Tag: baking

This week I am baking my chocolate chip cookies for another event.  Since I first posted this five months ago, I have made a couple of changes to ingredients and a couple of the tools and ingredients are on sale.  My blog will have it’s sixth month anniversary on Friday, so it seemed like a good time to update this.

The original post (with updated links):

I love baking chocolate chip cookies for my family and they are my go-to for events and fundraisers at my son’s school.  The challenge in the past was that when I needed to make them, I needed at least three to four dozen.  A certain amount for the fundraiser, my husband’s office, my office and of course the ones we want to eat right out of the oven.

I love Alton Brown’s recipe The Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie. As he states, his recipe is essentially a hack of the Nestle recipe.  You melt the butter, so you don’t have to bring it to room temperature.  You do need to chill the dough for one hour before baking, so it involves some planning and time management.  When I made the cookies after work it was a long night. After some practice with the recipe, I  streamlined a few things and created a few of my own hacks, so that I can make two batches more efficiently.

Last Mother’s Day I received a KitchenAid stand mixer in my favorite color of navy blue (the color is called blueberry).  My other stand mixer was on its last legs.  I now have two mixing bowls.  This is key.  You can always buy a second bowl.  This allows me to quickly make two batches at once and not wait for the mixing bowl while the dough is chilling.

I measure all the ingredients ahead of time and do them two at a time.  Two sets of flour, the sugars, and the egg mixture.  That way I can get the first bowl in the refrigerator and start making the next batch immediately.  Both batches can then chill together.

I know I am not to first to say this, but it really is all about the quality of the ingredients starting with the vanilla.  I use Nielsen-Massey which is currently 20% off at Williams Sonoma.

For flour, I like Perfect Flour Pastry Blend from Sur La Table.

My favorite chocolate for these cookies is Ghiradelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet.  You can get them at most supermarkets and they are a larger size chip.

For butter, I use Pulgra unsalted Butter

These cookie sheets from Williams-Sonoma have made all the difference in baking a perfect cookie.  I use them only for cookies along with this ice cream scoop which I have in both small and medium.  Today I am using the small size.

This scale is so easy to use.  You weigh all the ingredients for this recipe.

Having the right equipment (and enough of it) along with the best ingredients makes these cookies perfect every time.

Happy Baking!

 

XO,

JAE