Fresh From the Oven- Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies, fresh from the oven…Mmmm! Have you ever wondered where cookies came from? How did these perfect, chewy, soft delicacies become what they are today? Long ago, as a test to see if the oven was hot enough for cakes to be baked, little “testers” were used to ensure correct temperatures. Ovens were not as temperature regulated as they are now. Those big luxurious cakes had to be baked just right or the king may have the chief baker’s head! These “little tester cakes” became what we know today as cookies.

While there is question as to who invented America’s (and Dad’s) favorite cookie, we can thank Ruth Wakefield for popularizing the chocolate chip cookie in the 1930’s. She and her husband ran a famous New-England restaurant called the Toll House Inn. Her desserts were sought after. Butterscotch nut cookies with semi- sweet chocolate chunks dotted on top were served as a complement to ice-cream. Some think that Ruth, a very detailed person and not one to make mistakes or substitutions in short order, ran out of nuts and used chocolate instead. Others think she substituted chocolate in hopes that it would melt and replace her butter, or that she chipped her chocolate, hoping it would melt and permeate the dough. Whatever actually transpired, the famous Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookie was born! Later, Wakefield sold her recipe to Nestle for one dollar and a lifetime supply of chocolate!

Recipe:

1 cup butter, softened (two sticks)

¾ cup brown sugar

¾ cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla

2 ¼ cups white all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups chocolate chips



Cream the butter and sugar.

Creaming these ingredients aerates the butter and fills it with bubbles that catch the gases released by the leavening agent, (baking soda and eggs in this instance). Overmixing can add more air than needed and make the cookies rise tall and then fall very flat during baking.

Tip: To soften refrigerated butter, heat a jar with hot water from the tap and place the jar over the stick of butter. You may have to reheat the jar a time or two, but it works very well, perfectly and thoroughly softening butter straight from the refrigerator in about five minutes or so. I generally set out the butter half-an-hour or so before hand to soften at room temperature, but the jar works if you are making them last minute.

Add the eggs and vanilla.

Good quality, pure vanilla is part of the secret of making these cookies delicious. Real vanilla has a better flavor. We use our own farm fresh eggs as they have a nice color and cookies are better when they look pretty as well as taste good. The eggs hold the mixture together, add flavor, help spread, and add leavening. The height and the texture of the cookie is mainly due to the egg.

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, soda, and salt. Add gradually to the wet ingredients.

Again, it is important not to overmix after the flour mixture is added to the wet ingredients, as it would cause excess gluten development making dense cookies. Gluten doesn’t form until flour meets liquid or moisture. The best way to know when to stop mixing is to mix just until there are no visible streaks of flour left.

Baking soda raises the Ph of the dough, slowing the process of protein coagulation, allowing the cookies to spread before the egg sets too quickly.

Salt enhances the sweetness of the sugars.

Fold the chocolate chips into dough.

By folding (or mixing very lightly with the mixer) the right amount of air is added and, once again, less gluten development. Gluten , a protein found naturally in flour, acts as a binder helping to hold ingredients together. It is great for breads, but too much makes for tough cookies.

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for eight to ten minutes, depending on the size of the cookie.

Overbaking is very easy to do with chocolate chip cookies, or any cookies for that matter. The much sought-after, soft, chewy cookie is achieved by taking them out of the oven when the edges are slightly golden. The middles will still look moist and underdone, but they will set.

Remove cookies from sheet.

Cookies continue to bake on a hot sheet. The longer they sit on the sheet, the more done they become, resulting in a crunchy cookie. It aids in easy removal to use a thin spatula.

Secrets to a good chocolate chip cookie:

Use real butter, pure vanilla, and overall good quality ingredients.

Be careful not to overmix.

Watch for overbaking.

Always wash your dishes!

These chocolate chip cookies are a big time favorite in our family, and they sure do not last long with all eight of us! I hope you enjoy these as much as we do!

~Jayla McDaniel