Part of what I wanted to do when I started this whole thing was to create my own chocolate chip cookie recipe. Something that I thought fit my tastes. I want to use it as a launching off point to start to figure out what’s next. I have a lot of self doubt even with the things that I know I’m good at. That’s something I’m trying to work on with this. If you’ve read the blog post then you know some of the background already. My girlfriend and I were recently invited to the soft opening of a restaurant in DC. She decided that I should bake them cookies. Immediately I was anxious. Can I really make cookies that a chef will like? It’s time to start to rid myself of the lack of self esteem and self confidence. I know I can learn how to do things that I put my mind to. I wanted to make my own cookies anyway so I pushed up my “time frame” and dove in.

I don’t yet know much about how baking really works. It’s still some magic to me. Dark magic at that. The kind that started with the Egyptians and moved through the pagans and the witches. I recalled reading a page in the past where someone went and really laid out all of the options in a chocolate chip cookie and how that impacted everything. I found it here. All of the credit to my swift “education” comes from J. Kenji López-Alt. You did a hell of a job. Time to take some of my ideas and see where they lead me. Will I like them? Will anyone else like them? Will a Micheline Star chef and his co-owner wife, and their business partner like that. That’s what I’m aiming to find out.

For me I wanted to mix some chocolates and see what I could do to make them flavorful and a bit different. I made two separate batches to try some different things. I’ve ended up with some different textures and flavors that seem to have split people in which one they liked more. I’ll include both here. I removed the granulated sugar and used all brown sugar. I cut the number of chips in half and chopped up some 70% dark chocolate to fill in. To bring it all together from there I added some espresso to pull all of the chocolate flavor out. I had to play with this amount of brown sugar for my own taste between batch 1 and 2. Please feel free to try them out and let me know your thoughts. I’m swear I’m healthy enough to handle it and if not well then there’s always therapy. I’m waiting for her input too.

The difference I see in the two batches are texture and flavor. The first batch (less brown sugar, two types of brown sugar, and less espresso) are a bit more cakey and to me a touch less flavorful. My girlfriend said she’d dream about them and then go downstairs in the middle of the night and eat them. The second batch to me is a bit more flavorful with the additional brown sugar and espresso. The additional brown sugar seems to have made them a bit more chewy. Not sure why. I’m hoping the books I ordered will help explain that. If you know please let me know. If you finely chop the dark chocolate it’ll give the cookies a more speckled look. You won’t have a lot of sizeable dark chocolate chunks though but that’s up to your own tastes.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 Cups of AP Flour

• 1 teaspoon of baking soda

• 1 teaspoon of salt

• 1 Cup (2 sticks) of butter at roomish temperature

  • (batch 1 - salted / batch 2 - unsalted)

• 1 1/2 Cups of packed brown sugar plus 2 Tablespoons (if doing 3 T espresso)

  • (batch 1 - half light and half dark / batch 2 - all dark brown sugar)

• 1 teaspoon of vanilla

• 2 large eggs

• 1 Cup large semi sweet chocolate chip cookies (Ghirardelli “Grand Chips”)

• 2 - 3.2 oz 70% dark chocolate of your choice

• 3 T Espresso (for batch 1 use 2 T)* I feel it’s a bit less flavorful with only 2 T.

Instructions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. Take the dark chocolate bars and chop them.

3. In the bowl of your stand mixer cream the butter and brown sugar(s) until light and fluffy. This should be 2 - 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice during this part.

4. Add the espresso and vanilla and mix on medium to incorporate.

5. Add the eggs one at a time and mix until incorporated.

6. In a separate bowl combine the flour, salt and baking soda.

7. Add the dry ingredients to the wet in two parts. Make sure you stop and scrape the bowl

8. Once the dough has formed add the chocolate chips and chopped chocolate and mix slowly until evenly distributed.

9. Drop the cookies by 1 1/2 Tablespoon onto a baking sheet.

10. Bake each batch on the middle rack for 9 minutes.

11. Remove from the oven and let the cookies sit on the pan for 2-3 more minutes.

12. Move them to a cooling rack and let them cool completely

13. If you’re me you won’t wait and you’ll burn your mouth eating one or two of them. It’s totally worth it I promise.

14. Store in an air-tight container. It makes about 3 dozen.

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