Monday, April 14, 2008

KING ARTHUR'S CLASSIC CRUNCHY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Our local Harris Teeter recently had KA white whole wheat flour on sale, so I bought a 5-lb. bag. On the back of the bag is a recipe for bread; but the 2-lb. bag has a recipe for these cookies on the back. Luckily, I had pencil and paper with me, so I stood there in the store and wrote down the recipe, hoping that no one was watching me and thinking I was a crazy person. King Arthur is a name I trust, so when they called these classic crunchy, I believed them. They're not crispy on the edges, but they are nicely crunchy-chewy. But I am warning you, they are loaded with chocolate chips. I think they should call them chocolate chip candy cookies. But I have to admit they are good.....really, really, good.....and really, really sweet from all the chocolate. The only thing I changed was to sub 1/3 cup of toasted walnuts for 1/3 cup of the chips. I mean enough is enough, I had to counter some of that sweetness. The full recipe is supposed to yield 40 cookies; I made a half batch, and I got about 16 3" cookies. Your yield is going to depend on how big you make the cookies.

King Arthur's Classic Crunchy Chocolate Chip Cookies, half-batch

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1/4 cup canola oil
3/4 cup white and brown sugar combined
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
3/8 tsp. salt
1-1/2 tsp. cider vinegar
1/2 egg (about 1-1/2 Tbsp.)
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1 cup chocolate chips of your choice
1/3 cup toasted chopped or broken walnuts

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cream butter, oil and sugars on low speed of mixer till everything is well combined, about 2 minutes. Add vanilla, salt, vinegar and egg and beat again on low speed till smooth, about another minute or two. Stir in the baking soda, powder and flour and mix on stir speed just till combined. Add the chips and nuts and stir in till distributed evenly. The dough will be somewhat stiff and oily. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto parchment-lined baking sheet, about 2-3" apart, and bake for 11-13 minutes, or till set and beginning to brown. Yield: about 16-20 cookies.

1 comment:

PJH said...

Judy, good idea substituting some nuts for some of the chips. You could also use bittersweet chips or chunks - less sugar. I happen to LOVE chocolate, thus the abundance of chips - I actually am the baker who developed that recipe! More recently I've been working on a softer chocolate chip cookie - crisp around the edges, soft in the center. CC cookies are just something I never get tired of... Thanks for connecting with King Arthur, Judy. PJ Hamel, King Arthur Flour baker