MORNING CALL'S #2 WINNING CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE RECIPE

Happy 4th of July! We had a wonderful neighborhood picnic celebration yesterday in the circle at the end of our street (see slideshow on the right side of this blog.) Today's recipe was part of our celebration.

The Morning Call newspaper of Allentown, PA, recently had a chocolate chip recipe contest, and published the five winning recipes. The #1 winning recipe looked interesting; it had Grape Nuts cereal as one of the ingredients. I would make it, but what would I do with the rest of the box of Grape Nuts? I don't eat Grape Nuts, though I used to.

The recipe posted here won second prize. It calls for York mini peppermint patties chips, but honestly I'd never even heard of them. They must not be widely distributed yet. So, unfortunately, I used plain chocolate chips, and I know that changed the outcome. The cookie, itself, is a soft but sturdy one, almost cakelike, and just very slightly crisp on the edges. There are no nuts in this one, and I am partial to nuts. Still, I liked these, even if they aren't my faves. I mean how can you go wrong with chocolate chip cookies? It's like there are no ugly brides and no bad chocolate chip cookie recipes. I added more chocolate chips than the recipe called for, and I mixed them, using part semi sweet, part milk chocolate, part Hershey's Special Dark. These went to the 3rd of July party and there weren't any left over, so I guess that speaks for itself.

Joanne Heller's Chocolate Chip Patties, adapted (half recipe)
Rating: 8 out of 10
INGREDIENTS:
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar, preferably superfine
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 large egg + 1 large white, room temperature
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
2-1/8 cups all-purpose flour (I used 1 cup white whole wheat + 1-1/8 cups all purpose)
1-1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. sea salt
4 oz. milk chocolate morsels (2/3 cup)
4 oz. semisweet chocolate morsels (2/3 cup)
4 oz. Hershey's Special Dark morsels (2/3 cup)(or use the Peppermint Pattie chips if you can find them)

In large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugars. (I do this by hand using a wire whisk, but you can use a mixer if you prefer.) Add the egg, white, vanilla, and lemon juice and beat till smooth and well combined. (If you use a mixer, be sure to use low speed so you don't overheat the dough.) Stir in the flour, baking soda and salt just till combined and fold in the chips. Refrigerate the dough for 1/2 hour. (I left it in the fridge overnight.)

Preheat oven to 375F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Form the dough into
1 to 1-1/2" balls and flatten the balls to make a thick disc, using a damp juice glass bottom. (I dropped large tablespoonfuls of dough onto cookie sheet and left the dough mounded. I baked one batch at 375F and didn't like the results. For the remaining batches, I heated the oven to 375F, but as soon as I put the cookies in, I reduced the temp to 350F, simulating a commercial oven with decreasing temperature. These turned out better I thought. After a batch came out of the oven, I turned it back up to 375F, then reduced it to 350F again when the new batch went in.) Bake 10-12 minutes (depending on how large your cookies are). Use a toothpick inserted in center of cookie to test for doneness. When it returns with just a few crumbs on it, take the cookies out and let them cool in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to finish cooling. These are best if you underbake them just slightly. Yield: 25 - 3" cookies