Cookie Fest 2009

Our journey began when we wanted to know what the best chocolate chip cookie recipe was. Our passion for eating cookies combined with viewing the recently released Julie and Julia sparked the need to have a cookie bake off.

Chocolate chip cookies are nothing more than flour, eggs, sugar, leavening agents, salt, and chocolate. Who knew that they could all taste completely different.

The night included:

10 bakers

28 different cookie

3 cookie categories: classic chocolate chip, the ultimate chocolate chip plus and specialty.

10 winners, because we all were able to taste every single cookie!

The day began early.

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The cookies went under cover.

Flowers were the theme for the night. Labeling helped us judge and focus on the taste, texture, appearance of the cookie and after taste, not the baker. (I apologize for spelling Jasmine wrong, sugar eats brains).

The judging was intense.

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It all came down to the final votes.

In the chocolate chip cookie category:

First Place Winner

Megan Bean

Thick & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 18 large cookies.

• 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly (1 1/2 sticks)
• 1 cup brown sugar (light or dark)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1-2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions. Mix flour, salt, and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.

Either by hand or with electric mixer, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Mix in egg, yolk, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients; mix until just combined. Stir in chips.

Form scant 1/4 cup dough into ball. Holding dough ball using fingertips of both hands, pull into two equal halves. Rotate halves ninety degrees and, with jagged surfaces exposed, join halves together at their base, again forming a single cookie, being careful not to smooth dough’s uneven surface. Place formed dough onto parchment paper-lined cookie sheets.

Bake, reversing cookie sheets’ positions halfway through baking, until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft and puffy, 15 to 18 minutes. Cool cookies on cookie sheets.

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Really close to being First Place Winner

Tami Bean

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from New York Times and Jacques Torres

Time: 45 minutes (for 1 6-cookie batch), plus at least 24 hours’ chilling

• 2 cups minus 2 tablespoons cake flour
• 1 2/3 cups bread flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
• 2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter
• 1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves, at least 60 percent cacao content
• Sea salt.

1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.

3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.

4. Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day. Eat warm, with a big napkin.

Yield: 1 1/2 dozen 5-inch cookies.

Dessert backwards spells stressed. So when you feel it coming get baking!

It was a SWEET night ladies!