For Comfort, For Courage: One Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe for Two Moods
Perfect GF Chocolate Chip or
White Chocolate
Pernod Pine Nut
INGREDIENTS
1 cup All Purpose GF Flour {I used King Arthur}
½ cup Blanched Almond Flour
4 ounces, or 1 stick Unsalted Butter, room temperature
½ tsp Baking Soda
½ cup Cane Sugar
½ cup Brown Sugar, packed
½ tsp salt
1 egg
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1+ cup coarsely chopped Dark Chocolate Baking Wafers
or
1+cup White Chocolate Chips
¾ cup Pine Nuts
2 tsp. Pernod or Absinthe
1 tsp. of Cinnamon
january 21 2023
My theme for January has been “Supportive Structures / Courageous Flexibility”. What routines energize me? Can I become even more committed to them, without getting rigid about it? As I lean into my commitments, where can I loosen up?
All about that tension and release, my sweet.
Naturally, cooking is one such sacred routine for me. And I doubt anything better captures the dance of structure // spontaneity than working with a recipe. Do we follow instructs to the precise measurement or take them as guidelines? Do we add or omit ingredients? How rigidly do we commit to the structure, how courageously do we experiment?
In the spirit of this month’s theme, I decided to strengthen the foundations of my baking skills by practicing a classic—the chocolate chip cookie. I followed Martha Rose Schulman’s New York Times-sanctioned “Quintessential Chocolate Chip Cookie” recipe, in pursuit of a reliable and replicable cookie I can come back to again and again—maybe even memorize. And let me tell you, her ratios do not disappoint.
But what good is a stalwart structure if you don’t bounce up and down on it ? So I took Martha’s cookies out for a joyride through the volcanic landscape of Sicily. I swapped white chocolate for dark, gluten free flours for wheat, then added pine nuts, cinnamon and Pernod. {And shortened the baking time}.
La fortuna! Molto delizioso! The texture, dare I say, was better. The crispness of the edges and softness of the center that Martha promised, only accentuated. Milky white morsels oozed over the crunchy pine nuts, with a warm hint of cinnamon spice.
I was very prepared to toss out my little play batch, and it is entirely a testament to the strength of the original recipe that this turned out so well.
In short, deliciousness! --Yet again, owed to a dance of discipline with daring.
PREPARATION
Set your butter out to thaw. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Combine flours, salt and baking soda. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, sugars and vanilla. If you are making the white chocolate variation, now add your pernod.
Once combined, gently fold in your dry ingredients being careful not to overmix--then again, these are a resilient cookie.
Add your chocolate, plus pine nuts and cinnamon, if white chocolate variety.
Pop them in the oven and above all, be willing to get it wrong. Cook for 14 minutes, turning the pan in between.
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