Process > Perfection
Chocolate Chip Cookies x4 | "Working From Home"
Writing | In Progress | Kitchen Kernels
My recipe development class with Jeffrey Larsen, James Beard-award winning author of Gluten-Free Baking at Home, just wrapped up last week. I ended up trialing four different adaptations of my chocolate chip cookie recipe - so much so that it’s a completely different but still satisfying cookie! I wrote more about the overall recipe development process (and more pics) in my blog.
Below is my favorite base recipe for chocolate chip cookies, which is the basis for the different iterations in the photo above. (I won’t feed you words like best, easiest, ultimate, etc. since it’s entirely subjective and are included just to boost SEO.) I like the lift from the baking powder and the browning and spreading from the baking soda. In the (parentheses) I provide approximate volume measurements.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
113g (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
113g (1/2 cup) brown sugar
113g (1/2 cup) granulated white sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
227g (1 3/4 cup) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
135g (1 cup) chocolate chips
Measure sugars and butter directly into stand mixer bowl. Combine egg and vanilla in small bowl. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in separate bowl. Measure chocolate in small container.
Cream butter and sugars together in a stand mixer for 5-7 minutes at speed 3. The idea is to really incorporate the fat and sugar together, into a nearly homogenous texture. Scrape down bowl. Add egg and vanilla, mix 3-5 minutes at speed 3, until mixture roughly resembles cottage cheese. Scrape again. Add dry ingredients in three additions at speed 1 or the lowest setting, until just incorporated. Scrape again. Fold in chocolate chips in two parts, at speed 1. Gather dough into a brick and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill at the minimum 1 hour, preferably overnight. Chilling relaxes the gluten developed by the mixing process and also hydrates the dough.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Scoop dough into walnut sized balls and space out on greased, unlined baking sheets. On a standard half sheet, this is likely up to 8 cookies. Bake until edges begin to caramelize but the center is still a little raw, 10-12 minutes depending on your oven. What you want is golden brown but not fully crisp cookie bottoms. Let cookies cool on sheets for 2 minutes, before transferring to cooling rack to set.
Kitty Kernels
Is anyone else out there skeptical about this whole “working from home” thing? It’s so ingrained in our present that WFH has become this accepted acronym, a sign of our times.
What would it look like if we shifted the script and acknowledged what’s actually happening? I kid you not, Oren will hijack my chair or walk in front of my computer, as if to remind me these are really unprecedented times (and, of course, to pay more attention to him). Nezu has also begun occupying the space where my feet would go. The point is, the fur friends often know better than we do.
How I’m Surviving All the Current Events
Participating
Flip the West: I’m sending out handmade, handwritten reminder postcards to voters in swing states! You can sign up through tonight. I also sent in a volunteer request for Black Voters Matter Fund but have not heard anything back yet. In any case, there are a ton of organizations you can commit to letter writing, text banking, or phone banking with - just in case you feel discouraged for too many reasons I won’t even list.
Reading
Janelle Monáe: ‘What is a revolution without a song?’: I have been following her music for a decade, and I got to see her at the Stern Grove Festival in 2016, for free! I wouldn’t be lying to you that the best part is when she talks about being more comfortable curled up with a book than socialising at a party.
Listening
Leap Year hosted by Jesse Kadjo: I just started listening to this podcast on career change by a fellow Food Media Lab alum. Fresh out of Oakland! Not to mention she intros the podcast with her own violin playing.