Tate's Bakeshop Chocolate Chip Cookies

A lot of my food-blogger friends have been chatting about chocolate chip cookies this week. Specifically, quite a few of them got together and made the NYT Jacques Torres uber chocolate chip cookie. That recipe might be the holy grail of chocolate chip cookie recipes for me as it yields a pretty much perfect chocolate chip cookie, in my opinion. I was in New York City over Labor Day weekend for my Aunt Candy's 60th birthday, and my sister, my dad, and I made a pilgrimage to Jacques's shop (unfortunately, we didn't have time to make it to the original shop in DUMBO). In addition to purchasing some lovely chocolates, we sampled the real deal,uber chocolate chip cookie, and it was so incredibly good! It convinced me that the next time I make them, I'll shell out for the bittersweet chocolate feves.

The Singleton & Sis at Jacques Torres Chocolate. We were on day 3 of wining, dining, and late, late nights here, can you tell?

Well, the Jacques Torres recipe might be my uber chocolate chip cookie, but there are still many good cookies to be had! I think that the Tate's Bakeshop chocolate chip cookie might be the exact opposite of the NYT cookie: it's thin and crispy -- it almost melts in the oven. I first read about this cookie on Cookie Madness, and I was instantly intrigued. Anna makes a lot of cookies, and when she raves about a particular chocolate chip cookie recipe, it really makes me want to try it. I got a used copy of the Tate's Bakeshop Cookbook for a very good price, and I was in business. The first time I made these cookies, I didn't even get a chance to take a picture -- I literally ate them that quickly. I froze half of them, and let me tell you, a bag of these frozen cookies can be a really great self-indulgent dinner! Not that I'd know anything about eating cookies for dinner, not me. So, I immediately placed these in the "very dangerous to make because I can't keep my hands off of them" category, and I didn't make them again for awhile. Then I needed to make some cookies to bring as a hostess gift, and I thought that these would be a great choice. The thing that I really, really like about these cookies for giving purposes is that, because they're already thin and crispy, they have a much better shelf life. I didn't have to worry about people eating them before they got stale (although, really, once you try them, they're seriously addictive).

Tate's Bakeshop Chocolate Chip Cookies
from the Tate's Bakeshop Cookbook

2 cups all-purpose pour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup salted butter
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350-degrees F. Grease two cookie sheets or line them with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In another large bowl, cream the butter and sugars. Add the water and vanilla. Mix the ingredients until they are just combined. Add the eggs and mix them lightly. Stir in the flour mixture until just blended. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Drop the cookies 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets using two tablespoons . Bake for 12 to 17 minutes or until the edges and centers are golden brown. Remove the cookies to a wire rack to cool.


The Singleton's Notes:

Isn't it interesting that the dough has water in it?! This dough is very sticky, though, and I have found that for my purposes, I prefer to roll the dough into logs wrapped in parchment paper and let it chill a bit before I slice the logs into cookies.

You have to watch these cookies carefully towards the end of their baking time. They're so thin that they go from almost done to over done very, very quickly!

They have a wonderful, almost caramel flavor to them, and they're very addictive. I packaged my last batch up as part of a hostess gift, and everyone raved about them!