Bonus Recipe: Our Chocolate Chip Cookie Patrimony

Our National Heritage

There are several things about the USA that are misunderstood over here in the land of gelato, Renaissance art, and beautifully designed military uniforms. I understand that my nation’s hands aren’t clean in this respect: swampy lasagna, laughable misunderstandings of Palladian principles of architecture, and even worse, woeful misinterpretations of espresso. That said, I do feel I could be helpful to the Italians in the making of our national cookie. As a side note, I also feel that they need a little help with their interpretation of guacamole, a dish we of course appropriated from Mexico.

Sorry, Oreos

And no, it is not Oreos, although I will admit to having had an adolescent addiction to them. Who among you KD readers had a childhood blighted by not having the opportunity to follow the recipe on the back of the Nestle chocolate chip package? I know my childhood was made better by that and by making Rice Krispies Treats. Some of my best memories of being at peace with my older brother were when we made the latter together while our parents were at church. I no longer make the traditional chocolate chip cookie from the back of the package. Like so many other home bakers, I have followed my own path to create variations on Ruth Wakefield’s celebrated cookie. Her recipe is over 80 years old, and it’s a very adaptable cookie. I still wish I could recreate the variation produced by the YWCA on the corner of 17th and K Streets, but that recipe is lost to the ages. I have tried the one featured in the Washington Post (it was in the ballpark but somewhere in left field) and two others, but none of them is “it.” I have not experimented with the pan-banging method of Sarah Kieffer, but that’s on my to-do list the minute I get my own kitchen. I worry that my Italian neighbors, a short balcony away, will think that the American woman next door is target practicing.

Cracking the Myth

A little research shows that Ruth Wakefield, the patron saint of our national cookie, was far from being an amateur cook who created this cookie by mistake. She and her husband Kenneth owned a highly regarded restaurant in Whitman, Massachusetts, which they ran successfully from 1930 to 1967: The Toll House. Their restaurant’s menu, and in particular its desserts, were made even more famous by her cookbook, Tried and True Recipes, which was reprinted 39 times. Ruth herself had a degree in household arts, according to a biographer, and was a perfectionist cook. Carolyn Wyman, the author of The Great American Chocolate Chip Cookie Book, wrote that she created this recipe “by dint of training, talent, and hard work.” When Nestle discovered why their chocolate bar was suddenly being purchased in huge numbers, they negotiated a very cheap price, apparently a lifetime supply of chocolate, with Ruth Wakefield for the use of her recipe and created the easy-to-use “morsels” we know today.

Details Matter

Ingredients are important here. Use a good-quality unsalted butter; the cheaper brands have more water. I also prefer sea salt to kosher salt. Use large eggs, not extra-large. This cookie is best if you do not use chocolate chips, but rather finely chopped chocolate bars. I have used Lindt, Amedei, and Valrhona Guanaja, and I found that 70% cocoa content tastes best to me. I have used “cooking chocolate” bars and found the taste a bit chalky. But play around with different ones; you will taste the differences. Finally, light muscovado sugar is key here. I used to get mine from India Tree, but here it is Tate & Lyle. White granulated sugar that has the molasses added back into it won’t give the cookie batter the caramel kick that sets it off against the more intense chocolate. I don’t add nuts to these cookies; they just get in the way of their addictive quality. It is also important that the butter and sugars are beaten with either the paddle attachment in a mixer or at least a standard hand mixer (you can’t do it by hand) until the mixture is creamy and has lost most of its sandy texture. Refrigeration for several hours, or overnight, will result in a better cookie.

Disputing Karl Marx

Having tried several chocolate chip cookies from various Italian bakeries, I know they could use my help. This impression was made even stronger when I watched a video on my favorite Italian cooking platform, Giallo Zafferano, where they share this misbegotten recipe. My variation is based on an article in the New York Times Sunday Magazine over 20 years ago, and I can only hope it is in the 109 boxes waiting to arrive here. People here who say they don’t like sweets have changed their minds, at least for this cookie. Both grandsons grudgingly hand out small doses to only their closest friends. The Muslim owner of an alimentari that we frequent loves them too, but needed to be reassured that there was no pork in them. I know that I will continue to fiddle with the Toll House cookie, like so many bakers before me, not to find the ultimate one, but because Ruth Wakefield created such a wonderfully broad-minded cookie. It is as relaxed as American culture. It has no codification like tagliatelle. My son-in-law recently commented as he reached for yet another one, “Karl Marx was wrong. Religion is not the opium of the people; this cookie is.”

Recipe

Chocolate Chip Cookie Variation

My current, but not likely my last variation on this cookie that should have made the US famous

Print Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 cups (240gr) white all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 8 ounces (227gr) softened unsalted butter
• 1 1/4 cups (260gr) light muscovado sugar
• 1/4 cup(50gr) white granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs – about 58gr in the shell
• 2 teaspoons vanilla paste or high quality vanilla essence or extract
• 2 cups (350gr) medium p- to fine-chopped excellent quality 70% cocoa chocolate bars
• 1/8 to 1/4 cup (12-24gr) almond flour – optional and can be replaced by an additional 1/4 cup of flour

Instructions

1. There is no need to turn on the oven until you decide to bake the cookies.nAt that time preheat the oven to 325F or 160C, line your baking sheets with Silpats or baking parchment.nPut the butter in the mixer bowl and add both the sugars and with the paddle or whisk on medium speed beat the mixture until it is light, creamy and lost most of its sandy texture.nMeasure the flour, salt, baking soda and whisk together in another bowl.nAdd the eggs, one, at a time to the butter-sugar mixture and beat until thoroughly incorporated.nAdd the vanilla and then the flour and either fold with paddle attachment or by hand with a spatula.nFold in the chopped chocolate.and place this dough in container that can be covered and refrigerate for at least six hours, or best overnight.nWhen ready to bake, preheat your oven and scoop small balls of dough and place them on your baking sheets.nTamp the balls with the back of a spoon or your palm before baking.nBake for about 10 minutes and then check – ovens vary in baking times – they should lose their shine and be light to medium light brown.nAllow to cool on the sheet before removing them to a cooling rack.nStore in a covered container at room temperature.

Notes

• You can add chopped nuts to this recipe and it will not change the baking time.nThe almond flour makes these cookies lacier, but you can replace it with additional flour and it will give you a slightly plumper cookie.

Details

Author: Nancy Purves Pollard

Adapted from: New York Times

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