Milk, breakups, thinking real hard … some things just go well with cookies. So when my son came home from a particularly trying day at school last week, begging to “bake something” with me, our path through the pantry was clear.
Cookies are, in my mind, the purest of guilty pleasures. A simple mixture of flour, sugar and fat, the cookie has been leaving its Proustian mark on childhoods across the globe for centuries. The word “cookie” itself is adorable and just a tad flippant. It comes from the Danish word, “koekje,” (“little cake”) as the earliest cookies were just that —little bits of cake batter that a baker would use to test out her recipe.
Researching this age-old treat, I found that America’s biggest contribution to the cookie cannon was undoubtedly chocolate chip, a somewhat accidental discovery made by Ruth Wakefield of the Toll House restaurant in Whitman, Massachusetts in the late 1930s. It was a time when our nation, nearly a decade into the Depression, certainly needed the comfort. To this day, chocolate chip remains a perennial American favorite.
It’s my son’s favorite too, and, having a stockpile of chocolate bars in my cupboard, I was happy to oblige him. It wasn’t long before news spread through our house that cookies were imminent —if the warm, sugary smell pervading each room hadn’t been enough. My husband left the computer, my younger son abandoned his LEGOs, and we all sat together quietly in the kitchen, smiling and savoring each gooey bite.
Like many little things, it’s easy to discount the cookie. Small enough to fit in the palm of a child’s hand, yet steeped with enough history to fill volumes, the cookie is a little thing … or everything depending on how you look at it.
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INGREDIENTS
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
8 ounces salted butter (yes, salted! 2 sticks)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups chocolate chunks (we prefer chunks to chips)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt , plus extra for sprinkling (optional)
directions
- Pre-heat oven to 350 F.
- In a medium bowl, cream together sugars and butter.
- Mix in vanilla, eggs and chocolate chips.
- In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and mix until just combined.
- With a small ice-cream scooper or large spoon, scoop cookie batter in balls onto a parchment-lined baking pan, leaving room between one. (A half-sheet pan should only hold about 10 cookies.)
- Bake for about 12-15 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Sprinkle lightly with kosher salt (optional).
- Remove pan from the oven, let cookies cool, and store in an airtight container. Yum!
START TO FINISH: 50 MINUTES. MAKES ABOUT 40 COOKIES.
