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.
