Saturday, March 23, 2002


made another batch of my famed chocolate chip cookies today. . .

with 2 crucial changes. what many people don't realize is how small ingredient changes can drastically alter the product. for example, sugar. a cookie dough made with all white table sugar will harden and turn crunchy as the sugar crystallizes out of the oven. one made with dark brown sugar will be a little moister and can soften a bit after cooling. one made with honey will become progressively softer as it sits; the honey will actually cause the cookies to absorb moisture from the air!

flour has another profound effect. my basic recipe calls for a pastry blend flour, with about 10% protein -- more than cake flour, less than most all-purpose. this would give you a softer, puffier, somewhat paler cookie.

today i used a high-protein flour, one clocking in at 14%. this made for a flatter, chewier, slightly darker cookie. i also used an extra dark muscovado sugar, so the cookies would be moist and yet stay a little soft. i did this because mr. right adores a large, flat cookie, with a nice brown color, a crisp edge and top crust but with a softer, chewier center.

you may notice that the basic recipe calls for 1 teaspoon baking soda for 3 cups flour. since 1/4 teaspoon can lift 1 cup flour, you might ask what the extra baking soda is for. it's for color -- a little extra baking soda also gives a browner cookie.

just by making these kinds of small alterations you can get amazingly different results from the same recipe. for example, i use plugra in my recipe, which has a so-called sharp melting point. that means at a certain temperature the fat turns instantly liquid.

what if i were to use butter-flavored shortening, which doesn't melt sharp? i would have a higher, puffier cookie. since the fat melts more slowly, the cookie has time to puff up and set before the fat melts. whereas with butter, the fat melts boom!, and the cookie dough spreads quickly before it can set.

everyone interested in this really should rush out and get shirley corriher's excellent book cookwise. she gives 1 basic recipe and then 3 simple alterations you can make that result in surprising differences. you might not know they can from the same exact recipe!

that aside, if you make these cookies yourself, be sure not to skimp on the quality of the chocolate chips. callebaut is the minimum here; but for reasons i've over-discussed, it might be wise to search for an alternative guittard or schokinag chip. or even get out your chocolate chipper and attack a block of valrhona couverature.

posted by fortune | 5:38 PM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments