This chocolate chip cookie has no shame

We shouldn't either

My guest on the podcast this week was the beautifully named, if not quite perfectly spelled Marisa Kabas, who as investigative reporter and MSNBC contributor, also just happens to be from the same congressional district as a certain freshman Congressman named George Santos. Marisa took this as a sign she needed to learn everything there was to know about Santos, whether he wanted it or not.

The result has been daily in-depth reports on Santos’ lies and misdirects on her substack The Handbasket.

You can listen and bake along to my conversation with Marisa here:

With my hands wrist deep in mixing chocolate chip cookie dough, Marisa and I talked about the shameless way Santos carries out his life of lies and its effect on constituents, the Republican party, etc. Marisa decided she, too, was going to make 2023 the year of her being shameless. But the good kind of shameless: the self-positive side to shamelessness. And I’ve decided it’s about time I did too.

So, I suppose this is my January RAWRRRRR moment, where I scream at the year ahead what my intentions are, and hope the universe approves. I suppose at my age, I should’ve embraced positive self-promotion earlier on in my career, but instead I took the path of self-deprecation. I guess I figured it would make people like me, or feel sorry for me or whatever twisted reasoning my mind conjured.

Perhaps you are familiar with this road? Even with all the bona fides in place, I’ve never been comfortable pushing myself forward as The Best Bet. It always feels safer to disparage myself, before someone else might. A compliment about looking cute or pretty is returned with a dorky look. If required to sell myself (such as an idea to an editor, an agent, a possible employer)I really try. I really do. But there’s always some hesitancy, some hedging my bet that my ideas might be met with a dismissive comment.

I won’t even start on the evils of apologizing for an idea or thought. You know the shock collars for dogs who bark too much? What if there was something like that for humans, which would give a little jolt any time the phrase “I know this is probably a stupid idea, but…” occurred. And how many of those getting shocked would be women?

Who wants to embrace positive change this year? There’s no woo-woo involved—just us trying to be a little more shameless in feeling good about who we are and what we have to offer. “Go forth unafraid,” my mom would say, reminding me of the motto of her alma mater, Dalton. Will you join me?

The Shameless Cookie

Let this chocolate chip cookie be the mascot of our cause, because it’s unabashed in its gooeyness and its louche, Spanx-free, chocolatey-ness. This cookie is tender, yielding and more chocolate than cookie, a near cookie-less cookie if you will.

Here the dough is but glue to hold in the chips and chonks (I used both in this test).

A few notes on the cookies:

1. The batter is much better after an 8-hour or so sleep in the refrigerator. That’s not to say I don’t bake a trayful right after I make them. I’m not a robot. Just trust me that the rest is important. The flavors intensify, the flour properly rehydrates and the overall result is even more delicious.

2. Use the best chocolate you can find. I chunked up both milk and semisweet chocolate for this, using a serrated knife to break the bars into random slivers, chonks and pea-sized pieces. If you can’t bring yourself to do this, look for ready-made chips like Guittard’s super cookie chips, which are large ‘n’ lovely.

3. I use a blend of whole wheat and white flour. You can choose one or the other.

4. A bunch of ingredients add to the chewiness: melted butter, some confectioners’ sugar and theaddition of an egg yolk as well as an egg.

5. I add confectioners sugar because the combination of finely milled sugar and corn starch help ensure a more long-lasting soft cookie.

6. I use fleur de sel because I love the pops of salt it adds to the dough. Splurge if you can. If not, kosher salt will work nicely. Regular table salt only as a last resort

7. Baking time is very important. Between 10 and 12 minutes should suffice. You should no longer see raw batter in the cracks that form as they bake, but you also shouldn’t wait till the top of the cookie browns too much. They will continue to cook a little after you take them out of the oven.

8. For best results, eat the warm. This is a great batter to keep in the freezer. Roll the dough into balls, refrigerate until hard, then pop them into a freezer-proof bag (avoid icky freezer flavors invading). When you need warm cookie goodness, they are there waiting for you. You may need to bake them another minute or so.

   

   Yours should look like the ones on the left. These turned out more brown than usual because I baked them in a toaster oven, aka a smaller space with more concentrated heat.

Shameless Chocolate Chip Cookies. Printable Recipe!

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Shameless Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes about 3 dozen 2 1/2-inch wide cookies

Please note: Cookie dough should be/needs to be refrigerated before baking.

What You’ll Need:

2 1/4 cups (280 grams) all-purpose flour or a half-and-half blend of white and whole wheat

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon fleur de sel or kosher salt

3/4 cup (170 grams) unsalted butter, melted and left to cool for 5 minutes.

1/4 cup (50 grams) white sugar

1/4 cup (32 grams) confectioners’ sugar

3/4 cup (160 grams) light brown sugar (packed)

1 large egg and 1 egg YOLK

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 cups (300 grams) semisweet and milk chocolate chunks (I used a blend, heavier on the semisweet. You do you.)

What You’ll Do:

1. Melt the butter in a large, microwave-proof bowl. (Or melt on the stove over low heat and pour into a large bowl. Let sit for 5 minutes.

2. Whisk together the flour(s), baking soda and salt in a small bowl.

3. Add the white and brown sugar to the melted butter and stir by hand until combined. The mixture should no longer looke separated or greasy.

4. Add the eggs and the vanilla and stir until the mixture is combined. It will look like applesauce.

5. Add the flour and stir until blended. Pour in all the chocolate chips and continue to stir, stir, stir.

6. Refrigerate, covered for at least 8 hours. The mixture will keep nicely in the fridge for at least 3 days. For freezing instructions, see Notes above..

7. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F and line baking sheets with parchment. Roll the dough into 2-inch wide (about 4.5 cm) balls. Place dough balls 3-inches apart because they spread. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until just barely firm. Watch carefully. Let cool for 5 minutes before transfering to a cooling rack.

8. Eat them warm and shamelessly.

   Do you live shamelessly? Have you managed to get over apologizing for everything? Is it okay for me to say this stuff out loud? And in other news…who is funding George Santos?

Thank you to all my subscribers, new and old! I am so grateful that you are here. A special shout-out to those who are able to be paid subscribers and who support my work and help pay for all the (now more expensive than ever) ingredients that go into the detailed testing I do to create these recipes! Please consider becoming a paid subscriber!

Thank you to everyone for making this newsletter a Substack featured publication! Tell a friend, she said shamelessly.