And Then There Was a Cookie...

The notion of a soft and chewy cookie has been foreign to me up until several years ago. When I was a child, I remember eating hard short-bread-like cookies that always smelled like vanillin (a fragrant crystalline concoction extracted from vanilla beans, quite popular in modern Belarusian cooking) and other simple flavors of the Soviet era (think lemon and orange). For some reason, that kind of cookie has been a red-headed stepchild of dessert in my book. It was something that never truly meant “festive” or “super yummy.”  It used to be a sweet standby just in case you ran out of chocolate or other confectionary delights. Not surprisingly, when I first came to the United States, I was intrigued by the proverbial chocolate chip cookie that seemed weird and under-baked, but nonetheless scrumptious. And it had chocolate chunks in it!

It took me years to accept the ultimate softness and chewiness of this simple dessert that was accidentally created by Ruth Wakefield in the 1930s. Apparently, Ms. Wakefield ran out of Baker’s chocolate for her cookies and had to use small bits of Nestle’s semi-sweet chocolate instead. She hoped the chocolate fragments would melt, but that never happened and so the most beloved American dessert was born. 

Having been trained on hard and crunchy cookies, I used to fail my attempts at the American classic.  My first “American” cookies were tough and over-baked. I just could not wrap my head around the need to let them be soft. And then, I found that one recipe that really made a mark in my cultural adjustment. The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook provides one of the best recipes that satisfies one’s desire for the home-made comfort bursting with chocolate and the aroma of real vanilla.

On one spring afternoon, my son and I ventured into the kitchen in search for just that—comfort, chocolate, butter, and a cold glass of milk. Cooking with a four-year-old poses several challenges that at one point culminate in a sweet mess of cookie dough on every piece of your kitchen equipment and your child licking the last bits of your still unbaked creations off the measuring spoons. That’s right, we made a mess, we tasted the cookie dough, we baked, and then we ate.

Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

Makes: about 10-12 large cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• ¾ cup light brown sugar
• ¼ granulated white sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• ½ tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup (8 oz) bag semisweet chocolate

To Make:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F. Adjust the oven rack to the middle position.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt, together n a large bowl and set aside.
3. Beat  the butter and sugars in a large bowl using an electric mixer on medium speed until combined, 1 to 2 minutes. Beat in the egg, the egg yolk, and vanilla extract until combined, about 30 seconds longer.
4. Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly mix in the flour mixture until combined, about thirty seconds. You may need to hand-mix the dough at this point. Add the chocolate chips and mix until incorporated.
5. Roll the dough into balls about an inch in diameter and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet, spacing them 2 ½ inches apart.
6. Bake until the edges are golden by the centers are still soft and puffy, about 17 to 20 minutes, rotating the baking sheet half way through baking.
7. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes.
8. Serve warm and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

*You may add any kind of chocolate chips and mix in nuts, dried fruit, and/or shredded coconut.