For Dee

While I have been baking the occassional cheesecake, brownie or muffin for quite a few years now, I have never attempted making my own cookies until a few weeks ago. (OK, so there was that one rather unfortunate time in college when I tried to salvage an overly viscous apple cake batter by shaping it into one gigantic cookie. That cookie-monster turned out to be a barometer of true friendship, since it was eventually polished off by my boyfriend and another male friend who was nursing a crush.)

For some reason, cookies have always seemed to me an insurmountable challenge - a result, embarrasingly enough, of my simple laziness to procure baking sheets. I have however been tempted in the past to try the Neiman Marcus cookie recipe of urban legend, which has appeared in various guises on several websites. Chancing upon the recipe on the Neiman Marcus website itself finally prompted me to run out and buy (disposable) baking sheets and parchment paper.

The chocolate chip cookie I aspired to was more Mrs Fields than Famous Amos, although I adore both. I wanted a moist and chewy cookie that was rich without being dense, with a medium-crumb and slightly airy texture. The Neiman Marcus recipe, which I have included below, distinguishes itself by the addition of coffee powder, which seems to deepen the flavour of the cookie. The recipe also calls for a lower oven temperature and longer baking time than other cookie recipes I have come across. The result, in my own experience, is a chewy but very thin cookie, since the batter has more time to spread in the oven before it starts to set.

To obtain a thicker cookie with more bite, I adapted a recipe from 'The Best Recipe'. This recipe uses an extra yolk as fat to keep the cookies moist without being too runny. While the original recipe calls for melted butter, I used softened butter since creaming this allows more air to be incorporated into the batter, resulting in 'spongier' cookies. I also reduced the original 1/2 cup of white sugar, and used Kahlua instead of vanilla essence to enhance the coffee flavour. Stick to the original specifications if you would like a slightly sweeter, denser cookie.

NM Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened / 1 cup light brown sugar / 3 tablespoons granulated sugar / 1 large egg / 2 teaspoons vanilla extract / 1-3/4 cups all purpose flour / 1/2 teaspoon baking powder / 1/2 teaspoon baking soda / 1/2 teaspoon salt / 1-1/2 teaspoons instant espresso coffee powder / 1-1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cream the butter with the sugars using an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy (approximately 30 seconds).
2. Beat in the egg and the vanilla extract for another 30 seconds.
3. In a mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients and beat into the butter mixture at low speed for about 15 seconds. Stir in the espresso coffee powder and chocolate chips.
4. Using a 1 ounce scoop or a 2 tablespoon measure, drop cookie dough onto a greased cookie sheet about 3 inches apart. Gently press down on the dough with the back of a spoon to spread out into a 2 inch circle. Bake for about 20 minutes or until nicely browned around the edges. Bake a little longer for a crispier cookie.

Yield: 2 dozen cookies

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe (adapted from 'The Best Recipe')
Ingredients:
12 tablespoons (1-1/2 sticks) butter, softened / 1 cup brown sugar / 1/4 cup white sugar / 1 large egg + 1 extra yolk / 2 teaspoons Kahlua / 2 cups plain flour / 1/4 teaspoon baking soda / 1/4 teaspoon salt / 1-1/2 teaspoons instant coffee powder / 1-1/2 cups chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees (approx. 160 degrees Celsius). Cream the butter with the sugars with an electric mixer.
2. Add the eggs and Kahlua and beat until blended.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and coffee powder. Fold into the butter mixture using a spoon until just incorporated (over-mixing will result in a tougher cookie). Stir in the chocolate chips.
4. Chill cookie dough in the fridge for 15 minutes (a colder batter will spread less in the oven). Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Using 2 spoons or your hands, shape the cookie dough into balls slightly smaller than golf balls and place on the cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake for 15 minutes. Cool the cookie sheet under running water before reusing it.

Yield: 2 dozen cookies