Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I'm the kind of person who likes to keep chocolate chip cookie dough on hand in case of emergencies. Now I just need to find one of those break-in-case-of-emergency glass boxes to keep in the freezer. I baked up the last of a batch I had chillin' last night for dinner at Judi's. (Delicious corn pie, by the way Jud). It's nice to be able to make something homemade even when you've worked a full day.

Since I'm watching my waistline, it will be a while before I re-stock this staple but I wanted to share this well-traveled recipe. It's an Alton Brown recipe that I found on Joy the Baker's blog. I love them both. Wouldn't dinner with the two of them be such a special treat? I always hoped that I would run into Alton when I went grocery shopping in Atlanta since many of his shows included scenes from familiar stores, but no luck. And Joy always has such great stories to go with her featured recipes, which are insanely delicious. Our dinner would go like this - Alton would start explaining the scientific properties of our dinner and Joy would tell him to just eat it, we still have chocolate cake to get to. That's what I love about each of them. Wow, what wild fantasies I have.

I've made the recipe several times following the directions to the T, but for this latest batch I was short on baking soda. I only had half of what the recipe calls for, so I used half baking powder. It made the cookies even better! I also chop up chocolate instead of using chips, so they're actually chocolate chunk cookies.


Here is my slightly modified version:

• 226 g. (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 2 1/4 c. bread flour
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt (original recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of kosher salt)
  
• 1/2 t. baking soda
• 1/2 t. baking powder
  
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 1 egg + 1 egg yolk
• 2 T milk
• 1 1/2 t.vanilla extract
• 2 c. semisweet chocolate chunks
  

Melt butter and set aside. Sift together flour, salt, bs, and bp, set aside. Cream butter and sugars on medium speed, add egg, yolk, milk, and vanilla. Slowly add flour mixture and finally stir in chocolate chunks. Chill for at least 15 minutes before scooping out onto baking sheet. The original directions advise you to use parchment paper and I do sometimes, but you can also use a non-stick sheet - just be sure to get the cookies off quickly so that they stop cooking.

Bake at 190C (375F) for 14 minutes, turning the pan halfway through cooking time for evenly baked cookies. The directions also make 6 big cookies per sheet, but smaller ones taste just as great. If you opt for smaller cookies, bake for 12 minutes.

I freeze the dough in airtight containers for up to a month - they don't seem to last that long though. ;)