An Internet-Famous Cookie Worthy of Baking in Real Life

[elleng]

'Last fall, an aberrant chocolate chip cookie turned up in my Instagram feed. As wide as a salad plate and flat as a flounder, it appeared thin, but it was somehow layered with slabs of chocolate. Oddest of all, it was ringed, like a tree trunk — as if a chunk of chocolate had been dropped in the center and somehow made waves out to the edges. I assumed it was a mutant, posted by a troubled baker as a cry for help, and I kept scrolling.

But soon, the rippled cookie appeared again: as a one-off from a bread blog, then in 42burners, the Instagram account of Martha Stewart’s vast test kitchen. It showed up, insistently, as baker/photographers like Ruth Tam kept posting it, crowing about the crispiness of the ridges and the softness of the centers.

I grew curious. It seems impossible that there’s anything new to say about basic chocolate chip cookies (a version from the pastry chef Jacques Torres, from 2008, is one we keep going back to, and for good reason). But a recipe that spreads across Instagram (and isn’t galaxy-, unicorn- or ombré-decorated) cannot be lightly dismissed.

When I spotted a new post that was simply a collage of photos of the cookie, I broke down. I tracked down the recipe, and then its author, Sarah Kieffer, who described the sacred rite of the ripples.

“It’s all in the pan-bang,” she said.'>>>

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/29/dining/chocolate-chip-cookie-recipe-instagram.html?

[lapfog_1]

1. There is a much easier way to get the same affect

Many years ago I was challenged to enter a county fair with a cookie recipe.

I sat out to bake some standard chocolate chip cookies... and accidentally created something different. A chocolate chip cookie with concentric ripples emanating from the center. If you have ever worked or lived around cows... these cookies looked for all the world like a cow chip



so I named my cookie (made with milk chocolate) a "Chocolate Cow Chip Cookie" and entered them in the fair.

They didn't taste that much different than other entries... but I won first place and got the blue ribbon for my cookies.

The secret... I accidentally left the oven on "pre-heat" instead of bake. The heat cycling of the oven took care of the rest.

BTW... I guess I should have trademarked the entry as I now see many "chocolate cow chip cookies" for sale on the internet.

[MFM008]

2. I want one

My glass of chocolate milk is lonely. ...

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

3. My best chocolate chip cookie recipe comes from a cookbook

published in the 1930's.

When I bake it at lower altitudes (I currently live at 7,000 feet) it comes out a combination of crispy and chewy that I swear could bring about world peace.

Interestingly enough, the original recipe almost reads like a high altitude recipe.

Oh, and don't get me started on how even professional cooks get the high altitude adaptions wrong.

[Arkansas Granny]

4. Is that a recipe you can share?

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

5. Yes.

Here's the original recipe:

1 1/8 cups sifted flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup shortening
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
8 ounces semisweet chocolate (bar or pieces)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Mix together in the usual fashion and bake at 350 degrees about 15 minutes.

It's the oddball amount on the flour that stands out. Also, the chocolate bar or pieces. The oldest copywrite on this cookbook is 1938, and I strongly suspect that this recipe is a good decade older than that, long before standard semi-sweet chips came into being. Also, in most cookie recipes, the standard proportions of fat to sugar is 1:2, meaning twice as much sugar as fat. Notice this calls for a lesser proportion.

I also like to switch around the granulated sugar and brown sugar amounts. Oh, and the shortening needs to be Crisco. Not a bargain brand. And NOT butter flavored. Also, use real vanilla. Not imitation vanilla flavor. The details really do matter.

If you are going to use a standard bag of semi-sweet chips, you need to double all the ingredients.

I bake this on a lightly greased (by which I mean I use Crisco) cookie sheet. After 10 minutes I rotate the cookie sheet 180 degrees to make up for any uneven heating in my oven. I also bake with the rack at the highest (broil) level in the oven.

Alas, since I live at high altitude, I cannot get that wonderful and subtle combination of chewy and crispy I get at lower altitude. Darn. And because I so frequently bake these cookies, once they are cooled to room temperature, I think they're old and stale. Other people never think that, thank goodness.

Oh, and if you don't care for walnuts they can be left out quite successfully, unlike my brownie recipe which does not bake up properly without the walnuts.

[Arkansas Granny]

6. Thanks. I'll be trying these. Do you do any of pan dropping or slamming

described in the other recipe?

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

7. Nope. Just make each cookie small or large as you like,

dropped from a teaspoon or a tablespoon.

[Arkansas Granny]

8. I'll be making these with grandkids, so sizes will be all over the place. 😄

They love cooking with Granny. It always tastes better when they help.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

10. Doesn't it though!

[Kali]

9. damn you!

that led me off to a link on mixers and that led me to ordering a refurbished kitchenaid mixer that I have been wanting for a long time and can't really afford but...well...

[blaze]

11. New toy!!!!!

What fun!! Do you have plans for its first use?

I am expecting a pasta maker!! Copycat Wheat Thins are first up.