I love a good weekend project, especially when that project involves my fingers in loads of cookie dough.

I’ll admit that I may be waaaay behind the times on this trick.  It’s the sort of trick that super moms have on lock to make them look even more awesome than they already are.  Since I haven’t yet produced other people with my body, this trick is just now hitting my radar.

The idea is this:  one day… (say, maybe a lazy Saturday morning) whip up a couple batches of your favorite cookie dough.  Dollop that cookie dough onto a cookie sheet, all close like.  Throw the entire cookie sheet into the freezer.  Freeze the dough balls, then throw them into a zip lock bag and back into the freezer.  You know what that means?  All you have to do is flick on the oven and throw in a few dough balls anytime you want fresh baked cookies!  Dang this livin’ is easy!

This frozen dough ball situation is key and here’s why:

You and the family can have  fresh baked cookies any and every night.

Surprise guests?  No problem at all… you just happened to be whipping up a batch of fresh cookies.  Taaadaaa!

Bake ‘em directly from frozen…. do it!

Frozen dough balls in the middle of the night?  I won’t tell a soul.  Can I be honest?  I eat the dough balls more often than I actually bake the cookies.  In fact… be right back.  Dough ball for breakfast.

Full disclosure:  I’ve eaten three cookie dough balls in the writing of this post.  I’m not done yet.

You might also try these recipes for you cookie dough freezing pleasure:

Oatmeal Cherry White Chocolate Cookies

Double Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

White Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

adapted from King Arthur

makes 2 dozen cookies

Print this Recipe!

2 1/4 cups white whole wheat flour, or regular whole wheat flour if you’re feeling extra nutty

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

1-2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

1 cup chopped walnuts, again… if you’re feeling nutty.

Combine flour, salt and baking soda in a bowl, whisk it together and set aside.  Combine brown sugar, granulated sugar and softened butter in the bowl of an electric mixer.  Beat until creamy, about 3 to 5 minutes.  Add vanilla extract.  Add eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute in between each addition.  Add dry ingredients all at once and mix well.  Fold in chocolate chips and nuts if using.

Line a baking sheet with waxed paper.  Drop cookie dough by the tablespoonfuls onto the baking sheet.  Place them very close together so that as many cookies balls as possible fit on the tray.  Put the cookie sheet in the freezer and chill dough balls until frozen through, at least 3 hours.  Remove the sheet from the freezer and place dough balls in a freezer safe bag and place back in the freezer until ready to bake.

When ready to bake cookies, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Place frozen dough balls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Leave a few inches in between the cookies, giving them room to spread.  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or  until golden and irresistible.

What do puppies with giant paws, foggy mornings, warm chocolate chip cookies and my bright, red spatula have in common?  That’s easy… they’re just some of my favorite things in the world.

If you hadn’t already figured it out, you guys are totally up there on my list of favorite things… right up there with puppies with giant paws.  You and your cute tea cup pictures.  You with your kind comments.  You with your thoughtful recipe questions.  I just think you’re dreamy.  I suppose that’s why it has become one of my new favorite things to give things to you… let’s do it again.

Two of you get two of my favorite things:  an express shipped box of chocolate chip cookies made by Joy the Baker (for someone here in the US), or a brand-spanking-new, colorful spatula (going international, because Customs doesn’t like when I send fresh cookies).

All you have to do to win some of my favorite things is leave me a comment telling me where you’re from, and some of your favorite things.  Seems fitting, right?

You’ve got until this Saturday April 11th at 10:38pm PST to get your comments in.  That’s when I turn back into a pumpkin and pick the winners.

Also… I like you!

If I could have a phone conversation with the New York Times Dining and Wine (as though NYTimes were a casual friend/maybe date), it would go a little something like this:

NYTimes:  (after 4 rings) Hello?

Joy:  Hey!  Oh, I didn’t think you were going to pick up.  I was expecting to leave a message.  I thought you’d be a work.

NYTimes:  You specifically called when you thought I’d be at work?

Joy:  (Awkward pause) No….. I just thought I could leave a message.

NYTimes:  Well do you want me to hang up so you can call back?  You’re being weird…

Joy:  No!…. It’s just… NYTimes, we need to talk.

NYTimes:  You know what Joy?  I’m not really in the mood for this right now.  I have to be up early tomorrow and I really don’t want to get into anything right now.

Joy: Well that’s too bad NYTimes, we need to talk right now.. It’s about your cookies.  Just listen.  Seriously.  It’s important…

Joy: (continued)  I like that you like food.  I can tell that you’re totally into it.  That’s cool…  It really is.  But you know what? Sometimes a cookie is just a cookie.  (Pause)  Sometimes we should let a cookie just be a cookie.  

Don’t get me wrong- I really like that you like to sprinkle sea salt on top of cookie dough.  That’s respectable, and has a certain amount of charm.  I’m not talking about that… I’m talking about this 36 hour rule for resting cookie dough.  You know what?  I’m going to say something that I don’t think anyone else will say to your face…

NYTimes:  (interrupting)  We aren’t face to face.  This is over the phone.  And this is an imaginary conversation. And I’m the NYTimes, so I don’t have a face.

Joy: Ok.. you know what?  That’s not the point, and don’t interrupt me.   Your 36 hour rule- I don’t buy it.  I’m not in.  In fact- I’m out.  Why?  Well to be honest, I couldn’t taste a difference.  The 24 hour and 36 hour batched baked up slightly darker than the 12 hour batch, but I couldn’t decipher a taste difference.  In fact, I didn’t find any difference at all between the 24 and 36 hour batches.  I mean… come on… for the average person, eating a warm cookie from the oven is treat enough.  Why even suggest that they wait 36 hours to bake up the dough?  Who has that kind of time NYTimes.  Seriously!? 

NYTimes:  (impatiently)   Well what do you want me to do?

Joy:  Well I don’t know what you can do.  What’s printed is printed, right?  I just wanted to call and talk to you so that you know that I know that sometimes you come up with some snotty cooking crap.  Sometimes you take something as friendly, straightforward, and approachable as a chocolate chip cookie and you put it on a pedestal and talk about things like depth of flavor and flavor profiles and crumb… and geez!  Can’t a cookie just be a cookie?

NYTimes:  You’re yelling…

Joy:  I’m not yelling!  I’m just being passionate.  I’m just saying that I’m on to you.  I did the experiment myself, and a cookie is a cookie at 12 hours, 24 hours and 36 hours.  A damn good, all -American cookie, that’s what is it.  

Now, I don’t mean to be harsh.  I just had to get that off my chest.  Would you please put Mark Bittman on the phone?  I like him.  

NYTimes:  Joy, you’re odd.

Joy:  I know.  Bittman please.

After much trial and refridgeration.  I’ve found these to be my two favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe.

The Chewy, with melted butter and bread flour, from Alton Brown.  

The Buttery, with creamed butter and salted peanuts or cashews, from Elizabeth Faulkner.

I chill each dough for at least 4 hours before baking.  Of course, refrigerate the dough for up to 36 hours if you like.  I’ll create an evenly golden cookie, with all the goodness that is the perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie. 

Remember, this is all in the interest of science. This chocolate chop cookie experiment has nothing to do with how delicious warm cookies are, or how I like picking at cookie dough from the fridge.

Ok, who am I kidding? This experiment is solely about how much I love cookies, whether the dough has been in the fridge for 12 hours or 36 hours.

I promised you cookie results, and here are the first two baked batches.

The constants for our cookie experiment were as follows:

Oven at 350 degrees F

Baking time of 13 minutes

Half sheet baking pan lined with parchment

1 Tablespoon of cookie dough

4 cookies per sheet

The variable for our cookie experiment is cookie dough refrigerated for varying times: 12, 24, and 36 hours.

Above we have chocolate chip cookies baked after 12 hours of refrigeration.

Below we have chocolate chip cookies baked after 24 hours of refrigeration.

What’s the big difference? Well, friends… there’s no huge earth shattering difference.

The 12 hour batch came out lighter, with a slightly underdone center. The edges had a light crunch and the center was that incredible half cooked dough center. Incredible! Of course!

The 24 hour batch came out a more caramel color. The cookies came out more evenly baked, and lacked that doughy center. The edges were just slightly more crisp. A taste difference? I have to be honest, maybe my palette isn’t refined enough, but I didn’t taste any significant difference. It was an incredible cookie, and I suppose that’s what is important.

What do you think? Can you see a difference?

The 36 hour batch is in the works, I just wanted to update you on our results so far.

Let’s review. Above- 12 hours Below- 24 hours

]]> http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2008/07/the-chocolate-chip-cookie-debate-part-3/feed/ 11 http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2008/07/the-chocolate-chip-cookie-debate-part-2/ http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2008/07/the-chocolate-chip-cookie-debate-part-2/#comments Fri, 11 Jul 2008 19:44:31 +0000 joythebaker http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/?p=114

We’re talking cookies, and we’re not done yet. We’re a long way from done in fact, so settle in!

In the first installment we discussed creamed versus melted butter. Thank you for all your comments. I looks like the melted butter and bread flour combination creates a very high, chewy and almost caramelish cookie. These cookies were chewy even three days after they were baked! Creaming, on the other had, produces a flatter, more buttery, traditional cookie. Both are delicious!  Just depends on your mood!

Now…

In The Cookie Debate Part One I mentioned that the NY Times had serendipitously printed an article about the perfect chocolate chip cookie. Did you read it?

We need to talk about this 36 hour rule. We need to do an experiment.

Here’s the skinny: Some of the best bakers swear that by resting their cookie dough in the fridge for 36 hours, they produce a more robust, evenly browned, altogether irresistible cookie. The science behind the concept indicated that by letting the dough rest the liquids from the eggs are fully absorbed into the flour, creating a drier and firmer dough which bakes up into the perfect consistency.

I’ll be honest. I furrow my eyebrows at this statement. I recognize that baking is about science, and how ingredients interact with one another- but baking is also about sugar, and sugar tastes good. Simple.

In the name of both science and sugar, I’ve made a batch of cookie dough and I’m going to bake them off at 12 hours, 24 hours and 36 hours. Together we’ll see the difference. We’ll get to the bottom of this. And what a delicious experiment it will be!

I used Demolition Dessert’s Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. It’s has straightforward ratios. It’s creamed butter, white sugar and brown, and chocolate, of course.

Let the waiting and baking begin. Only 12 hours until the first batch!

Thanks for playing along!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

adapted from Demolition Desserts

Print this recipe!

8 Tablespoons (4 ounces) butter, softened

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup plus 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 1/4 cup plus 3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips or chunks

1. In a large bowl, using a wooden spoon, cream together the butter and brown and granulated sugar until smooth but not overmixed.

2. Add the eggs vanilla and salt and stir until just combined.

3. Sift in the flour, baking soda and baking powder and stir gently until combined. Add the chocolate chips and nuts. Stir just until the ingredients are incorporated. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

4. Position the oven racks in the upper third and lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

5. Spoon 1-inch balls onto sheet about leaving about 2 inches between each cookie.

6. Bake the cookies for 13- 17 minutes, rotating the pans after 7 minutes.