Saturday, January 26, 2013

Deep dish chocolate chip cookies

We all know cookies are the greatest. And if you know that, deep dish cookies just might be the next step. The next step up.



I'm a sucker for any cookie- or brownie-like thing with ice cream. Particularly the black and tan brownie with Tillamook vanilla bean ice cream from McMenamins. I don't know what my deal is, but I can never hold back. Which is a problem. Because we go there almost weekly. And Zack makes fun of me because it's not like this brownie is the best brownie there ever was, but it just always hits the spot.

What is it about cookies (or brownies, for that matter) with milk? I think it's the way the warm cookie counter balances the cold milk. Or the way the cookie soaks up the ice cream. Or maybe it's just sweet and that's why everyone likes it.


This all comes down to a wonderful recipe, found on Pinterest, from a blog called the White on Rice Couple.


Deep dish chocolate chip cookies w/ vanilla Tillamook ice cream

As adapted from the White on Rice Couple, whose cookie dough recipe was adapted from The Professional Pastry Chef.


Yields: 8 deep dish cookies (each cookie is a good amount to share between two people)

Ingredients for cookie dough:

3/4 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 cup unsalted butter
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
3 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 pound dark chocolate chunks, cut into 1/2 inch chunks or smaller (I chopped a mixture of milk and Semi-sweet chocolate chips because that is what I happened to have on hand) 

Vanilla ice cream
8 4-inch ramekins


Note: There are many options for this recipe. If using this cookie dough for regular sized cookies (versus deep dish), follow cooking instructions as found here. Otherwise, use the instructions as follows, below. You may choose to bake 4 deep dish cookies, and save the remaining 4 in the freezer for later use. Also, you may choose to fill 4 ramekins with dough and then roll the remaining dough into slightly flattened balls to freeze and bake later, if you don't want 8 deep dish cookies. If doing this, put your formed cookie dough balls on a baking sheet so they are not touching each other, put the baking sheet into the freezer until cookie dough is frozen, then transfer frozen cookie dough balls into a freezer bag to store. Bake your frozen cookie dough (no need to thaw, unless you want to) at the original temperature the recipe calls for, but bake for a few minutes longer than instructed.



Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (or 350 degrees F for convection oven). Beat together butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until light and fluffy in a mixer with the paddle attachment. Add eggs, vanilla extract, and salt; mix to combine. Sift flour and baking soda into a separate mixing bowl; stir into batter and mix until combined. Add chocolate and mix. Fill your 8 ramekins evenly with raw cookie dough. Place ramekins on a rimmed baking sheet and put on middle rack in preheated oven. Bake until the top of the cookies turn pretty golden, about 25 minutes. (This baking time is pretty approximate, so keep an eye on your cookies once you hit 20 minutes and monitor until desired doneness is reached.) Remember you want them slightly undercooked and soft in the middle, but not doughy. Remove from oven, top with a couple scoops of ice cream, and enjoy. 




I apologize for the very long "notes" section in this post. The original recipe recommends filling the ramekins a 1/2 inch full, but they did not account for all the dough that would be left over. Hence, I filled mine a little fuller and opted to freeze some of them to pull out in the future to enjoy. As stated earlier, the options for dealing with your abundance of cookie dough are endless. Furthermore, feel free to enjoy with any ice cream you like. I am partial to Tillamook ice cream; we used old-fashioned vanilla, but I'm sure vanilla bean would be lovely as well.




This cookie dough is very good. It has a lot of butter and flour for a reason. This is definitely an indulgence. But what would life be without some of those once in awhile? Everything in moderation. Enjoy your indulgence. Cheers.

No comments:

Post a Comment