Olivia’s Old-Fashioned Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cool 15 minutes before eating? What? Like that happened.

I blame Peabody for this. (And she's posted more from the book since then.) I'm hooked on this cookbook. Cookies seemed like the easiest starting point, with the end goal being a yeast baby bread. Wish me luck.

But back to the cookies. Lovely. I don't know how big the cookies would be if I'd really only made 16 from the dough... we probably ended up with around 30. It was hard to wait an hour for the dough to chill in the fridge, but worth it. I also only baked the second and third batch 12 minutes each. The first set seemed too crunchy, almost dry. (gasp!) 12 minutes seemed to do the trick.

I wish we had some ice cream lounging around, so I could make sammiches with the extra cookies. (Not that they'll last all that long anyhow.)

Olivia’s Old-Fashioned Chocolate Chip Cookies
From Leslie Mackie’s Macrina Bakery and Café Cookbook

“This recipe, Macrina’s version on the traditional Toll House classic, makes the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever tasted. The recipe is actually named after two special Olivias: my daughter and the grandmother of our pastry chef, Karra Wise.”

Makes 16 cookies.

2 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup vegetable shortening, at room temperature
¾ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Add chocolate chips and mix well with a spoon. Set aside.

Combine butter, shortening, granulated sugar and light brown sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment, mix on medium speed for about 5 minutes, until the mixture is smooth and pale in color. Add 1 egg and mix until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then add the remaining egg and vanilla extract. Continue mixing until incorporated, about 1 minute. Remove the bowl from the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl again.

Using a rubber spatula, fold half of the dry ingredients into the dough. After the first batch is fully incorporated, fold in the rest of the dry ingredients and continue folding until all of the flour has been absorbed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. At this point the dough can be formed into cookies or stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.

Scoop dough out of the bowl (I like to use a medium ice cream scoop) and roll the dough into 2-inch balls. Place 8 balls on each baking sheet, leaving 3 inches between each ball. Flatten the balls with the palm of your hand to about 1 inch thick. Place 1 sheet of cookies in the refrigerator while baking the other sheet.

Bake cookies, 1 sheet at a time, on center rack of oven for 15 to 18 minutes each. To help the cookies bake evenly, rotate the baking sheet every 4 minutes or so. The finished cookies will be golden brown around the edges, and still light in the center. Let cool on the baking sheet for 15 minutes. The cooled cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.