Recipe: Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies (from The Perfect Recipe by Pam Anderson)

Hi Cynthia, I hope this is the recipe!

PERFECT CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Puffy, chewy, crispy, chocolaty
From: USA Weekend Magazine
Source: Pam Anderson - author of How to Cook Without a Book (Broadway) and The Perfect Recipe (Houghton Mifflin).

To make these impossibly delicious treats, mix the ingredients carefully, freeze the dough and vary the oven temperatures.

Of all the recipes I've tried to perfect, the one I worried about most was chocolate chip cookies. I already had watched one very calm, rational woman turn as obsessive as a gambler on a losing streak in her quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookie. Did I really have any business tampering with a time-tested recipe? What was I looking for, anyway? For starters, a big, puffy cookie with a wrinkled, rugged surface. A cookie as chewy on the inside and crisp around the edges as the fresh-baked Toll House kind. But one that would stay pliable -- unlike a Toll House cookie, where the chew quickly turned crisp.

Melt the butter, then add the sugar

How the fat and sugar are mixed makes a big difference when baking cookies. So, using the classic Nestle Toll House cookie formula, I made three batches: First, I creamed the butter and sugar together with a hand mixer before adding the other ingredients. For the second batch, I melted the butter, then stirred in the sugar. Finally, following a tip I got off the Internet, I heated the butter and sugar together. Although none of the cookies was ideal, adding melted butter to sugar was the simplest of the methods (no mixer required, no cooling-off period necessary) and produced cookies with the best chew.

Having made these cookies with various quantities and brands of chocolate, I actually prefer chopped chocolate bars to chips because they naturally break unevenly into small shards as well as big chunks. I also like toasted nuts, but not everybody does. They bring balance to a cookie that is otherwise very sweet. This dough base works for almost any nut, chip or candy.

Frozen dough in a hot oven

Mixing the dough may have been simple, but forming and baking the cookies became a little trickier. To achieve a beautiful, puffed cookie, oven and dough temperatures are as key as the formula itself, I found. You can make the perfect dough, but if it bakes too slowly or too quickly, you can end up with flat, burned or hard cookies. I used melted butter in the dough, so I refrigerated the dough to firm it up a bit before forming it into rounds and baking the rounds in a 375-degree oven. At that point, the cookies still were spreading more than I wanted, and the bottoms of the cookies were darker than ideal. When I reduced the oven temperature, however, the cookies spread even more. Two things I did helped: Forming the dough into balls and freezing them solid before baking kept them from spreading. To portion the dough, I used a small spring-action ice cream scoop.

After much temperature and time testing, I finally determined the cookies were at their best when baked at a relatively high 400 degrees until set, 8 to 10 minutes, then finished at 350 degrees for another 10 minutes. The higher temperature caused the starch to set before the fat melted, resulting in a cookie that puffed without spreading. The lower temperature allowed the cookies to crisp up and turn golden-brown without the threat of burning. After baking several batches where the cookies on the bottom rack spread more than those on the top, I finally realized they had to be baked one sheet at a time (or in two ovens).

This chocolate chip cookie recipe may not be for everyone. Making the dough couldn't be simpler, but the baking requires a little thought and care. For me, the extra steps are well worth a cookie that delivers the impossible: puff, crisp and chew all in one bite.

2 1/4 cups bleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 tsp. salt
14 Tbsp butter (2 sticks minus 2 Tbs.), cut into chunks
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp flavorless oil, such as vegetable or canola
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips or 8 ounces good-quality bittersweet or semisweet chocolate cut into 1/4-inch chunks, about 1 1/2 cup
OR
1 cup each chocolate chunks or chips and 1 cup toasted nuts (pecans, walnuts, unsalted peanuts or macadamias)

Hot tip: If you have a 3/4-cup measuring cup, it's the only one you'll need. The sugars measure 3/4 cup each, the chip quantity is 1 1/2 cups (3/4 cup times 2), and the flour is 2 1/4 cups (3/4 cup times 3).

Mix flour, baking powder and baking soda in a medium bowl; set aside.

Mix eggs, vanilla and salt in a small bowl; set aside. Microwave butter on high power until just melted but not hot, 30 to 45 seconds; set aside. Mix brown and granulated sugars in a large bowl. Add butter and oil; stir until smooth. Add egg mixture and stir until smooth and creamy. Add dry ingredients and stir until smooth. Stir in chocolate and optional nuts. Using a 1 1/2-ounce (3 Tbs.) ice cream scoop, spoon 16 dough balls onto a pan that will fit in your freezer. (Don't worry if the dough balls are crowded. They pull apart when frozen.) Freeze until dough is hard, about 30 minutes. (Once dough balls are frozen, they can be stored in freezer bags up to 3 months and baked as desired.)

Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to upper middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Working in half batches, place 8 frozen dough balls onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake until set, but not brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees. Continue to bake until cookies are golden-brown around the edges and lightly brown on the top, about 10 minutes longer. Let cookies cool on cookie sheet.

Repeat, preheating oven to 400 degrees again before baking second batch.

Cookies can be stored in an airtight container up to 5 days.

Servings: 16 large cookies.
Per cookie: 328 calories, 43g carbohydrates, 3g protein, 17g fat (9g saturated), 1g fiber, 295mg sodium.