Chocolate Chip Cookies

A classic chocolate chip cookie recipe using both white and brown sugar and a LOT of butter. These cookies can be baked or smoked!

Originally Posted: Aug. 30, 2022

Total Time: 40 minutes (add 10 per extra batch)

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Intro

This cookie recipe has been with me for almost three decades now. When I was about 6, I picked up a cookbook at a Scholastic book fair: Kids Cooking: A Very Slightly Messy Manual. The book was originally published in 1987 and based on a quick Amazon search it may be out of print. However, the most recent edition I could find was from 2010, and it looks like used copies aren’t too hard to find.

What I love about this cookie recipe is how soft and chewy they turn out. Using butter—as opposed to margarine—and equal parts white and brown sugar really add to the richness of this cookie. I’ve also played around with using different types of flour, and while a simple white flour is still my favorite middle-ground, I’ve gotten some interesting changes in texture and chew by substituting or mixing whole wheat bread flour or soft winter wheat flour.

Ingredients

Note: The amounts here come straight from the cookbook and are for a single batch. I double the amounts more often than not.

• 1-1/8 cups Flour (about 144g)
  • Experimenting with different flours or blends is pretty fun with these cookies. I’ve used white flour, whole wheat flour, and white winter wheat flour (like for flaky Southern biscuits). I’m curious about making a gluten free version using cassava or something.
• 1 Egg
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract (5mL)
• ½ cup Brown Sugar (110g)
• ½ cup White Sugar (100g)
• ½ cup Butter (113.4g)
  • My dirty secret as a baker is that I almost always use salted butter, even when a recipe specifies unsalted. Reason 1: it’s what I keep around for toast and stuff, and I don’t feel like keeping around a second butter just for baking. Reason 2: I think the extra salt adds to the richness of baked goods, a la Salt Fat Acid Heat or the Flavor Bible.
• ½ bag (12oz.) Chocolate Chips (340g)
• ¼ tsp Salt (1.5g)
• ½ tsp Baking Soda (3g)
• The cookbook also suggests an optional ½ cup (50g) Walnuts, but I rarely add them.

Equipment

• Large mixing bowl
• Small pot
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Cookie sheet/Baking pan
• A fork or whisk
• Small bowl
• Oven or Smoker

Written Instructions

Total Time: 40 minutes (add 10 per extra batch)

Start by melting the butter in the small pot. Once melted, add both sugars and stir well to combine. I usually keep stirring until there isn’t much melted butter floating around on top of the sugar anymore. Allow this mixture to cool.

Mix together your dry ingredients—flour, salt, and baking soda—in the mixing bowl.

In a small bowl, beat the egg with a fork or whisk, then add the vanilla extract. Add the eggs and vanilla to the cooled sugar-and-butter mixture and stir well to combine. This can take a few minutes. Make sure the butter mixture isn’t too hot, or your eggs might curdle (this is why we let it cool in the first place, but I have made this mistake when I was younger).

Add the butter-sugar-egg mixture to the dry ingredients and stir well to incorporate everything. One piece of advice I’d like to offer here that the original recipe doesn’t mention is to allow this mixture to cool for a few minutes in the fridge before adding the chocolate. This keeps the chocolate chips from melting.

Once the mixture is cooled, add ½ a bag of chocolate chips. Once they’re mixed in, return the dough to the fridge to chill while you preheat your oven (or smoker) to 375°F (190°C). Take dough out of the fridge and start placing walnut-sized balls of dough on your cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, then transfer finished cookies to a cooling rack. Enjoy with a glass of milk.

Baking vs Smoking

Here’s where some fun experiments come in. Now, I’ve just baked these cookies in the oven for most of my life. However, when I started getting into smoking, I began researching which dessert foods could benefit from a little smoke flavor. Turns out chocolate chip cookies are on that list.

The last time my girlfriend was in town for a visit, we decided to try smoking this cookie recipe for a change. And they turned out amazing. The smokey flavor was most prevalent when the cookies were fresh out of the smoker, but it faded after about a day. The biggest change I noticed, though, was the texture of the outside of the cookie. I think that the dry air of the smoker caused the outside of the cookie to become very crispy while the inside stayed moist and chewy.

I also tried using some cold-smoked chocolate chips I had made on a whim a while back, but not much smoky flavor came from them. I think I just need more practice with those, or perhaps improve my cold-smoking method.

All-in-all, I’m definitely going to smoke cookies again.