The Racial Harmony Chocolate Chip Cookie

If all these chips can coexist in deliciousness, shouldn’t we?

 

Remember going to the mall when you were a kid? When I was young, close to 1000 years ago, malls were the center of all teenage social activity. It’s where we looked for girls (emphasis on looked), played video games at the arcade, watched movies and ate junk at the food court. Upwards of 8 hours daily could be spent at the mall. Everyone was there, it was like a live Facebook, except local. In the late 70’s early 80’s, an oasis magically appeared at the mall in the form of a kiosk.

Mrs Fields cookies. The love affair began. Fresh, warm cookies from the on-site ovens producing these large, homemade style chocolate chip cookies that was unprecedented for malls. America lost their collective minds and stopping by that heavenly kiosk became a must with every mall trip, which meant daily. The only issue was price point. 1 cookie could cost $1.50! Outrageous for 1985, especially as a broke college student. As with everything in my household, if you really wanted something, you had to make it yourself.

The title “The Racial Harmony Chocolate Chip cookie” came long after the cookie itself. For years I had been throwing different chips into the dough just for variety sake really. Variety is the spice of life, right? I thought it made for a more interesting flavor profile without taking away from the essence of the chocolate chip cookie which is rather simple ingredients, same basic process. I took a couple of things away from seeing the real Debbi Fields in an interview in the 80’s. She said she baked her cookies at a lower temp (under 300F/149C) and immediately removed them from the baking sheet directly to the cooling rack. Baking them until they are slightly under cooked and giving them about a minute on the baking sheet before removing them has been my method. I refrigerate my dough for at least an hour before baking and, most importantly, use different chips. Milk, dark, white, Cappucino (Guittard made a to-die-for brand that they inexplicably discontinued, but I found a Gold Chocolate chip that Callebaut makes that are equal http://surfasonline.com. 

I work part-time at a very diverse place. I mentioned in one of my earlier blogs on how there’s always food there for us to snack on throughout the day and they love everything I make. While standing up in and announcing my latest one day, it occurred to me that having all different shades of chocolate chips in one cookie, to me, symbolized racial harmony. I mean, think about it. If white, dark, milk, gold, mocha, espresso and any other chips can come together and make a fabulous treat, shouldn’t we as a society follow similar themes?

The Racial Harmony Chocolate Chip Cookie

Ingredients:

1 cup butter (128g) softened, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups (192g) packed brown sugar, light or dark no preference

1/2 cup (64g) sugar

1 heaping Tablespoon (15ml) pure vanilla extract

1/4 tsp (1.25g) espresso powder

2 eggs

1 tsp (4g) baking powder

1 tsp (4g) baking soda

2 1/2 cups (12oz, 320g) all purpose flour

pinch kosher salt

2 cups (256g, 9oz) Chocolate chips, variety…I used:

Guittard White and Milk chocolate chips http://guittard.com

Callebaut Gold chocolate chips from Surfas http://surfasonline.com

Cappucino mini decorating baking chips from Oh Nuts! http://www.ohnuts.com

62% Cacao Dark chocolate chunks (local grocery store http://www.kroger.com

Cream together the butter, sugars, vanilla and espresso powder in a medium bowl with an electric or stand mixer (even by hand) until well combined, add eggs and mix until smooth. 2 to 3 minutes.

Measure flour, baking powder and soda and sift through a strainer for lumps. Add half of the chips into flour and slowly add dry mixture to the wet mixture and blend. Careful not to over mix. I usually go until I can’t see any more flour, stop and finish combining by hand, folding in the rest of the chips.

Cover with plastic wrap (clean film) and refrigerate for an hour

Preheat oven to 290 degrees F or 144 degrees C

With spoons or an ice cream scoop, spoon rounded portions onto a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet. Place at least 2 inches apart. Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until just slightly browning on the sides. Remove to a cooling rack and give cookies a couple of minutes for carry over cooking time. Serve warm and try to eat in moderation. You can freeze the dough balls in a freezer bag and enjoy them in portions instead of, like me, all at once. Enjoy!

Makes about 50 cookies

Do you have a Favorite cookie?

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