Wednesday, July 29, 2009

David Leite's Chocolate Chip Cookies, slightly modified

Almost David Leite's choc chip cookies / Ameerika šokolaadiküpsised

Here's what I had for breakfast today - a large cup of coffee, and two gigantic chocolate chip cookies. Following the famous recipe David Leite's Chocolate Chip Cookies pretty closely, I made up a batch of cookie dough on Monday night, and baked 6 large cookies this morning. They weren't bad - I especially liked the slightly chewy inside and crispy edges, and the sprinkling of Maldon sea salt flakes on top of a chocolate cookie is genious. But if I ever make these again, I drastically reduce the amount of sugar in the recipe. I made the mistake of having two of these with my coffee this morning, and that is not something I recommend. I was very close to opening a can of tinned sprats to reduce the effects of all that sugar.

Other than that, I was pretty pleased with the way these spread out and baked. Some foodbloggers mentioned that the cookies were flat - not in my kitchen - they were about 1 cm /just under half an inch/ in the center. I baked large cookies, ca 75 grams each (that's just under 3 oz), which is way larger than what's considered a socially acceptable cookie size outside the US, I'm afraid. I'll share the metric recipe here - if you're cooking and baking in cups and ounces, then please refer to any of the good foodbloggers below.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
(Ameerika šokolaadiküpsised)
Makes a lot, recipe can be halved and the formed unbaked cookies can be frozen

Almost David Leite's choc chip cookies / Ameerika šokolaadiküpsised

480 g all-purpose flour
1.25 tsp baking soda/bicarbonate of soda
1.5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
275 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
200 g soft brown sugar (I used 'fariinsuhkur')
300 g caster sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
500 g dark chocolate, coarsely chopped (at least 60% cacao content)
Maldon sea salt flakes for sprinkling

Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a measuring jug. Put aside.
Using the paddle attachment of a food processor, cream the butter and sugar together for 5 minutes, until it's creamy and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and vanilla extract, and beat until well combined.
Add the flour mixture, and stir just to combine. Fold in the chopped chocolate.
Using your hands, press the dough into a large ball and place in a bowl. Cover with a clingfilm and refridgerate for 36 hours (or up to 72 hours).
Line a baking sheet with a Silpat mat or parchment paper. Using a large ice cream scoop or a similar utensil, scoop out balls of cookie dough, each weighing about 75 grams. Place the cookie dough balls on the baking sheet, leaving plenty of space for spreading (I placed 6 cookie dough balls on my large baking sheet). (Return the remaining dough into the fridge!)
Sprinkle lightly with Maldon sea salt flakes.
Bake in the middle of a pre-heated 175°C oven for 16-18 minutes, until the cookie looks golden on the edges, but is still just pale tanned in the middle.
Remove from the oven, gently transfer onto a metal rack to cool slightly and firm up.
Repeat with the remaining dough.

Some other foodbloggers have tried and tested the recipe:
Molly @ Orangette
Deb @ SmittenKitchen
Stephanie @ Bay Area Bites
Clotilde @ Chocolate & Zucchini (who was smart enough to halve the recipe)
Kristin @ Kitchen Sink Recipes
Pim @ Chez Pim

11 comments:

ChichaJo said...

I have seen these cookies around and they do look incredibly tempting...I can imagine they would be excellent with coffee...not too much though ;)

Anonymous said...

Kas küpsisetainas läheb ahju vormimata, ümmarguse kuhjana või siiski lapiku küpsise kujulisena?

Pille said...

Anon - lihtsalt pallina! Vajub ise laiali. Oluline on see, et pallid on enam-vähem külmkapikülmad - muidu vajuvad liiga laiali.

Patricia Scarpin said...

I haven't tried these yet, Pille, but yours look so tasty!

Saee Koranne-Khandekar said...

This looks like a wonderful recipe!

Kat said...

mmm.. nam. Need näevad tõesti väga head välja.

Andrew said...

They do eat them big in the States don't they...

Alison Arif said...

Cookies for breakfast is very extravagent - I like it!

Liisi said...

Kas kasutad õigeid chocolate chipe või tükeldatud šokolaadi? Kui esimest varianti, siis kust neid saad:) Kui teist, siis kas su meelest ei kipu tükeldatud šokolaad küpsetistes põhja vajuma? Üldse mu meelest päris chipid on jahtudes pehmemad ja suusulavamad.

Lennuk said...

I use something similar to your recipe for making choc chip cookies. But... I leave out caster sugar. It's just toooooo sweet for my taste. Sometimes I add some dried blueberries and personally I love it.

Pierre said...

Great post, love the pictures, I like the Leite cookies smaller like 1.5 oz. Last spring I did side by side testing of a dozen top rated cookie like the Lebovitz, the Baked cookie and several others and to my great surprise the Leite cookie beat my favorite. Anyways if you’re interested checkout my blog. Thanks for the post.