I know what you’re thinking about this blog, and I want to set the record straight. It’s not always about babies. Sometimes it’s about cookies.
Take note, gentle reader. This is the post that will change your life. This is where you learn how to make the most salty-chewy-sour-cherry delicious of all chocolate chip cookies. This is the cookie that will make you stop mid chew, while you’re typing an e-mail to a co-worker at the job that you loathe (totally hypothetical situation) and think: I. Am. AWESOME!!! Just for having baked such an amazing treat. And that last part, you’ll sing! Just like these cookies do.
But don’t take my word for it. (Here’s looking at you LeVar Burton.)
A few words before you begin.
These cookies take approximately 36 hours from start to finish.
Take a moment. It’s okay. I understand.
They have to marinate, if you will, in their own ridiculous juices. I don’t pretend to understand the chemistry of this, I just accept it. Like a religion, but even better. Have faith and you will be rewarded. Like for real. In the corporeal flesh. In the very near future. You can’t beat that with a stick.
Also. These cookies, they’re not cheap. You should use the very best ingredients you can get your hands on. That means real vanilla (not imitation) and a full pound of Ghirardelli chocolate pieces (or even higher quality high cacao bittersweet chocolate).
Oh, and a cranberry flavored with cherry juice does not a cherry make. Yeah, that’s right, Craisins. Dried. Cherries. That’s what you want.
And even more annoying, where applicable, I’ve listed measurements in ounces, which means you’ll need a kitchen scale. Don’t fight it. Just go buy one. Seriously, the cookies are worth it. The New York Times recipe that my recipe is adapted from lists measurements in ounces and also in cups, but I can’t vouch for the cookie made without a scale. Why even risk it?
So. Let’s just all take a deep breath and embrace the fact that these cookies are neither cheap or easy to make.
I should also say that the Fancy Pants were inspired by this cookie at the Metropolitan Bakery and the aforementioned recipe from The New York Times that I found on the food blog Orangette.
After making my first batch, I knew I was on to something.
And that, friends, is when my life began in earnest.
Fancy Pants Cookies
Adapted from The New York Times, David Leite, and Jacques Torres via Orangette
makes about 2 1/2 dozen
8 1/2 ounces cake flour
8 1/2 ounces bread flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
10 ounces light brown sugar
8 ounces granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
1 pound bittersweet chocolate, at least 60 percent cacao
1 bag of dried cherries (about 8 ounces)
Sea salt.
Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder, and kosher salt together into large bowl. Set aside.
Using the paddle attachment of your mixer, cream butter and sugars until fluffy (a few minutes). Add eggs, mixing well after each one. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce mixer speed to low and attach plastic pouring shield (this thing here) to mixing bowl. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture until just combined. ***IMPORTANT*** Do not over mix! Pour chocolate pieces and cherries into batter and mix briefly. Press plastic wrap on top of dough as well as plastic on the top of the bowl and refrigerate for 36 hours.
36 impatient hours later, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Use an ice cream scoop to fashion six generous sized balls of dough per cookie sheet. Sprinkle dough with sea salt. Place one sheet (and mixing bowl of remaining dough) back in the refrigerator. Put the other cookie sheet in the oven. Bake cookies for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden, turning baking sheet about halfway through cook time. Place cookies on wire racks to cool. Repeat with remaining dough.
