It’s no secret – if it’s in the Brown Food Group, I love it. I believe my BFF made up that food classification in honor of yours truly. And what is in said Brown Food Group you may ask?
Yup – anything “bready” and baked and bad for you in excessive quantities. I’ve been known to order French Toast and biscuits at Cracker Barrel and could go days without consuming a fruit or a veggie. Shhhhh! Don’t tell my mom…
Although it seems like there’s a day for everything – I think National Cookie Day (December 4th) is especially worth noting – even if I’ve almost missed it… In honor of such a revered day, I wish to share with you my all time favorite recipe for Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies.
The recipe is from Food Network chef, Alton Brown. For those of you non-Food Network peeps, he hosts a really cool show called Good Eats. During the show, he basically takes you through the science behind cooking something. He devoted an entire show to baking the perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie. Now we know that some people like their Chocolate Chip Cookies chewy. (That would be me.) Some folks like theirs crispy and thin. Yet others like them puffy. During this episode, he went through the science behind what makes the cookie chewy, or thin or puffy. For instance, using bread flour instead of all-purpose flour makes a chewier consistency. Or to get a puffier cookie – use cake flour. Neat huh?
(Photo of my recipe binder because I don’t want to get sued for copyright infringement – please visit The Food Network for a more viewable/printable version)
In my attempt to improve upon Alton’s already excellent recipe, I use regular salt, substitute 3/4 cup of milk chocolate chips, 3/4 cup of semisweet chocolate chips and 3/4 cup of dark chocolate chips (preferably Ghirardelli) for his two cups of semisweet ones, and bake them up in a 350 degree oven. I bake them for only ten minutes. Undercooking them slightly makes them perfect. Yummmmm!!!
Sadly, I do not have a photo of the cookies to share… but I’ll be sure to take some photos next time I whip up a batch.
Do you have a favorite cookie recipe you’d like to share? Have you found the perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie? Do share. And if you’re more interested in the alternative to chewy… here are the links to Alton Brown’s Puffy and Thin cookies.
Enjoy!!!
