On Mother’s Day we always have a family cookoff. I really really don’t like going out for brunch to a crowded restaurant. I find it is actually easier to just cook something at home instead of expecting four grandchildren of various ages to sit there and behave themselves for what would be an enjoyable amount of time to eat but the grownups wind up eating fast before anyone gets too restless.
I’m not really a cranky old grandma. Just ask my grandchildren!
It’s just easier at home.
So, we’ll have an early Sunday dinner but before that we will be cooking for the cookoff. This year’s theme is “Chocolate Chip Cookies.”
That could mean anything. The only rules are that the recipe must contain chips and CANNOT be the original Toll House cookie and CANNOT be Grand Finale cookies from my book, Hip Kosher.
I am going to try the variation here. Ed always almost comes to tears when he remembers his mother’s chocolate chip cookies. But she never left a recipe. I remember those cookies as being drier than most and also they looked lumpy, not flat. So I included more flour in this recipe than most standard chocolate chip cookie recipes. I am also adding sea salt at the end because, well, because I think sea salt and sweet chocolate cookies are a swell combo.
And because I am experimenting with coconut oil these days, I added a little of that too.
Also, letting the dough chill out in the fridge gives a firmer texture, if you like your chocolate chippers that way.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup unsalted butter almost at room temperature
2 tablespoons coconut oil
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1-1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
12-14 ounces chocolate, chopped
sea salt
Beat the butter, coconut oil, brown sugar and white sugar together with a mixer at medium speed for about 2 minutes or until creamy and smooth. Add the vanilla extract and eggs and beat them in thoroughly. Mix the flour and baking soda and add to the butter mixture. Blend into a uniform dough. Fold in the chopped chocolate. Chill, if desired, for 2-48 hours. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place parchment on cookie sheets and scoop golf ball size balls of dough and place them on the parchment. Bake for about 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt. Cool the cookies for 2-3 minutes, then remove them to a cake rack to cool completely.
Makes about 48