Recipe Spotlight: Sarah’s Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies
If wine with chocolate chip cookies wasn’t a thing, it is now. This cookie recipe and wine pairing was provided to us by our very own Allie Quady, but credit goes to Allie’s friend Sarah for her recipe and for allowing us to share it with you!
What is the alchemy of creating a cookie that hits all the right flavor notes and is moist and chewy, rather than flat, crispy, or doughy? I had a life altering cookie experience at my friend Sarah’s house a little while ago that had me asking the question and I finally got her recipe. In it I learned a few secrets of cookie alchemy, like dough refrigeration, rolled oats, quality bittersweet chocolate chips, and flaky sea salt. Sarah’s chocolate chip cookies are legendary in our neighborhood, and they make a fantastic pairing with Quady red dessert wines: Red Electra Moscato, Elysium Black Muscat or Starboard.
This cookie recipe mimics the Ghirardelli chocolate chip cookie recipe found on the back of their package with three important differences: the amount of flour, the addition of rolled oats, sea salt flakes, and at least 24 hours of dough refrigeration. Refrigerating the dough makes a big difference because chilling the fats in the butter before baking means it will take longer for the butter to warm up, also the sugar in the dough absorbs liquid in the dough over time, and these things mean a cookie that spreads less and browns more. Also, as a result of refrigeration, the cookies have a darker color and better flavor and texture. The addition of the oats improves the texture, and the oats soften further in refrigeration. This was my first time baking with Ghirardelli chocolate chips, being from a Nestlé Toll House household myself, and I am a convert. You can use any chocolate you prefer, but the Ghirardelli chocolate chips are bigger than others and this makes for an extremely satisfying amount of chocolate in every bite.
Ingredients:
1 cup Butter, softened
3/4 cup Sugar or sugar substitute such as coconut sugar works well
3/4 cup Brown sugar, packed, coconut sugar also works well here
2 Eggs, large
2 teaspoons Vanilla
2 1/8 cups Flour, unsifted
1 cup Rolled oats
1 teaspoon Baking soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 cup Walnuts or pecans, chopped
2 cups Ghirardelli Bittersweet 60% Cacao Baking Chips
Pinches Sea salt flakes
Preparation:
Stir flour with baking soda and salt; set aside.
In large mixing bowl, beat butter with sugar and brown sugar at medium speed until creamy and lightened in color.
Add eggs and vanilla one at a time. Mix on low speed until incorporated.
Gradually blend dry mixture into creamed mixture.
Gradually blend in oats.
Stir in walnuts and chocolate chips.
Spoon dough out onto parchment paper and arrange it into a long roll, about 2 inches in diameter. Roll parchment paper around it and twist the edges to seal, like a tootsie.
Place dough in refrigerator for at least 24 hours, up to 36 hrs.
When you are ready to bake, preheat oven to 375.
Cut rounds about ¾ inch wide and place on an ungreased baking sheet
Top each round with generous pinches of sea salt flakes
Bake for 10 minutes
If you don’t want to cook the whole batch, take the rounds you aren’t baking after refrigerating and put them in a freezer bag to store in the freezer. Then you can take a few frozen rounds at a time and bake them as you want them.