36-Hour Chocolate Chip Cookies

A Jacques Torres adaptation 

 Warning: if you are looking for purely instant-gratification cookies, stick to Nabisco.  But if you start now, you are only a day and a half away from your awakening.  Yes, in a little over 36 hours your eyes will open and your sweet tooth will swoon over the best chocolate chip cookies you ever sunk your teeth into.  A golden, sugary outer shell encrusts a still warm and gooey dough center.  The climax is the realization that you have just tasted a cookie with the perfect proportion of crisp baked cookie and raw cookie dough.  Every cookie you have tasted before becomes inferior.  Sure, Grandma’s cookies may continue to maintain that nostalgic tastiness, but you are hooked to these even before you swallow the first bite.  The richness of the cookie is the only limiting factor.  Eating an entire cookie might seem doable, until you are halfway through and you can already feel a significant rise in your blood pressure.  But rest assured that these cookies are worth the wait, the tooth-ache, and the possible cavity to come.    

 I’m sure you are wondering why the 36 hours.  This method may seem arcane, but in fact, the rest period is what creates cohesive dough.  It allows the wet ingredients to be fully absorbed into the dry ingredients.  Eggs are gelatinous and take time to absorb, especially when butter acts like a coat of armor for the flour. Thus, drier, firmer dough means that the eggs and other liquids have been sufficiently soaked up into the flours.  This should mean that you will enjoy a better baking consistency.  Better baking consistencies lead to crisp edges and chewy centers – the way all cookies should be.

As for the other secrets, I found that using cake and bread flour make for better consistency as well.  Your next secret is 2 ½ sticks of butter.  TWO and a HALF STICKS of butter.  (I never claimed they were healthy.)  But you can’t skimp on the butter or sugar, as they are the reason these cookies melt into toffee-flavored syrup in your mouth.  My favorite “last touch” is the coarse salt sprinkled on top of the cookies.  It completes them.  

 Served fresh from the oven they are enough to corrupt even the most devout diet.  Perhaps you could fast for the 36 hours leading up to the baking? Haha, just kidding. So if you are aiming to outdo the competition, I recommend these cookies served fresh, with a tall glass of milk. 

36-Hour Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour + 4 T cornstarch (Or 2 cups cake flour)

1 2/3 cups bread flour

1 ¼ tsp baking soda

1 ½ tsp baking powder

1 ½ tsp coarse salt

2 ½ sticks ( 1 ¼ cups) unsalted butter

1 ¼ cups brown sugar

1 cup + 2 T granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp natural vanilla extract

1 ¼ lbs semi-sweet chocolate chips

A few pinches of sea or kosher salt

Instructions:

1.       In one bowl, using a whisk, combine flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.  (You can use a sifter too, if you have it.) Set aside.

 2.       In a larger bowl, cream together butter and sugars until very light.  (By hand this will take you a while – making sure the butter is at least at room temperature will help.)

 3.       Add eggs to butter and sugar, one at a time.  Mix well after adding each.

4.       Stir in vanilla.

5.       Add in dry ingredients, lightly mix until just combined.  

 6.       Add in chocolate chips.

7.       Press plastic wrap to dough and refrigerate for 36 hours (trust me it’s worth it).  Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours. 

 8.       When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350˚ F.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper or sill pat. 

9.       Scoop 6 (3.5 oz – the size of engorged golf balls) balls of dough onto baking sheets.  Sprinkle with sea salt/kosher salt and bake until golden brown, but still soft, 18-20 minutes.

 10.   Cool cookies, but they are best enjoyed when warm. 

11.   Remaining dough can be refrigerated and baked later (up to 24 hours after).

Makes about 1 ½ dozen 5-in cookies.    

Honey-Nut Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

 As a server working a 12 hour double, I usually get my satisfaction from a fat stack of cash.  Tips are supposed to balance out my measly wage, but tonight I left with a wimpy wallet.  Such situations encourage some to hit the bottle, but I would rather sneak into the kitchen cabinet for another substance: chocolate.  Salivating for the sweet cocoa taste, I reached for a bag of chocolate chips.  As I clutched my prize, I felt an unsettling squish.  Melted chocolate – of course.  Living in a un-air conditioned house had finally revealed its price.  

 Chocolate cravings were reaching urgent levels; I didn’t have much time.  I gripped and ripped the bag of liquefied chocolate, and squeezed it into a saucepot along with a few spoonfuls of creamy peanut butter.   Heating it at low, I stirred in several handfuls of the off-brand honey-nut cereal.  Once all the cereal was evenly coated, I plopped spoonfuls onto the top of a Tupperware lid covered in tinfoil.  Desperate times call for desperate measures, people.  Then I stuck the Tupperware tray into the freezer and let the bars chill for about 15-20 minutes (I recommend you let them go longer, but I don’t have that kind of self-control when I’m having a chocolate craving attack).  

So the next time the chocolate bug bites, know that you are only three ingredients and 20 minutes away from having a cold, crunchy, chocolaty, peanut butter bliss bar.  *Sigh of relief*, “That was easy”.

Honey-Nut Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

Ingredients:

1 (12 oz) bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips

4 T peanut butter

About 2-3 cups honey-nut cereal

Instructions:

1.       Mix chocolate chips and peanut butter in saucepan over low heat until melted.

2.       Add in cereal – make sure that all can be covered by chocolate sauce.

3.       Place large spoonfuls on cookie sheet covered in tinfoil/parchment paper/etc., let chill in freezer for about 15-20 minutes. 

4.       Store in bags or Tupperware in fridge/freezer for as long as you can keep them.

Makes about a dozen decent sized bars.

Triple-Chocolate Pudding Pie with Cappuccino Cream

Remember Sonny the crazed Cuckoo Bird who was “Cuckoo for Coco Puffs”!?  That phrase captures the essence of my love for chocolate.  I have an obsessive-compulsive relationship with chocolate.  Cravings for chocolate are relentless, gripping sensations.  I cannot take my mind off it or satisfy it with something else.   It’s CHOCOLATE, c’mon!  There is nothing like it.  In conversations about chocolate, you do not find many people who simply “like” chocolate or who “occasionally partake” in the eating of chocolate.  We assume that everyone loves chocolate; it is just a matter of what type.  

Finding and securing chocolate is a holy mission, thus the world smiled as I made this pie.  I turned to one of my new favorite cookbooks, Bon Appetit 2004, for the recipe.  I carefully patted down the foundation of salty, chocolate graham crackers.  Then I poured a silky, custard-like pudding filling into the basin of the crust.  The near-black colored chocolate formed soft folds in the pan.  It tasted like virgin chocolate, deeply smooth; seemingly untouched and untainted by both man and excessive sugar.  

I served it chilled, with a dollop of cappuccino cream on top.  At first, the pie was creamy and rich.  Each bite brought a comfortable feeling, almost as if it was warm.  Then the airiness of the cream cut the initial heaviness.  The pie began to float and fade elegantly on my tongue.   My overwhelming desire was not to greedily devour every last bit immediately, but rather to reflect and return to this blissful pie later.  A pie of this caliber demands reverence.  They say the greatest sign of respect for a dish is licking the plate clean.  I would not put it past me.   

Triple-Chocolate Pudding Pie with Cappuccino Cream

Ingredients:

Crust

9 whole chocolate graham crackers

1 stick salted butter, melted

Filling

1 ¼ cups sugar

½ cup unsweetened dark cocoa powder

¼ cup cornstarch

3 ½ cups half and half

4 large egg yolks

3 ½ oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped

3 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped

2 T salted butter

1 t vanilla extract

Topping

1 cup chilled whipping cream

2 T powdered sugar

1 ½ t finely ground coffee

½ t vanilla extract

Instructions:

1.       Preheat oven to 350˚F.  

2.       Finely grind graham crackers in food processors.  Add butter and blend to moisten crumbs. [I just used a rolling pin to crush them up very finely and added butter.  Didn’t work great, but worked.]

3.       Firmly press mixture into a 9 inch diameter pie dish.

4.       Bake until crust sets, about 15 min.  Cool.

5.       Whisk together sugar, cocoa, and cornstarch in heavy medium saucepan.

6.       Gradually whisk in 1 cup half and half.  Whisk in remaining 2 ½ cups half and half and yolks.

7.       Whisk over medium-high heat until mixture thickens and boils, whisking constantly, about 12 minutes.  Remove from heat.  

8.       Add both chocolates and butter; whisk until melted and smooth.  

9.     Add vanilla.

10.   Transfer filling to crust.  Press plastic wrap directly onto surface of filling and chill until filling sets, about 6 hours. 

 

 11. Meanwhile, beat topping ingredients in large bowl until peaks form.  Rewhisk to thicken when ready to use.

Hot Fudge Mondays

Ever have those days when you have a chocolate meltdown? A chocoholic without her fix is a dangerous beast, indeed. Suffering from the delirium of Monday withdraw, I opened up a stark kitchen cupboard. Behold!! …oh wait, it’s just cocoa powder. Feeling limited by the unsweetened brown dust, I racked my brain for ideas. It landed on hot fudge. I gathered the six ingredients needed for the recipe and the race to stuffing my face was on. In about 10 minutes, I had hot fudge the consistency of molasses and almost the taste of my grandma’s old fashioned chocolate pudding. Still warm, I ate a few spoonfuls. With a gooey chocolate smile, I concluded that Hershey’s would be proud.

Being a babysitter for years taught me that there is no greater 6-year-old bliss than dumping fudge on a mound of ice cream. Being a college student taught me there aren’t too many cheaper ways to go about making something chocolate. Plus, its utility isn’t too shabby either. Put it on ice cream or brownies, use it to make chocolate milk or hot chocolate, eat it plain [what I have commonly been caught doing], make a molten lava cake with it, etc. You can add different flavorings like bourbon or some other extract flavor to add variety. It’s a great alternative if you are in between grocery trips and have a hankering for chocolate.

[Sorry for the lack of pictures. If I end up with something to put the fudge on I will certainly update. But for now, I keep my secret stash hidden in the back of the fridge in a mysterious unmarked jar.]

Hot Fudge

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

2 T flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 cup milk

3 T butter

1 tsp vanilla

Instructions:

1. Whisk together dry ingredients, make sure you get all the clumps out.

2. In a saucepan, heat milk, butter and vanilla over medium heat until butter has melted.

3. Add in dry mix, whisk until bubbling. Constantly stir until thickened, about 5-7 min.

4. Store in cool place.

Chocolate Concentrate : Chocolate Syrup

Orange juice comes from it. Lemonade, limeade, pineapple-banana-orange drinks do too. Chances are most people are familiar with the “from the concentrate” labels stamped on many favorite juices and drinks. You can even go deeper into the frozen section of your grocery store and find THE concentrate: the frozen, potent base to which you add water. So it brings us to the question of what the “concentrate” truly is and what it means. By definition, it is the just the base of flavor, sweeteners, basically anything besides the liquid you add once you make it. It can also be used as a burst of flavor in a dish or sauce without drastically increasing the amount of liquid. Yet, why is “concentrate” limited to just fruit juices? The term could surely be extended to other condensed products.

The homemade chocolate syrup I made last night was a decadent river of sweet chocolate that ran right into my cold glass of milk. With the twirl of my spoon I had rich and tasty chocolate milk, and the ingredients required to make this syrup were all found in my pantry.

This afternoon though, I wondered if I was limiting myself by considering this a syrup, and adding it exclusively to milk and ice cream. Thus, the experimenting began. Although I would eat the stuff straight, I assume that most would like to have options. First, I tried it in my vanilla yogurt. It turned out to be a nice sour twist on the super-sweet chocolate, and offered far more protein than if it were ice cream or frozen yogurt. Then I tried dipping apples in it: delicious, of course. Therefore, I’m sure strawberries, bananas, cookies or marshmallows would sing the same tune as well. It might even work as a coating if you were to freeze your chocolate covered treat; I have yet to try that once. I am still looking for more creative dipping or mixing ideas, but I think I might have over-binged on chocolate for the past day.

For now, I do consider this homemade recipe a chocolate concentrate, just because it is SO sweet and can act as a base flavoring for other things. I need only add about a spoonful to a glass of chocolate milk – and I like mine chocolatey! I urge you to expand your view towards chocolate syrup, and give it a go in other mildly flavored things. It surely will pump up the chocolate flavor.

Chocolate Concentrate

Ingredients:

½ c cocoa powder

1 cup water

2 cups sugar

1/8 tsp salt

½ tsp vanilla

Instructions:

1. In a medium size saucepan, add cocoa powder and water. Whisk until well mixed.

2. Whisk in sugar over medium heat. Heat to boiling, make sure that sugar is dissolved: 3 min. [BE CAREFUL – IT WILL BOIL OVER IF UNATTENDED]

3. Add in salt and vanilla. Take off heat. Let stand and cool.

4. Put in glass jar or container.

5. Will stay fresh a lot longer than it will survive in a house full of chocolate lovers.

Makes about 2 cups.