butteroil and soy lecithin - yum

melt in your mouth, not in the cookie

Since chocolate chips are not available in Zurich (ok, some specialty American-product online shops offer them), I usually just chop up chocolate bars, which tastes great, if a little melty. But we got some Nestle chips in Paris on our last trip and after weeks of oogling them, we finally decided to put them to good use. Genetically-engineered goodness, here we come.

I used another nostalgic recipe from the beloved mother of my best friend Leslie. All of my recipes produce thin, buttery, crispy numbers that often get hard and crunchy a few minutes out of the oven (as I just found out, these are my husband's favorite). But I long for the tall, cakey, moist version that I never seem to deliver, no matter how much flour I add to my own recipes (more flour is supposed to make them cakey). But finally, success! I love these "guetzlis", as the Swiss would call them. Thanks Leslie, for passing this recipe along.

My 3yr old had lots of fun helping...

let's bake them all close together ... should I smash them too?

can I eat this one? ... ok, just a little bit

Tall, Cakey Chocolate Chip Cookies

adapted from Donna Gonzales' recipe

It deviates only slightly from the standard Nestle version: 1/2 cup more sugar, 1 cup more flour, 1/2 tsp less salt. But these changes make all the difference, producing exactly the consistency I wanted.

1 cup (8oz/225g) butter
(the original calls for 1/2 c butter, 1/2 shortening - I don't bake with shortening, if I can help it)
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
3 ½ cups flour (can vary from 3 – 4 c. flour)
1 pkg (12 oz/340g) chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375F (190C). Whip butter till super fluffy. Add sugars and whip again until super fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and beat about 2 minutes until well incorporated. Sift together dry ingredients then gradulally add to wet ingredients, mixing on slow speed until soft and all flour is incorporated. Add the chocolate chips and mix until evenly distributed. Drop generous tablespoons (leave lumpy for a more interesting texture) onto cookie sheet lined with parchment or Silpat. Bake 8-10 minutes until just barely golden. Immediately transfer to rack to cool.

P.S. My other fav choc chip cookie is the Thick & Chewy version from Cook's Illustrated (of course).