Thick and Rich and Chocolate

And reasonably nutritious. Well, reasonable for a chocolate chip cookie

It was a straight line from the front door of my childhood home to the kitchen. I would come rushing through the door after a day at Camp Riverbend, burbling over with the news of the day, whether it was a canoe trip on the pea-soup colored Passaic, my swimming lesson triumphs or which popsicle I’d chosen for the afternoon treat (usually orange, but grape in a pinch). I would be met with a sharp “Shhh!” from my mother, who was sitting in the kitchen in front of the tiny black and white portable TV.

photo copyright rewindmuseum.com 2011

It was the summer of the Watergate hearings, and nothing could get my mother to budge from the TV. I was miffed by her focus on the wee Sony TV, but during a break she did patiently and thoroughly explain what was going on and why it was important for us all to pay attention. I was 5, but I understood the president had done bad things.

And here we are x-ty years later, and I’m the one glued to the TV when the House January 6 committee is in session. My mother is gone a few years now, and oh, how I wish I could be watching these with her. I’m much better at sitting still and being quiet in front of the TV these days, so I think she’d be extra proud.

This week we will be treated to two sessions; July 12 the hearing will be during the day, and July 14 during prime time. Mmmmm. CBS News correspondent Scott MacFarlane really whetted my whistle with a recent tweet, where the phrase “dereliction of duty” was used in direct relation to the former president’s name. Here’s hoping this spurs the DoJ into obvious action.

Scott MacFarlane’s tweet from Sunday, July 10, 2022

My preparations for the hearings include baking chocolate chip cookies. Specifically, a recipe I recently conjured, while I was working on a Levain-style cookie. (The Levain-like cookies were meant to be baked along with guests on my podcast, The Secret Life of Cookies, but due to things beyond my control, we had to cancel production for this week.)

The recipe that follows makes a thick, soft cookie with a just-crunchy outside. I used whole wheat flour, oat flour and almond flour instead of the usual all-purpose white flour. It bumps the nutritional content up, and also adds to the cookies tenderness.

Things to know when making them:

• You can make these cookies large (3-ounce balls of dough…about 3 1/2-inches in diameter), or smaller 2-inch balls.

• Don’t roll a perfectly smooth ball of cookie dough. I actually use a fork to pick out chunks of the refrigerated dough and haphazardly shape them into ball-like shapes.

• When I say cream the butter and sugars for 4 to 5 minutes, I mean it. You want to incorporate air to ensure delicately textured cookies.

• Note I ask for cold eggs. Because the recipe calls for a long creaming time, adding cold eggs prevents the dough from turning into a melty pool of dough.

• The trick is not to overbake them. They should still be soft and will continue to bake once you take them out of the oven. An instant-read thermometer should measure 175 to 180 degrees. No thermometer? the middles should not look raw or wet. Gooey, not ooey.

• If the cookies are browning too quickly, lower the heat in your oven slightly to finish the cooking.

• Let these cool at least 15 minutes before digging in.

• I used milk, semi-sweet and mini peanut butter cups in mine. The key is to have a lot of bits and pieces in them. Feel free to play around. Let me know what you try!

  

Thick and Rich and Chocolate-Chip Cookies

What You’ll Need:

1/2 cup (4 ounces) butter, softened

1/2 cup (4 ounces) light brown sugar

1/2 cup (about 3 1/2 ounces) white sugar

2 large eggs, cold

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon orange zest (optional)

1 cup + 1 tablespoon (5 ounces) whole wheat flour

3/4 cups (2 1/2 ounces) almond flour

3/4 cups (2 1/2 ounces) oat flour

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 3/4 teaspoon baking power

1 teaspoon baking soda

A generous 16 ounces of mix-ins (at least), including, but not exclusive to: semisweet chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips, mini peanut butter cups, pecans, dried fruits, toffee chips, etc.

What You’ll Do:

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the flours, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.

2. In a stand- or with a hand-mixer, cream the butter, white sugar and light brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Please scrape down the sides two or three times, just like I’m always nagging you to do.

3. Add the vanilla and optional orange zest and beat until just combined.

4. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until the eggs look absorbed into the batter.

5. Add the flour mixture and mix until the flour mixture is just moistened. Add in the chocolate chips, etc. and mix on low speed until combined.

6. Refrigerate the dough for 2 hours, or ideally, 8 hours to let the whole wheat and oat flours hydrate. If you are like me, however, you will insist on baking off some of the dough right away. Just promise me you’ll leave the rest to chill in the fridge, so you can see what a difference chilling the dough makes.

7. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Shape dough into balls about 3 1/2-inches in diameter for large cookies, 2 inches for smaller. The dough will spread, so leave at least 3 inches between cookies. Bake cookies for 18 to 20 minutes for large balls, 15 to 17 minutes for smaller ones. Cookies are done when the outside is light brown in places. The exterior will look dry and if any of the exterior is peaking through a newly formed crack in the dough, it should not be wet-looking. Oven temperatures vary, so keep tweaking your timing until you are pleased.

8. Let cool on the baking sheet for at least 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack. Enjoy.

Let me know what additions you make to the cooke dough. And tell me what you’ll be hoping and listening for during this week’s committee hearings.