For those about to bake…
Here’s what I suspect is the real reason you checked in today. Thanks for the more than 370 replies I received in the past few days! And apologies for using a vague pronoun that could have been interpreted as a promise to share cookies. I would love to share a few hundred, but time and all that…
Uncle Rob’s Cookies, as my nephews call them:
Ingredients:
1 cup (190g) dark brown sugar
1 cup (200g) white granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 sticks (226g) salted butter. Weigh your butter if you’re using big blocks rather than North American sticks. Eyeballing hasn’t worked well for me when I’ve made these in Europe.
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon baking soda. My European friends often bake cookies without this ingredient. You too can omit this, but you will get a smaller and denser cookie as a result.
1 teaspoon cornstarch
½ teaspoon coarse salt
3 cups (360g) unbleached all-purpose flour
2 cups (350g) chocolate chips
Instructions:
Pour brown and white sugar into a large mixing bowl. Use a fork to smooth out any lumps.
Melt butter over low heat. Make sure it does not bubble. Add to sugar.
Give the butter a moment to cool so you don’t cook your eggs. Add one egg and beat it into the mix with a fork. Add the next egg and beat.
Add vanilla extract and almond extract. Stir into the mix with a wooden spoon.
Add baking soda and cornstarch. Stir until integrated. The cornstarch should prove helpful if your cookies often turn out flatter or crunchier than you like.
Add salt, being sure to distribute it evenly across the mix. Stir until integrated. Note: You can use fine or kosher salt. It’s up to you. Note 2: You can go slightly overboard with your salt. The cookies won’t be fussy.
Add chocolate chips and flour. Stir until integrated. Note: If you’re using a drier flour, such as whole-wheat flour, which I once did because it was all I had, you must add a bit of liquid after you stir in the flour to get the consistency to your satisfaction. Honey, maple syrup and, if you’re adventurous, a combination of molasses and blackstrap molasses, will achieve the correct result. If you don’t, you’ll get a dry cookie that tastes like bread.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, or approximately 175-180 degrees Celsius.
Use whatever spoon you’d normally use at the dinner table to scoop the dough. Add each spoonful to a cookie sheet. Do not roll into a ball or do anything fancy. These should be rough.
Add cookie sheets to the preheated oven, using one rack only, placed at the center. Bake for 12 minutes. This should yield approximately 48-58 cookies. Note: If you’re using Celsius temperatures, keep an eye on the cookies. 180 might take a minute less, 175 might take a minute more. Use your eye to judge.
Remove cookies from oven and place trays away from heat. Remove cookies with a spatula and let them cool for half an hour on a rack or on a cutting board or similar surface. Store as you like. I often freeze them for serving later.
Bon appétit!
