In Whitman, Massachusetts in the 1930s (I have seen multiple exact years given in various written sources), Ruth Wakefield at the Toll House Inn created the first known chocolate chip cookie. Some have reported that it was accidental, but she herself said that she did it intentionally. They became enormously popular once the recipe was published in 1938 in her cookbook. The recipe was originally called the Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookie. During World War II, soldiers stationed overseas asked constantly for these cookies to be included in care packages and that spread their fame as they were shared again and again with other soldiers from different parts of the country.
Try to find someone who doesn't like chocolate chip cookies and you have a difficult task indeed. I met someone once who didn't like them and all I could say when he announced it was, "You can not be serious?!" This moment was made doubly fun at the time by the fact that was I was holding a tennis racket while standing at net as I chatted with my opponent just after we had played a casual match. (If you don't get that tangent, then you don't know about McEnroe's famous tirades on the tennis court. That's OK. I won't hold it against you.)
Back to the subject at hand... I actually have about a half dozen different variations on chocolate chip cookies that I keep in my recipe notebook to use as whim or cravings dictate. I have a lot of fun trying to tweak the basic cookie in different ways, sometimes varying types and amounts of chocolate, experimenting with different combinations of flours, baking them in pastry rings or other molds, etc.
But there are two things that are always the same no matter what else I do to the basic recipe.
One, I always chill the dough in the bowl after it is mixed. Give the dough a good long chill before baking, let it sit in the refrigerator for several hours, and then finally shape the dough and pop the cookies into the oven. I always find that I have a better end result when this step is followed.
Two, the importance of the quality of the butter can not be underestimated. I know, I know, so many people say to use a vegetable shortening, or that margarine is just fine. But for me, I have to use butter, and certainly I go to my reliable European style butter.
Now, one more word on this. Many people go with the ubiquitous semi-sweet chocolate morsels found in the familiar yellow bag with the Toll House cookie recipe on the back. And that's fine. It gives a good cookie, certainly, and one that we are all accustomed to. But I like to go with chocolate that is of a higher level of quality. It's usually more expensive to be sure, but I love the result. I use a variety of chocolates from various places in my different cookies, some already bagged as morsels or chips or small discs, some that require that I chop it up myself. And I almost always use a least two different types of chocolate every time I make chocolate chip cookies as I find this gives a more complex chocolate flavor and a more satisfying chocolate experience. (That's one sentence with the word "chocolate" used four times, in case you didn't notice. That's how important it is to me.)
Gosh, after writing all that, I'm really craving them now. I think I will go prep the ingredients for baking later today. Au revoir, for now.
No comments:
Post a Comment