Chocolate Chip Cookies made with an Assortment of Chocolate: #CreativeCookieExchange

These Chocolate Chip Cookies are slightly crispy on the outside, hefty, chewy and, in my opinion, perfect. With this recipe I feel I have solved my lifetime search for the perfect chocolate chip cookie! I received Zulka brown sugar in exchange for an honest review. Affiliate links have been used in this post to link to items I am discussing.

I am so excited about this month’s Creative Cookie Exchange theme, but first a little bit of housekeeping. You may notice in my right hand column, below the first Adsense ad and above the Pollinate badge, a new Amazon search box. As I have mentioned before, I use Amazon affiliate links to link to items I am discussing. Basically I always link to Amazon, I did long before I was an affiliate, and being an affiliate means that I earn a very small percentage any time that one of you purchases anything after following through one of these links. And, I must emphasize, this is at no additional cost to you. Anyway, because this blog does not run on air, I like finding ways to make a little money without troubling my readers, so I have added an Amazon search box over on the right. Want to buy something–anything!–from Amazon? Start there and anything you click through to and purchase, I will earn a commission on. Which leads to more tasty dishes!

OK now about this month’s Creative Cookie Exchange. The theme is Comfort Food–and I love this theme because I find cookies super comforting (probably more than I should). And the cookie I find more comforting than any other? Undoubtedly and always, chocolate chip. What can I say, I am boring and traditional like that! This came at an excellent time, because I had also been sent Zulka’s new Pure Cane Brown Sugar to sample at the same time. And I personally cannot think of any better test for brown sugar than chocolate chip cookies.

You may recall that I already am a fan of Zulka’s pure cane sugar.  I love the clean yet rich taste of evaporated cane juice, and was immediately intrigued at the idea of trying it for brown sugar. Now this is not a Demerara or Turbinado sugar; it is brown sugar made the way we are used to, with molasses added back into granulated sugar. This is very exciting to me because I love my cane sugar and have often wished that I could be as confident in my brown sugar (i.e, I wish that it also started with sustainable and traceable evaporated cane juice). Well I need wish no longer! The sugar performed beautifully in the cookies, and the aroma of just the plain sugar was amazing.

So about these cookies. I think I will start with a text I got from my brother, showing a screenshot of a text exchange he had with a friend who had been at the party where I served the cookies:

Man. Best Compliment Ever. Seriously this made my day! Some background: there was a pig roast at my parents’ house as a sort of goodbye party for my brother, who just moved to Chicago. So I made (A LOT of) chocolate chip cookies for the party. At my mom’s house. Where I discovered she doesn’t keep chocolate chips and other mix-ins on hand like I do (honesty compels me to add very few people do I am sure). We scrounged up 1 bag of milk chocolate morsels, 1 bag of dark chocolate chunks, 1 Ghirardelli Intense Dark Chocolate Bar, Twilight Delight (72% Cacao), and several rather old (!) Hershey’s milk chocolate bars that my parents had hanging around for s’mores over the summer. So quite the assortment! And I promise you–as my brother’s friend’s text hopefully attests–this chocolate chip cookie recipe is so awesome it does not really matter what chocolate you throw in them.

One other note about the circumstances surrounding these chocolate chip cookies. I did not have my super swanky camera. And my iPhone is nearly dead (in fact I have the 6 on order–woo hoo!!!). I am not educated enough to state this in any authoritative technical way, but the camera in my phone has seriously degraded and, quite frankly, sucks. So pardon the photos. I did my best!

5 from 1 vote

Print

Chocolate Chip Cookies made with an Assortment of Chocolate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Cookies

Author: TheSpicedLife

Ingredients

• 3 cups (378 g) AP flour
• 1 cup (130 g) whole wheat flour
• 1¼ t baking soda
• 1½ t baking powder
• 1½ t coarse salt
• 1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1¼ cups (250 g) light brown sugar
• 18 T (1 cup plus 2 T; 225 g) granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 T natural vanilla extract
• 18 oz (approx. 510 g) chocolate of your choice, chopped (or chocolate chips)
• Coarse sea salt for sprinkling

Instructions

1. Whisk together flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes.
3.  Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. 

4. With speed on low, add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Mix in the chocolate chips and/or chunks. Cover the dough with something airtight and refrigerate at least overnight (I bake a tray or so a day, until the dough is gone, thereby ensuring fresh cooking each time).*

5. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.

6. Using a cookie dough scoop or an ice cream scoop of medium size, scoop the cookies onto the prepared tray, 6 per sheet (I baked a greater number per sheet for the party because I was trying to bake such a large number). I aim for 2 tablespoons of dough per cookie. Sprinkle the cookies with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still a little soft, about 11-13 minutes. Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove the cookies individually to a cooling rack.

Recipe Notes

*I have made these cookies many, many times over the years and often my family insists I bake off some immediately. Truthfully even those cookies are great. Try to let the dough chill at least 45 minutes if possible but chances are people will love them even without a longer rest period. They will definitely last better (in an airtight container) though with a longer rest period.

The theme this month is Comfort Food Cookies! What cookie says comfort food to you?  If you are a blogger and want to join in the fun, contact me at thespicedlife AT gmail DOT com and I will get you added to our Facebook group, where we discuss our cookies and share links.

You can also just use us as a great resource for cookie recipes–be sure to check out our Pinterest Board and our monthly posts (you can find all of them here at The Spiced Life). You will be able to find them the first Tuesday after the 15th of each month! Also, if you are looking for inspiration to get in the kitchen and start baking, check out what all of the hosting bloggers have made this month:

• Butterscotch Cookies from A Baker’s House
• Chocolate Cappuccino Toffee Chip Cookies from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Chocolate Chip Cookies Made with an Assortment of Chocolate from The Spiced Life
• Quadruple Chocolate Shortbread Cookies from Magnolia Days
• Dark Chocolate Chunk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies from Food Lust People Love
• Roth (The Sacred Cookies from Kashmir) from Spiceroots
• Crispy Potato Chip Cookies from Rhubarb and Honey
• Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies from Made with Love
• Triple Chocolate Cookies from It’s Yummi
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies from Noshing with the Nolands
• Thekua (Sweet Wheat Cookies from Bihar) from Indian Curries/Stew
• Momma’s Bran Chocolate Chip Cookies from Sweet Cinnamon Honey
• Nut Cookies from Basic N Delicious
• Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies from What Smells So Good?