Anna Olson's Chocolate Chip Cookies

I suspect we all have people in our lives who hold the classic chocolate chip cookie as the perfect baked good. My dad is one of those people; whenever I tell him about the next recipe that I'm working on he suggests that maybe I make chocolate chip cookies instead. Not chocolate chip cookies with a twist, just the classic, basic, crispy-on-the-edges-soft-in-the-middle chocolate chip cookie. Why mess around with perfection?

So when Anna Olson's beautiful new book Back To Baking arrived on my doorstep thanks to the people at Whitecap Books I was originally torn as to which recipe to try out first..

The bars on the left caught my eye.. just look at them! Gorgeous. But from all of the pages and pages of stunning looking desserts I kept going back to the recipe for chocolate chip cookies. It just made sense to test out a basic recipe to see how it stood up to my expectations of how the 'perfect' chocolate chip cookie should be. Plus I could hear my dad's voice in my head saying "why don't you just make the chocolate chip cookies??" You win dad.

Whenever I try out a new recipe I try to follow it as closely as possible so that if something goes wrong I know it's not because I was fiddling around with the baking ratios. So I set out to make these exactly as written.. but it turned out that although I had boxes and boxes of semi-sweet baking chocolate, there were no semi sweet chocolate chips.


I debated going to the store, but if I'm going to be honest it would have required me to at least brush my hair and put on real pants.. and that was just not happening. I justified this minor substitution on the merit that it didn't alter the actual cookie batter. Plus chocolate chunks are delicious.

The recipe is made up of a foundation recipe for brown sugar cookie dough and then the addition of chocolate chips and the baking instructions are under the recipe for chocolate chip cookies. I love that the book has a number of these basic recipes that you can play around with and try different variations. It really encourages trying out your own variations once you've got the base recipe down.

Nerdy confession: I didn't want to worry about the cookies needing to bake for shorter or longer times depending on if I'd scooped the cookies bigger or smaller, so I weighed each one before putting it on the cookie sheet which ensured that each batch took exactly 10 minutes to bake. Ohh consistent results.



The results were..cookie perfection. These honestly were some of the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever had. I'm not a chocolate chip cookie connoisseur like some people, but the edges were crispy, the middles were soft, and the dough had a perfect balance of vanilla, brown sugar, and chocolate flavors.

Definitely a winner. So if you are looking to expand your cook book collection (or even if it doesn't need expanding but you keep expanding anyways) I'd really recommend checking out this book. Huge selection of recipes, beautiful photos and clear instructions. I especially love the foundation recipes because it gives you the freedom to play around with different add-ins and flavors.

 

These two recipes are excerpted from Back to Baking (Whitecap Books) by Anna Olson with permission from the publisher

Basic Brown Sugar Cookie Dough

• Makes enough dough for 2 to 3 dozen cookies •
foundation recipe

½ cup (125 mL) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup (125 mL) packed light brown sugar
¼ cup (60 mL) sugar
1 egg, at room temperature
1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla extract
1¼ cups (310 mL) all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp (30 mL) cornstarch
½ tsp (2 mL) baking soda
½ tsp (2 mL) salt

Cream the butter, brown sugar, and sugar together until fluffy.

Beat in the egg and then the vanilla.

In a separate bowl, stir the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt.

Add the flour mixture into the butter mixture and stir until evenly blended.

 

Chocolate Chip Cookies


1 recipe Basic Brown Sugar Cookie Dough
1 cup (250 mL) chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350°f (175°c), and line 2 baking trays with parchment paper, or
lightly grease.

Prepare the cookie dough recipe as on page 17 and then stir in the chocolate chips.

Drop the dough by tablespoonfuls onto the prepared baking trays, leaving 1½ inches (4
cm) between cookies.

Bake for about 10 minutes, until the cookies are golden brown. Let the cookies cool
on the tray for 5 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a rack to cool completely. The
cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

 

Comments

[Sarah]

Ohhhhh deliciousness. There is nothing on this earth quite so perfectly satisfying as the perfect, buttery chocolate chip cookie. But nothing.

[kristin]

I like the "at least brush my hair and put on real pants" comment. Cuz in the winter, all anyone ever sees is your legs and your head, am I right or what?!

[Amanda @ Once Upon a Recipe]

These do look completely perfect! I love Anna Olson, so I'm not surprised to hear that the book is fantastic. Must give these a try - I'm no chocolate chip cookie connoisseur either, but I do love giving different recipes a try. PS. You've totally reminded me that I need to buy a kitchen scale!

[Sahar]

I've been searching for a perfect choc chip cookie recipe for years but haven't found it yet, I think I'm going to try these today after work, they look amazing!

[Julie]

This is my absolute favourite chocolate chip cookie recipe - it's perfection! The addition of cornstarch is genius.

[Addie]

Is cornstarch used to make a softer center? I think cornstarch+ all purpose = cake flour (I may be wrong). Never seen cake flour in a cookie recipe before. Curious!

[Becs @ Lay the table]

Ha with the hair brushing comment. That is me every Sunday! I do not want to leave the house therefore I will not put on any makeup! Definitely going to give these cookies a try :)

[Stephanie]

Addie: In the book she notes that the cornstarch helps keep the middles of the cookies soft. It's about the same ratio of cornstarch to flour as cake flour (which is around 2 TBSP cornstarch for each cup of flour).

I've used recipes that suggest using bread flour for chewier cookies, but never cake flour. I have to say that it works like a charm!

[Stefanie @ Sarcastic Cooking]

Oh my gosh, you baing nerd! I don't even have a kitchen scale. I always just eyeball it, which is probably not a good baking habit. These look so chewy and soft. I love any kind of chococlate chip cookie truth be told. Each version has it's good points.

[Addie]

Awesome, I'll remember this :)

[Mara @ Elemental Custard]

Those bars look FANTASTIC. And im not really a chocolate chip cookie fan but they do look really good.. Hmm...

[Dad]

This is Dad. Chocolate Chip Cookie Victory! Finally!

[Paula]

Love that you took the time to weigh each cookie before baking! These look amazing and I'm sure your Dad would love to have had a batch!

[Bob]

I absolutely love your pictures. I simply adore chocolate chip cookies.

[Darina]

Those look fantastic. I love Anna's recipes. I admire anyone who can make such great cookies, as I can never get mine as soft and chewy as I desire.

[Yourstrulyg]

Oh my goodness! Thank you so much! These cookies turned out perfectly and disappeared at my friends party in seconds :)

[Claudia]

Hey! just wanted to know how much did each cookie weight, they look delicious so i wanted to make them today. Also, didn't you put the dough in the refrigerator like 2 hours before baking? Anna says so in the show. Keep up with the good work :)