AB's "Puffy" Chocolate Chip Cookies

I’m always on the hunt for the “perfect” chocolate chip cookie recipe. Over the years I must have tried 20, 30, may be 40 different recipes. Recently I ran across Alton Brown’s “Puffy” Chocolate Chip Cookies and decided to give it a try.

Hummm. Mine didn’t come out very “puffy” looking. They tasted good and the edges were crispy and the center soft and gooey, but they definitely didn’t puff to any great degree.

I did make one slight modification and one major addition to Alton's recipe. I didn’t have any butter flavored shortening so I used regular shortening and added 2 teaspoons of butter flavor. I also added 3 ozs of finely grated chocolate. My moto: The more chocolate the better.


Here is the flour going into the mix...


And the chocolate chips being added. I used semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips and semi-sweet chunks.


Here is my niece, Amanda, doing her “I love chocolate” dance. She got her chocolate loving gene from our side of the family. Her Mom doesn't like chocolate. Have you ever heard such a thing!!!!


Here are the cookies hot out of the oven. There is a little "puff", but they flattend as they cooled. Sigh.


A closer look at the crispy edges and gooey center. And look at those lovely flecks of grated chocolate. Yumm.


So in the final analysis, the cookies were very good. They were intensely sweet and chocolaty, and they had crunchy edges and soft, moist centers. But if I had to make a choice, I think I still prefer the Neiman-Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. The Neiman-Marcus cookie has more bulk and dare I say, more puffiness.



The Puffy (Chocolate Chip Cookie) from Alton Brown

1 cup butter-flavored shortening (I used 1 cup regular shortening + 2 teaspoon butter flavor)
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt (I used popcorn salt )
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used a mixture of semisweet and milk chocolate)

1. Sift together the cake flour, salt and baking powder. Set aside.
2. Combine the shortening, sugar, and brown sugar in a bowl, and cream until light and fluffy.
3. Add eggs one at a time to the creamed mixture.
4. Add the vanilla (and butter flavoring). Increase the speed to medium and mix until thoroughly incorporated.
5. Set the mixer to low and slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Stir until well combined.
6. Using a spatula, stir in the chocolate chips.
7. Chill the dough while the oven preheats.
8. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
9. Scoop dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets, 6 per sheet. I used about 2 Tablespoons of dough for each cookie. Alton said to use a #20 disher (5 Tablespoons ??), but a cookie that size is just too big for me.
10. Bake for 9 minutes or until the edges are golden brown and the center is still pale. Alton said to bake for 13 minutes, but that is for his much larger cookie. My smaller cookies were done in 9 minutes.
    

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

I'm a big fan of Alton Brown and the Food Network's "Good Eats" show. I love Alton's quirky skits and how he uses cheap, everyday props to explain the chemistry behind the cooking/baking process. The episode on Overnight Cinnamon Rolls was one of my favorites, but I have to be honest I was too intimated by the whole yeast/proofing/rising thing to give them a try. Until this past weekend that is.

Ta Da. Behold my Overnight Cinnamon Rolls. Not too shabby, Eh?

The process WAS time consuming, but not too difficult.

First mix the eggs, sugar, butter, and buttermilk .


Add half the flour along with the yeast and salt.


Mix the dough until still soft, but not sticky.


Turn the dough out of the mixer and kneed by hand for 30 seconds. Place in a bowl for the first rising. I had a moment of panic at this stage. I was already cooking something in the oven and the microwave, so I couldn't put the dough in there to rise. It was a rainy, humid day and the AC had the house downright cold.

Where to put the dough?

I was stumped.

I don't bake bread often (meaning never) so I don't have any tricks to fall back on. In my panic I put the bowl inside the dryer. I sorry, sorry, sorry, but it was the only warm place in the house! Is that unsanitary? Is that totally gross? I had the bowl tightly covered and the dryer is brand new (about a month old), but I still whisper to myself, "How could you DO THAT?"

Once I was finished with the microwave, I transferred the (still tightly covered) bowl from the dryer to microwave for the rest of the rising cycle. I'm so embarrassed.

Next I rolled out the dough and sprinkled it with the cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Then rolled the dough into a tube and sliced it into twelve parts.

Into the buttered pan the rolls went and then into the refrigerator for an overnight stay.

The next morning, the rolls along with a pan of boiling water went into the cold oven for 30 more minutes of proofing.

And then the baking. Here they are just out of the oven. Warm and amazingly fragrant.


And the final product.

In the final analysis AB's Overnight Cinnamon Rolls were good but not great. I found them a little bready and they didn't have enough ooey, gooey, sticky filling for my taste. I read almost all of the 225+ reviews this recipe received on the Food Network page and found a few reasons why my cinnamon rolls weren't "to-die-for" [#1 The first rising needs to be longer than 2 1/2 hours (some suggest up to 8 hours). #2 Roll the dough really thin (too thick and the roll will taste bready), #3 more filling WITH pecans].

Next, and there will be a next time, time they will taste awesome.