While it's been a lot of fun talking about afternoon tea and making British-style biscuits, I'm stepping back onto home turf and talking cookies today - as in the soft and chewy, warm-from-the-oven, kind of chocolate chip cookies we love in America!
Incidentally, the only instance where I ran into American-style cookies in London was from a shop called Ben's Cookies; the logo caught by eye (turns out, it was illustrated by Quentin Blake, well-known for illustrating Roald Dahl's books) and seeing the cookies made me a little nostalgic for home. And if the British have tea time, Americans have our coffee break and what better to go with a cup of coffee than a classic chocolate chip cookie (except maybe a brownie)?
These cookies and some others from DisplacedHousewife caught my eye recently when I saw them on Instagram. They looked delicious and sounded so interesting, I was eager to try one as soon as possible. These are called "olive oil chocolate chip cookies" but they actually have both butter and olive oil in them.
Visually, they reminded me of my favorite whole wheat chocolate chip cookies and made me think of Ovenly's vegan chocolate chip cookies. Not only that, they also have a mix of bread flour and all-purpose flour in them, making me think of Jacques Torres' much touted chocolate chip cookies.
So as you can see, it had a lot of promising qualities going for it (and I wish there was some way to incorporate it all in the title of these cookies) and I was more than happy to give them a try.
Let me tell you - I wasn't disappointed because these cookies have an amazing texture - incredibly chewy and soft yet firm, with a slight crispness at the exterior. Those are qualities I personally love in a chocolate chip cookie.
When I first took the cookies out of the oven, I have to tell you that they looked great but they smelled rather fruity - from the olive oil. I'll be honest...I was concerned the flavor from the olive oil might be too strong for us, but it didn't turn out to be the case. Sure, you smell the fruitiness and I think it's discernible in the first bite but you really don't taste it thereafter. I'm thinking the olive oil + butter combination might be the best of both worlds...you get the chewy texture from the oil and flavor from the butter and a bit from using olive oil specifically, too. Next time I make these, I might be tempted to try it with a neutral-flavored oil but truly, the olive oil taste in the actual cookie is fairly mild.
These cookies, while they have all these interesting elements to them, are beautifully easy to make. Might I suggest that when it comes to making chocolate chip cookies, splurge on really good-quality chocolate to ensure deliciousness!
Lately, I've been buying chocolate feves and coarsely chopping them up for chocolate chip cookies - the large pieces and different sizes create these delicious pools of chocolate that almost guarantees an amazing batch of cookies. I used Valrhona 66% dark chocolate feves here. Over Christmas, I treated myself to a Valrhona advent calendar and it really gave me a renewed appreciation for their chocolates.
And when you're using high-quality chocolate, I don't think you need to go too crazy stuffing your chocolate chip cookies with it (though you certainly could). I used 1 cup, or 6 oz., of chocolate for half the original recipe, which I portioned into 15 cookies. It's significantly less chocolate than the original recipe but I thought it was a good amount.
Whenever possible, I prefer to make chocolate chip cookies at least a day ahead and give it time to chill out in the refrigerator to maximum flavor. Chilling the dough also makes for a better shape. DisplacedHousewife has a good tip of freezing the dough balls for 10 minutes before baking - again, this helps the cookies hold its shape and not spread as much during baking. And of course, the best part of this project is baking up the cookies and tasting them!
The cookies bake on the upper rack of a 375 degree oven for just about 11 minutes. They will be puffed and slightly browned but will still look soft and a bit underdone. Let them rest on the baking sheet for a few minutes as they continue to firm up and then remove them to a wire rack. You will end up with sturdy, firm cookies (I don't really love it when they fall apart in my hands) that are soft and wonderfully chewy!
If you love a chewy texture to your chocolate chip cookies, you've got to give these a try! I think this recipe takes the best qualities of other already-good chocolate chip cookies and combine them to make quite a memorable one! I am very happy to have this recipe in my chocolate chip cookie repertoire.
P.S. - I'm writing this after dinner and I just had one of the cookies I baked up yesterday. Boy, they are so good...just as chewy and soft as they were fresh baked!
Update: (January 2018) I recently made these cookies using 1 tablespoon olive oil and 3 tablespoons of canola oil (all else same) and they were delicious. Using mainly the neutral-flavored canola oil eliminated the fruity smell to the cookies (though taste-wise, the olive oil was not overpowering). My son was a huge fan of the revision!
Recipe:
Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from DisplacedHousewife
- For approximately 16 cookies -
3/4 cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 stick (4 tablespoons or 2 oz.) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup good-quality olive oil
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup bread flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 cup (6 oz.) dark chocolate, coarsely chopped or chips
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the brown sugar, butter, oil, and granulated sugar together on medium-speed until fully incorporated. Add egg and vanilla, mixing until blended, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
In a bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and lightly stir together with a sturdy rubber spatula until barely blended (you still want to see streaks of flour in the mixture). Add the chocolate chunks and fold together until just combined. If time permits, cover the dough with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator overnight.
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees and set a rack in the upper third of the oven.
Scoop about 2-tablespoon mounds of cookie dough onto a parchment or silicon-lined baking sheet, spaced about 2 inches apart. Bake cookies for about 11 minutes, when they are puffed and slightly browned but still look a bit underdone. Let cookies sit on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes to set, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
