My idea of a perfect chocolate chip cookie is thick, cakey, and soft with loads of dark chocolate chips and a hint of molasses. I have a reliable recipe which I return to again and again when the craving hits but that doesn’t mean I’m not open to try other recipes. In the last few days, I made a couple different versions involving bananas or mesquite flour just to mix things up. Both of them belong to the thick and cakey camp which made me and Little Brother very happy. However, my culinary curiosity demands that I branch out. For the next six days, I’ll try a different chocolate chip cookie recipe everyday from famed cookbook authors. I think it’ll be fun to find out other people’s idea of a perfect chocolate chip cookie.
I just received my copy of Kim Boyce’s Good To The Grain last weekend (I know I’m late to the party). True to everyone’s praise of this cookbook, the recipes are presented in the most attractive manner. So much so that I want to make everything from this cookbook. The very first recipe in the book is Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookie, a wonderful gateway to Boyce’s world of whole grain baking. Unlike most of her other recipes, this cookie uses 100% whole wheat flour. Typically, all-purpose flour is used to help lighten up the texture of whole grain baked goods but this recipe certainly does not need it. The nutty flavour of whole wheat flour takes centre stage. As promised in the headnotes, it complements well with the intense flavour of dark chocolate pieces. I chose to use freshly-milled whole wheat flour from my CSA and E Guittard 63% Extra Dark Chocolate Chips.
Another interesting point about Boyce’s recipe is to cream the butter cold. Most cookie recipes I encounter require that the butter softened to room temperature before creaming. Without the extra air beaten into the batter, it’s no wonder these cookies lean towards crisp rather than cakey.
Did I mention these cookies are huge? Each is bigger than the size of my hand. I regularly use a 1-tablespoon cookie scoop and only occasionally use a 2-tablespoon size. But these babies? 3 tablespoons of dough each! They do spread in the oven during baking to create a crispy edge and soft centre. The variance in texture is nice. I’m typically not a big fan of dough that spreads a lot during baking but the even thickness of these cookies is proof that spreading is intended. I was a little disappointed that my cookies seem to be thinner than the photos shown in the book and missing the distinguished cracks but that is mostly cosmetic. Neither taste nor texture suffer.
Due to the size of these cookies, I would serve them simply with tea or coffee for an afternoon snack or a lunchbox treat. The even thickness lends itself well to make ice-cream sandwiches though I would scale down to 2 tablespoons of dough per cookie for a more manageable size. Classic vanilla ice-cream is a good match obviously. However, the nutty whole wheat taste of these cookies makes me think pecan praline ice-cream would totally take it over the top. Summer barbeque can’t be that far off, right?
