The Way the Cookie Crumbles

In our family we have a cookie conundrum. With chocolate chip cookies, specifically. I grew up in a house with butter-only chocolate chip cookies. Blake grew up in a house with shortening-only chocolate chip cookies. Yes, now you see the conundrum.

Now, in my point of view, there are so many delicious desserts to be had, that the familiar chocolate chip cookie does not rank too high on the list. I like almost any dessert, from the old-fashioned apple pie to the pretentiously rich pot de crème and everything in between. The chocolate chip cookie, for me, is just another dessert among the masses and only has value if it is chewy-soft and butter-fatty delicious.

Blake, however, likes two things. Chocolate chip cookies and ice cream. Sure, he's broadened his palate over the years and will claim some new favorites like dark chocolate soufflé, crème brûlée and the Samoas Girl Scout Cookie (his choice, not mine.. the mouth wants what the mouth wants). However, the chocolate chip cookie will be, and always has been, his first choice. For Blake, the only real chocolate chip cookie is his mom's and every other cookie is just trying to be like it.

I think that we can all agree that while the chocolate chip cookie has some culinary merit, the primary value in a chocolate chip cookie for most people is nostalgia.

This is where the butter vs. shortening plot thickens. If you grew up with your mom making chocolate chip cookies with either form of fat, it is hard to fully enjoy a cookie that contains the other type of fat. There's just something missing, it just isn't like mom's cookies.

So in our house, Blake's cookie desires rule. It's just not that important to me (because really, I just eat the dough), so I make them how he likes them, or as close as I can anyway. There's still some mom magic that I can't recreate, and that's okay.

Yes. I did just talk about desserts and chocolate chip cookies for six paragraphs. That's how deeply the chocolate chip cookie conundrum has impacted our lives.

The real issue is this. Blake likes them how he likes them because it's how he grew up - nothing wrong with that - but I have a health conscience that takes issue with eating things filled with shortening and really want to find a cookie recipe that uses a less processed fat and possibly less sugar... yet still bakes up fluffy, soft and chewy (instead of melting out flat like so many butter-only cookie recipes). Something that I can get my kids hooked on and that will make their future families have their own cookie conundrum.

I THINK I HAVE FOUND THAT RECIPE and I am going to share it with you today, along with a few pictures, of course.

Best-Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies
(Recipe and directions directly from here)

Ingredients:
3/4 c. unsalted butter, softened
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. all purpose flour
2 tsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. bittersweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars until fluffy and light in color. Add egg and vanilla and blend in. *(I did this by hand)

3. Mix in flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Stir in chocolate chunks.

4. Using a standard-sized cookie scoop or tablespoon, drop dough onto a prepared baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until barely golden brown around the edges. (The tops will not brown, but do NOT cook longer than ten minutes.)

5. Let cool, on the sheet, on a wire rack for five minutes. Remove from baking sheet and let cool completely. Makes approximately 3 dozen. Try not to eat them all.

And unrelated to cookies.. but just for good measure.. some photo experimentation from my first full evening of daylight on Friday night...