Positively-the-Absolutely-Best-
Chocolate-Chip Cookies
Maida Heatter's Brand-New
Book of Great Cookies
“This
recipe is in my chocolate book. Recently, a poll taken among food
editors
at
newspapers and magazines found that chocolate chip cookies
were the
number-one favorite of all homemade cookies in America. (That’s
not news.)
Well, this recipe is the mother of all chocolate chip recipes.
The following is exactly like the original Toll House recipe. But now, when
I
make them, I make a few changes. I use 2 teaspoons of vanilla instead of
1.
And
I use 16 ounces of chocolate instead of 12. Also, instead of using
mor-
sels,
I use semisweet or bittersweet chocolate bars, cut into pieces (see
Note).
DO NOT sift the flour before measuring it! Just stir it a bit to aerate it.”
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract [2 teaspoons]
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 eggs graded “large”
2 1/4 cups unsifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon hot water
8 ounces (2 generous cups) walnuts,
broken into medium-sized pieces
12 ounces (2 cups) semisweet chocolate
morsels [16 ounces semisweet
or
bittersweet chocolate, broken into pieces]
Adjust two
racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat oven to 375
degrees F. Line cookie sheets with baking parchment or with aluminum
foil, shiny side up. In the large bowl of an electric mixer beat the
butter
until soft. Add the salt, vanilla, and both sugars and beat to mix. Add
the
eggs and beat to mix. On low speed add about half the flour and,
scraping
the bowl with a rubber spatula, beat until incorporated.
In a small cup stir the baking soda into the hot water, then mix into
the
dough. Add the remaining flour and beat only until incorporated.
Remove the bowl from the mixer. Stir in the walnuts and the chocolate.
Spread out a large piece of aluminum foil next to the sink. Use a
rounded tablespoonful of the dough for each cookie and place the mounds
any
which way on the foil. Then wet your hands with cold water, shake off
excess, but do not dry your hands. Pick up a mound of dough and roll it
between your wet hands into a ball, then press it between your hands to
flatten it to about a 1/2-inch thickness.
Place the cookies on the lined sheets about 2 inches apart.
Bake two sheets at a time, reversing the sheets top to bottom and front
to back as necessary to ensure even browning. Bake for about 12 minutes,
until the cookies are browned all over. (If you bake one sheet alone,
bake
it on the upper rack.) The cookies must be crisp; do not underbake.
Let the cookies stand for a few seconds, then transfer with a metal
spatula
to racks to cool. Store in an airtight container.
Note: If you
use 16 ounces of chocolate (see introduction to recipe) you will
think it is
too much to be incorporated into the dough. Just be patient. It's
not too
much.
P.S. I was told that this is a big secret. Mrs. Fields refrigerates
her
chocolate
chip cookie dough before shaping and baking. (Actually,
Ruth Wakefield,
who
created this recipe at Toll House, did also.)
The dough should be cold
when the cookies go
into the oven. I tried
it. It's great. The cookies have a
much nicer
and more even golden
brown color.
