I found this recipe over at Food52 a few weeks back and liked the sound of it so much that I decided to give them a try. I've never had a single "go-to" recipe for Toll House cookies over the years, preferring instead to tinker and experiment with various alternative recipes, but as I write this post I'm recognizing that those days may just be over.
This recipe, courtesy of Phyllis Grant of the blog dash and bella could well produce the perfect chocolate chip cookie (for me, anyway). It's combination of regular semi-sweet chips along with large bittersweet ones (I used bittersweet wafers such as these from King Arthur), and the healthy dose of finely ground walnuts make for cookies with a terrific earthy-sweet balance. As much as I love walnuts in my Toll House cookies my kids have always complained about them, primarily for textural reasons. By quickly blitzing the nuts in my processor to finely chop them I was able to get their flavor in the cookies which I so love without having to incite the ire of the kids…..so happy!
The edges of these cookies crisp up nicely, but due to their high chocolate content the centers stay all gooey and soft, again a great balance. Because they emerge from the oven so soft in the center, you will want to let them cool a bit before trying to transfer them from the baking sheet to a cooling rack. They are quite fragile hot from the oven, give them about 10 minutes to firm up a bit before making the transfer to a rack to cool completely.
Prepare to be blown away!
Cheers – Steve
Ingredients
- 2 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/2 cups regular semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup large bitter-sweet chips (or wafers)
- 1 1/2 cups walnuts, finely chopped
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup light or dark brown sugar, tightly packed
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Heat oven to 375 ℉.
- Sift flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- Mix together chocolate chips and chopped nuts, set aside.
- All medium speed unless otherwise noted: In a stand mixer, with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars until well mixed and light. Scrape down the sides. Add one egg. Mix for 5 seconds. Scrape down the sides. Add second egg. Mix for 5 seconds. Scrape down the sides. Add vanilla. Mix for 5 seconds. Scrape down the sides.
- You're going to add the sifted flour in 4 batches, stopping before adding the final batch. For the first 3 batches, mix at low speed just to combine, scraping down the sides between each addition. When you get to the final batch of flour, add the chocolate and nut mixture. The discs will get a bit crushed...that's ok. Mix until there's barely a trace of flour visible. Don't over-mix. Sometimes, it's better to be safe and do the final mixing by hand.
- Set up a sheet pan with a silpat or parchment paper. Bake 1 tray at a time or they will cook at different rates. make them spherical, not flat. The cookie size is up to you. I find that the bigger they are, the better the ratio between the gooey interior and the crisp exterior. 2 ounces is about right for that.
- Leave a few inches between each raw cookie. Place the sheet pan in the oven. They cook very fast at this temperature. They're done when they're brown and crispy at the outer border and almost raw in the very middle 8-10 minutes (I cooked mine a little longer 11-12 minutes and they were still plenty gooey in the middle). Remove the sheet pan, allow to cool for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.