an amateur's best chocolate chip cookies
Despite my still-not-yet-started career in health, disease management, and prevention, I love chocolates, sweets, and junk food of all kinds. I used to drink cream and sugar with a little bit of coffee in college. I love Shake shack, chik-fil-a, and McNuggets. All of that to say that I love junk food and have a hard time giving it up. So I try to limit junk to the 1-2 days tops during my week.
When asked, I will get really hard on my patients about their diet and health. Since prevention is the best medicine with the least side effects, I prefer to really challenge people to make changes that benefit them over the long term. I still make room for indulgences though.
And I love chocolate chip cookies most of all and have a very hard time turning them down. Levain Bakery makes New York City’s most famous 6 ounce chocolate chip walnut cookies. Absolute chonkers. Conveniently, they recently opened a shop in Boston. So when my parents came to visit, I obviously wanted to go. Being traditional Indians, they thought their son was crazy to go out of the way for “a cookie”.
...until they saw the line outside the bakery which stretched for a country mile.
I’ve never had the cookie but as an amateur culinary experimenter I made something similar and it’s pretty good if I do say so myself. And I’m sure the professional version is a magnitude better. Inspiration from youtubers, Josh Weissman and Andrew Rea, helped me track down a recipe that theoretically comes close to the famous bakery.
What came out of my oven was a brown butter cakey, crunchy, soft, chocolatey, bit of heaven. Even better with tea or coffee. I’ve made some other versions of chocolate chip cookies before, this is by the best result of my experimentation. The addition of walnuts to the recipe (something that has been growing on me) really added some extra crunchiness without overpowering the chocolate. The recipe doesn’t take long to whip up if you’re feeling brave.
Eventually, I’ll have to see how my cookie stands up to the professionals. For now, this will have to satisfy by cravings, cause I’m not gonna wait in that line. I’m too much like my dad. LOL.
Ingredients:
4oz (113g) unsalted American butter (browned)
4oz (113g) light brown sugar
3.5oz (100g) white sugar
0.5 oz (15g) vanilla extract
2 teaspoon (8g) kosher salt
1.75 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 large eggs
10 oz (283g) all-purpose flour
15 oz (425g) chocolate chips (50% milk chocolate, 50% semi-sweet)
± 8.5 oz (240g) raw walnut pieces
± 2-3 dashes of cinnamon
± nutmeg
Directions:
combine butter, light brown sugar, white sugar, vanilla extract, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and nutmeg in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment
mix on low to moisten, increased speed to medium, and beat until soft, fluffy, and pale, about 8 minutes; halfway through, pause to scrape bowl and beater with a flexible spatula. With the mixer running, add eggs one at a time, letting each incorporate fully before adding the next. Reduce speed to low, then add the flour all at once. When flour is incorporated, add chocolate chips and nuts and keep mixing until dough is homogenous.
divide the dough into 8 equal portions (170g each), round each into a smooth ball. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 12 hours before baking.
Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat to 350F (180C). Line aluminum half-sheet pan with parchment paper. When the oven comes to temperature, arrange up to 4 portions of cold dough on the prepared pan, leaving ample space between them to account for spread. If you like, sprinkle with additional salt to taste.
bake until cookies are puffed and lightly brown, about 22 (~25) minutes or to an internal temp of 175-185F (79-85C). The ideal temperature will vary from person to person.
Let me know what you think when you try it!