National Chocolate Chip cookie day!

Yesterday was National Chocolate Chip cookie day, well do I never need an excuse to make a batch of chocolate chip cookies, and if I did, this is it!
As I started the batch of cookies, I remembered a client who desperately asked why her cookies didn't work in Colorado, but always worked in California where she had lived her whole life. Well is the altitude! I said as we went onto how she could fix her problem.

Many think that pastry chefs have better recipes, I am sorry to burst anybodies bubble, we don't! We do however, have tips that many mistakes have taught us. Here are my non-failure tips to making this cookies at higher altitude:

1- Lets begin with this statement, I, personally, use the Toll House cookie recipe, keeping in mind that it must be adjusted for high altitude. No margarine here, full on butter in these cookies, if you are going to have a sweet little morsel why fill it with transfats?
The recipe call for 2 1/4 cups of flour which i change to 2 1/2, because baking in high altitude requires recipes to have more flour, less leavening agent and lower sugar. Having said that, the baking soda takes a small 1/8 tsp hit from the original 1 tsp, and the sugar lowers just a  tbsp each, brown and white.



2- All ingredients MUST be at room temperature. If some of your ingredients are colder than others, ex. eggs, butter, they wont mix well and an homogenous batter is key to avoid the occasional spreader, you know that one (or 5) cookies that end up with a "leak" or long tail.

3- Mix the ingredients well, this brings us back to the above problem. I once did such a bad mixing job and ended up with a "sheet pan" size cookie... it was good chopped and over ice cream though!

4- Let the dough rest. What? I know, how can I ask such a thing? you want cookies and you want them now! Then, next time start 2 hours before your "now" time of delivery and you are set.
Why bother with resting? Simple, since we are using full on butter, which has a higher water content than margarine or crisco, and also a lower melting point, we need to let it chill. This also allows the flour to absorb some of the extra water, thus giving us a more "stable" dough. A quick 30 minutes in the fridge might do the trick. You don't need to let it rest if you just want to eat it raw, and no I am not recommending you do that.

5- Use a measuring scoop. Different size cookie balls bake at different times and since most ovens are not well calibrated, then we end up with half baked cookies and half burnt ones.

6- Going back to the oven, raise the temperature. The recipe advises 350F, great for lower altitudes where there is more humidity and the water boils at a higher temperature. Here, we have to buy time. By raising the temperature we are allowing the dough to set in place at the same time the water is evaporating and therefore getting those beautifully round, perfectly baked chocolatey goodness. I do 355F if using a convection bake oven or 365F if the oven doesn't have the convection feature.

7- Turn the cookie sheets around a couple times through the baking process. Again, since most ovens are not well calibrated, they all have hot spots which is why it is always recommended to rotate your baked goods. I rotate them every 5 minutes.

Now it is your turn to make some delicious chocolate chip cookies, here is the recipe:

8 oz of butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup of sugar (minus 1 tbsp)
3/4 cup of brown sugar (minus 1 tbsp)
2 eggs at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda (minus 1/8 tsp)
1 tsp salt
3 cups of chocolate chips (or 2 cups chocolate chips and 1 cup of nuts)

Sift the flour, baking soda and salt, set aside
In the bowl of a mixer with the paddle attachment, beat at medium speed the butter and the sugar making sure to scrape out the bottom of the bowl, about 2 minutes.
Add the eggs one at the time scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl to distribute the ingredients, mix in the vanilla.
With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture in a steady stream. Add the chocolate chips and mix until well blended.
Let the dough rest covered in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 355F (convection bake) or 365F for bake (no convection)
Scoop 8 to 12 cookies (based on the size scoop you use) onto a half sheet pan and bake for 12-15 minutes or until the tops look golden and the sides are slightly browned, turning the sheets around every 5 minutes

Hope you get to make these cookies soon and enjoy. If you have any questions, feel free to drop on a comment.

By Paula Thomas