Amanda Hesser's Flat-and-Chewy Chocolate-Chip Cookies

The first summer weekend - it feels impossibly new and yet so familiar all over again. Empty avenues, packed parks, the scent of a hundred backyard barbecues wafting through the city. We did our patriotic duty and had our own barbecue this weekend - with a dubious grill that needs a scrubbing like nobody's business, I might add. While others took care of the hamburgers and grilled corn and salads, I busied myself with dessert. It might have been insanity to turn the oven on on the first weekend of summer, but with the kind of recipe challenge I had in front of me, could you blame me? Hardly.

Back in January, Amanda Hesser printed three recipes for chocolate-chip cookies in the New York Times Magazine. She had covered what arguably might be called the three "Schools of Chocolate-Chip Cookiedom": Thin-and-Crisp, Flat-and-Chewy, and Thick-and-Gooey. Along with the recipes came an admonition and a plea: "I'm sure that there are least five subschools that I've missed, and you can let me know about them. These recipes were each tested more than a half-dozen times, so please grant us some generosity". I must admit that I felt like I was being spoken to directly. A glove was thrown! I would have to accept.

I chose Flat-and-Chewy for my Saturday night barbecue, for no real reason, really. The batter came together swiftly, as cookie batter usually does. I stumbled over only one thing: the entire tablespoon of kosher salt called for. Ben watches his sodium, and I've become a bit of a watchdog on this matter, so I cut down the salt to a single teaspoon. I did think that I'd need to adjust the baking soda as a result, but I didn't know how to regulate the proportion and so I just let it go, keeping the same amount of soda despite getting rid of most of the salt. The cookies baked up just as promised - flat and chewy and with that glorious age-old cookie scent that no one ever tires of.

In our group of seven testers, everyone raved over the smell and taste. Ben found them too salty - but still managed to eat several and blissfully at that, while everyone else liked the occasional kick of salt (though I really cannot imagine what these would have tasted like with an entire tablespoon. And I'm not trying to be ungenerous here!) and the way it brought out the caramel tones of the brown sugar and chocolate. As I chewed contentedly on a cookie, though, I found it slightly bitter. Was it the chocolate (by the way, I used Ghirardelli chips instead of block chocolate)? No...I realized it was the baking soda. I don't really know if I could have gotten rid of the bitterness by using less soda or by using more salt. I'll have to go pore over Mcgee or Corriher to find out, I suppose.

Lest Amanda thinks (you like how I assume that she might be reading this?) that this is a critical post, I should note that all but four cookies were gone an hour after they emerged from the oven (one of our dinner guests even said she loved the bitter soda taste). We happily ate the remaining ones for breakfast the next day. I can't wait to try the other recipes (Thick-and-Gooey is next, I think). But the truth is that at the end of the day, if you asked me what my favorite chocolate-chip cookie recipe was, I'd still say it was Debbie's.

Flat-and-Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes 30 cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons of baking soda
1 tablespoon kosher salt
8 ounces butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups chopped bittersweet chocolate (chunks and shavings)
2 cups chopped toasted walnuts (optional)

1. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt.

2. Cream the butter and sugars together until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, then the vanilla. Add the flour mixture all at once and blend until a dough forms. Fold in the chocolate and nuts, if using. Chill the dough.

3. While the dough chills, preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Roll 2 1/2 tablespoon lumps of dough into balls, then place on baking sheet and flatten to 1/2-inch-thick discs spaced 2 inches apart. Bake until the edges are golden brown, 14 to 16 minutes. Let cool slightly on the baking sheet, then transfer to a baking rack.

Comments

[tanvi]

What great timing! I recently had a flat and chewy chocolate chip cookie and marvelled at how that combination was possible (my go-to recipe yields chewy but not flat cookies). Now I'm excited to try this recipe, though I'll have to investigate the salt/baking soda issue first. Do let us know if you figure it out.

[debbie]

Aww, shucks, Luisa, I'm blushing! Seriously, thanks for the shout out. I gotta make a batch of those cookies soon--it's been too long.

[Kristin]

I was one of the lucky ones at the cook-out to try out these cookies, and I loved them. Once Louisa pointed out the baking soda taste, I could defintely taste it but i think as she notes, that can probably be fixed. Ahhhh...I miss those cookies.

[Julie]

Chewy is probably one of my favorite adjectives when it comes to dessert. I'm constantly working toward chewier brownies, chewy cookies, chewy bars of some sort or other -- so these will be a must-try for me.

[Lindy]

I'm not at all sure whether it's flat and chewy or thick and gooey for me. All I'm certain of is "not sandy".

These sound excellemt. I do like a bit of salt in my cookies, but a Tbsp is certainly a lot, even for me.

[Julie]

Another vote for flat and chewy.

Leftover cookies for breakfast? Best breakfast ever!

[lobstersquad]

I keep trying cookie recipes, and am still looking for The One.
I´ll try that one of Debbie´s, if that´s the recommendation. Thanks.

[gemma]

About a year ago Luisa shared Debbie's recipe with me ..... I won't ever try another choc chip recipe again. Those are SERIOUSLY good. Hands down the BEST cookies that have ever come out of my oven.

[Elfie]

Thanks for the site! A few comments: It's telling that a 'tastemaker' with limited abilities such as Hesser would only have this simpleton's recipe to offer, of all possible things. Plus, why do all the recipes have to have the imprimatur of someone's name? Can we avoid the cult of the celebrity cookie?

[Luisa]

Tanvi - okeydoke; and you let me know if you figure it out first!

Debbie - I had to smile when I reread your post about the cookies: you wrote you'd finally perfected the recipe to hand down to your future children, and now you've got a future child AND a fantastic recipe to boot! ;)

Kristin - I miss them, too. So much that I might be making another batch tonight. I'll let you know!

Julie - chewy brownies! Yes. YUM

Lindy - but what about sables???

Julie - it felt downright evil, but fun too.

Ximena - you have to try them, they really are that good.

Gemma - yay, so glad you agree!

Elfie - my blog tests other people's recipes, hence the "imprimatur" of other people's names.

[Tanvi]

Hey Luisa. So I looked into the baking soda issue. All I found out was that the general rule of thumb is 1/4 tsp per 1 cup of flour. By that rule, there's already too much baking soda in the recipe as its written, but that's probably why there was so much salt in the recipe. My educated guess would be to use a teaspoon of salt as you did (because it sounds like it was more than enough) and then reduce the baking soda to a 1/2 teaspoon as per the rule, because it seems to me that the cookies won't suffer. I'm going to bake these according to those changes at some point, and I'll keep you posted about the results.

[Beth]

I have been making the original Toll House chocolate cookie recipe for years, believing that it was the best. However, I have been proved wrong!
Debbie's Unbelievably Good Chocolate Chunk Cookies take the cake. Or should I say cookie!

[Peg]

I was given some of these cookies, as an "apology".
The baker added some Heath chips and white chocolate chips. I had to go back and ask her for the recipe! They were wonderful beyond words.
Of course we have renamed them "Apology cookies". :-)

[Kennedy]

I was skeptical about the amount of salt as well, but I went for it! I might be pointing out the obvious here, but Kosher salt is not nearly as "salty" as regular table salt, and I found the combination of the salt and bittersweet chocolate unbelievably delicious. Best cookies I have ever tasted. I took some to the pastry chef of the restaurant where I work and he asked me for the recipe. . .

[Christine Hamaty-Hughes]

This recipe was amazing! Just make sure you use unsalted butter if you add salt. I used salted butter and added the salt because there was nothing said about it. I am going to make these cookies again without the salt so my husband will eat them :)

[Christine Hamaty-Hughes]

This recipe is, by far, the BEST chocolate chip cookie recipe I have made. I used Ghirardelli chips and the chips need to be chopped up. Salted Butter is great, but no additional salt was added and they came out perfect. SO CHEWY!!!