Smitten Kitchen's Deb Perelman has returned to the David Leite chocolate chip cookie recipe published by The New York Times, a dough that demands at least 24 hours in the refrigerator and produces 18 cookies up to 5 inches wide. Perelman writes that she revisited the recipe partly because she was tired of looking at what she called an unpalatably blueberry-ish photo atop the blog's 2008 post, and that eight years later she realized the thing she wanted most in a chocolate chip cookie had been there the whole time.
The recipe calls for 1 1/4 cups (10 ounces, 280 grams, or 2 1/2 sticks) of unsalted butter at room temperature, 1 1/4 cups (240 grams) light brown sugar, and 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (225 grams) granulated sugar, creamed together for 3 to 4 minutes. Two large eggs go in one at a time, followed by 2 teaspoons (10 ml) vanilla extract. Baking soda (1 1/4 teaspoons), baking powder (1 1/2 teaspoons), and 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse or kosher salt are sprinkled over the dough, then 3 1/2 cups plus 2 teaspoons (445 grams) all-purpose flour is added all at once and mixed in short bursts until it almost disappears. The dough is finished with 1 1/4 pounds (565 grams) of bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves at least 60% cacao.
Perelman writes that she was not previously in love with the cookies, though they did not go to waste. They felt too over-the-top to make a regular part of her life: they used expensive chocolate, demanded planning ahead, and were in every way the opposite of her salted chocolate chunk cookie, which she had considered her go-to for weekdays. Now, she writes that sometimes life requires a 5-inch chocolate chip cookie because there are things only a 5-inch chocolate chip cookie can do.
Three Textures in One Face-Sized Disc
Perelman describes the appeal in structural terms: only a 5-inch chocolate chip cookie can have three distinct textures in one face-sized disc, with deep, crunchy edges and chewy or gooey centers. She calls them the mic drop of the category, writing that when you bring them out, everything else stops to take in this magnificence on a plate. She also quotes her father-in-law: "It was very good of you to include some dough to hold this chocolate together."
The method requires covering the bowl with plastic wrap and chilling the dough for a minimum of 24 hours and up to 72 hours, though Perelman notes she has kept it in the fridge up to 5 days without issue. The oven is heated to 350 degrees, and dough is formed into 3 1/2-ounce (100 gram) balls, which she acknowledges will seem completely absurd, larger than golf balls and closer to skeeballs, but advises not to fight it. Any chocolate pieces on the tops or sides of the dough balls should be buried back in, because she finds pockets of chocolate superior to exposed puddles. The balls are arranged very far apart on parchment-lined or nonstick-mat-lined baking sheets, sprinkled with a few flecks of sea salt, and baked for 12 to 17 minutes until golden all over. Perelman writes that the wide time range reflects variation in how much the cookies spread, so checking early on the first batch is safest. Cookies cool on trays for 10 minutes before being transferred to racks.
The total time is listed as 5 minutes plus a 24-hour rest, with a yield of 18 5-inch cookies. Perelman's post also includes a list of recipes from previous years, ranging from Picnic Pink Lemonade and Crispy Frizzled Artichokes one year ago to Zucchini Carpaccio Salad nine years ago, plus a separate set of older recipes from six months to 4.5 years back.
Editorial Notes