocolate and mix well.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 24-72 hours.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. The cookies should be rolled into a size slightly larger than a golf ball, and spaced a few inches apart.