One of my best friends makes the most scrumptious chocolate chip cookies around. They aren’t a secret recipe or anything, she uses “Tates” recipe, but she has absolutely mastered this cookie and always has them available when I most need a cookie (or three) and a hot tea.
Since I currently don’t have access to her cookie batches, I decided to try it out here for myself. I eagerly went to the grocery store to purchase the ingredients – French butter, eggs so fresh they sometimes still have a feather on the shell (I’m not kidding about this) and French pastry flour. Imagine my disappointment when there were no chocolate chips to be had, but after a split second I realized the alternative was even better … what could be more perfect than cutting down a slab of real belgian chocolate laced with hazlenuts to make chocolate chunk cookies? Oh yeah.
Belgian chocolate chunks
I have very few baking tools here, so I was glad the recipe called for mixing with a large wooden spoon. I don’t even have a wooden spoon, so I used a plain ol’ regular one!
I must admit, it was splendid seeing my cookie dough spread out into thin, little rounds, soft on the inside and perfectly crispy around the edges.
No parchment paper, so tin foil does the trick!
The consistency was dense, almost like a butter cookie and the Belgian chocolate pushed it over the edge! I think next time I’ll try it with a slab of dark chocolate with almonds and see how that goes …
If the next batch is anything like the first, I’m sure they’ll be delicious, just not as good as the ones I get at midnight, with tea, spending time with my best gal pal.
I love how round they are
Tates Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe – with my modifications in brackets
Preheat the oven to 350º.
- 2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour (I used about 1 and 1/2 to 1 and 3/4)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt (I would use 3/4 tsp because I found 1 teaspoon a little salty using salted butter)
- 1 cup (2 sticks) lightly salted butter, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar (I used about 1/2 c)
- 3/4 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed (I used about 1/2 c)
- 1 teaspoon water
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (or any other chocolate broken up into small bits)
Whisk the flour, soda and salt together in a bowl. In another large bowl, mix the butter with a wooden spoon to lighten it a bit and then mix in the sugars. Add the water, vanilla and eggs to the butter mixture. Stir in the flour mixture until just combined and then fold in the chocolate chips/chunks. Use nonstick or greased cookie sheets. Drop a small round of the dough about 2″ apart. Bake for about 10 minutes, rotating the sheets after five minutes.
Cool cookies on a wire rack (if you can wait) … Enjoy!
sucrésalédeluxe 