Hunky and Tender Chocolate Chip Cookies

Plus: New Jersey's best crumb cake and birthday beauty secrets

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It was my birthday this past Monday. My treat was bakery cake, by which I mean specifically New Jersey bakery cake. The kind with very large roses on top and a buttercream frosting that is neither made of butter, nor cream. Although the bakery from my childhood in Summit, New Jersey, Trost’s, no longer exists, Summit has managed to hold on to Natale’s (pronounced “Na-tahls” by the natives) since 1938, and cookie for cookie, they are nearly the same.

Their apple cider cruller, with its crunchy gnarled edges is their stand-out doughnut— and my favorite. The crumb cake is a New Jersey specialty, and according to tradition, more crumb than cake and available at Natale’s with a drizzle of glaze, or coated in powdered sugar. For a few weeks of the year, there is even a blueberry version. And while B & M Bakery in Hackensack is seen as the gold standard of crumb cake in the Garden State, those in the know flock to Natale’s.

Of course there are Italian-American classics such as pignoli cookies, but I go for the daisy cookies, as I have since I was old enough to chew. A tender butter cookie with a button of colored fondant in the middle, they are to be eaten in a circular fashion, cookie first, then fondant drop last.

As my wonderful older brother, Paul, deeply understands the sentimental importance of bakery cake, he ordered, delivered (and helped us eat ) this rose-covered confection. My cake was chocolate, with a dense fudge filling, and all covered in mocha frosting. And I got the slice with a rose.

My recipe for you today is also basic and sentimental, this time a chocolate chunk cookie that is soft and thick in the middle, with a lightly crunchy edge, which is sort of how I look and feel these days.

These cookies are pretty straightforward, but calculated specifically to create a hefty cookie that is also tender and chewy. I added a teaspoon of cinnamon to round out the flavor. The use of flaky Maldon sea salt, was also intentional. Maybe the older, I mean, MORE SOPHISTICATED, I get, the more I crave that balance of salt and sweet. I’m generous with vanilla extract and brown sugar is more plentiful than white, to ensure the cookie stays gooey. And sure you can use regular old chocolate chips, but because it’s my birthday week, I say celebrate and chunk up a few of your favorite semisweet or dark chocolate bars. Or take a gander at the offerings from Lindt and Tony’s Chocolonely and have a bit of fun. I’m a particular fan of Lindt’s Intense Orange and Tony’s chocolate and hazelnut bars in my cookies.

And because it’s my birthday, let me get a bit mushy and thank you to all of you here in Substackland for making my world such a better place.

Hunky And Tender Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Chocolate Chip Cookies, Hunky and Tender

Makes about 2 1/2 dozen 3” cookies

NB: Ideally, the cookie dough should be refrigerated for 8 hours before baking, although i always bake a few just after mixing to tide me over.

What You’ll Need:

2 1/4 cups (10.25 ounces) all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon Maldon sea salt (or Diamond kosher)

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

12 tablespoons (6 ounces) butter, room temperature

3/4 cup packed (5 ounces) brown sugar

1/2 cup (4 ounces) white sugar

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs, cold

14 to 16 ounces, chocolate chunks (or 3 cups/18 ounces chocolate chips)

What You’ll Do:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

2. In a stand mixer, or by hand, beat together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar until creamy and lighter in color and texture, about 3 minutes. ABS (always be scraping down the sides of the bowl).

3. Add the vanilla and mix for 30 seconds. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing to incorporate between additions. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, too.

4. Add the flour and the chocolate chunks/chips. Stir until just combined. By now you know to scrape, scrape, scrape. Refrigerate the mixture for 8 hours.

5. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment, or grease lightly. Scoop the dough into 2-inch balls and place 3 inches apart on the baking sheets. Give each ball of dough a gentle smoosh with your hand to slightly flatten. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, rotating the pans top to bottom and front to back once. The cookies will look golden on the edges and just set (not shiny) in the middle. Let cool on the pan for 5 minutes before retiring them to a cooling rack.

6. Stored in an air-tight container, they will keep their chewiness for a few days.

   If you don’t plan on eating the whole batch now, scoop the dough into balls, and freeze them, well-wrapped until ready for more. Bake from frozen for 15 to 17 minutes.

   Do you have any birthday rituals? Things you indulge in/avoid/try anew when it’s your day?

It used to was I’d take myself to Barney’s (of blessed memory) and wander the beauty counters until someone nice lured me in, I’d walk out with a bag full of magic potions, lush creams made from I think he said Grape Nuts? and somehow always a lip liner, which as I handed over my credit card I knew I would never use. This year, I found myself at Costco, which was depressing enough in comparison, and may explain why I flung into my cart every bubble-carded jar and bottle that promised transformational amounts of retinol, hyaluronic acid and vitamin C. But then I heard the voice of Valerie Monroe, she of the “How Not to F*ck Up Your Face” substack which everyone should subscribe to. She kindly chided me, suggested I put them all back and get some Cerave instead. And a 2-pound block of Cabot reserve cheddar. That was you, wasn’t it, Valerie?

In honor of my birthday, you can enjoy a discount subscription price. Buy one for yourself, or a friend or three.

This substack is a reader-supported publication. I cannot do it without you. If you’re able, paying for a subscription helps pay for the groceries necessary for recipe-testing and recipe development. Also, it supports me—a freelance writer—and ad-free journalism.

The pay scale for journalists and writers has not kept up with the cost of living. That’s why having a substack newsletter has become such a terrific venue for so many writers. Best of all, it puts me, Bosco, Calvin and Clyde in touch with our readers like never before. And: Clyde would like to add it keeps him in cat treats. He realllly likes his cat treats.

Can’t afford a subscription? Do the next best thing and give free subscriptions to all your friends. The more the merrier. And now, there’s a discount for subscriptions.

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