I’m so excited to let you know that I’m in the process of starting a whole new blog. Trissalicious has always been and will always be a personal blog but in addition to this, I’ve decided to start another blog called The Cooking Basics. The blog will focus on the basics of cooking which I think is important for any cook to know – for example, how to make stocks, sauces, types of cooking techniques – think almost everything you wanted to learn in culinary school without taking any exams! Over the next few weeks I’ll be busy on content and lay-out but I am confident it will happen sooner rather than later. So check back in a few weeks when I give you the new blog address and the first installment.
But enough about that – let’s move on to these gorgeous cookies…
I like to think, that when it comes to chocolate chip cookies, I am an expert. After all, I was once a director of “The Practically Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie Company” – the other directors included my brother and two other sisters. The PPCCC started when my Dad, a then subscriber to a U.S. based magazine called Consumer Reports, stumbled upon an article featuring chocolate chip cookies. At the end of the article was their recipe for what they considered to be one that was practically perfect. We tried the recipe, loved it, and loved the name of the cookie and decided that other people would love it too. So with the encouragement of our parents, we started selling chocolate chip cookies – first to friends and family, then we sold to classmates and then decided to start selling to schools and offices around Manila.
At the peak of our business, we had to rent a separate kitchen, hire three bakers and three men who would ride their PPCCC motorcycles to deliver the chocolate chip cookies around Manila. But I guess, the one thing I am personally most proud of was that the business generated enough money such that none of us “directors” needed to receive an allowance from my Mom and Dad during the life of the business.
When each of us graduated and started working, there was less inclination to concentrate on the business and eventually we closed the business down. But, I still like to think that each of us is still a pretty good judge of what makes a great chocolate chip cookie.
While I would like to give credit to Thomas Keller for his chocolate chip cookie recipe, truth is, equal credit has to be given to one of my recently discovered favourite blogs, Food Gal. I’ve had the Ad Hoc book for a couple of months now but strangely enough, had never come across the cookie recipe. It was while pouring over her blog one day that I chanced upon her review of Ad Hoc’s chocolate chip cookie. She mentioned there were a few things that set this cookie apart from the rest, in particular, how (and I am just copying verbatim):
You start with butter that’s cold, not softened at room temperature.
You beat in said butter half at a time.
Two specific types of chocolate are used: 55 percent, and 70 to 72 percent.
You chop the chocolate, then sift it to remove tiny fragments so that the cookies bake up with a neater appearance.
Sweetness is provided mostly by dark brown sugar, not light.
There is no vanilla extract added.
And if you prefer softer-textured cookies, you don’t underbake them. Instead, you mist them with water before baking.
So I made them this weekend as it was a great excuse for me to try out * Lindt’s new 70% Cocoa Specialty Cooking Chocolate and their 50% Dark Cocoa Excellence Chocolate range. After all, I’ve always thought that when you are making something as simple as a cookie, you’d better make sure to use the best ingredients you can.
I knew instinctively when I saw this recipe it would be good… when I tried them – I knew they were but of course, I couldn’t be absolutely sure – so I called another meeting with former Practically Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie Company Directors and asked their opinion. They said it was a little bit crispy on the outside, chewy in the middle and full of chocolatey goodness.
They judged it to be… practically perfect.
Chocolate Chip Cookie – from Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc (I’ve converted to metric)
- 295 grams flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 140 grams 50% chocolate, cut into chip sized pieces
- 140 grams 70% chocolate, cut into chip sized pieces
- 225 grams cold butter, cut into small pieces
- 200 grams brown sugar
- 170 grams granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- Position the oven racks in the lower and upper thirds of the oven and preheat the over to 350C. Line two baking sheets with silpats or parchment paper.
- Sift the flour and baking soda into a medium bowl. Stir in the salt.
- Put the chips in a fine-mesh basket strainer and shake to remove any chocolate “dush” (optional).
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat half the butter on medium speed until fairly smooth. Add both sugars and the remaining butter, and beat until well combined, then beat for a few minutes, until the mixture is light and creamy.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until the first one is incorporated before adding the next and scraping the bowl as necessary.
- Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed to combine.
- Mix in the chocolate.
- Remove the bowl from the mixed and fold the dough with a spatula to be sure that the chocolate is evenly incorporated.
- The dough or shaped cookies can be refrigerated, well wrapped, for up to 5 days or frozen for up to two weeks.
- Freeze shaped cookies on the baking sheet until firm then transfer to freezer containers. (Defrost frozen cookies overnight in the refrigerator before baking.)
- Using about 2 level tablespoons per cookie, shape the dough into balls. Arrange 8 cookies on each pan, leaving about 2 inches between them, because the dough will spread.
- Bake for 12 minutes, or until the tops are no longer shiny, switching the position and rotating the pans halfway through baking.
- Cool the cookies on the pans on cooling racks for about 2 minutes to firm up a bit, then transfer to the racks to cool completely.
- Repeat to bake the remaining cookies. The cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
*Thank you to Lindt Australia for providing me with such delicious chocolates.
… and what about the new blog you mentioned? where can we find it?
Great initiative! I’ll be checking out the basics for sure!
I miss these. Inspired me to make my own CCCs too. But the best were nightly walks to Shell and check out the inventory of Bad Habit and to smell G A S! Hahaha. Pancake House asked me to supply 365 cookies daily to their branches a few years ago. Didn’t have the manpower, or even an oven big enough. Darn…
I’ve made these a few times now, and they are really fantastic cookies. I’ve taken to adding some vanilla, though, because I find the taste a bit flat without it; the vanilla make the rest of the flavors come alive.
Trissa I think that is the most gorgeous picture of cookies I’ve ever seen in my life ever. WOW.
And I love the recipe… the ingredients look really similar to those in the Nigella dense choc cake I made recently! Brown sugar makes such a difference truly… Pierre Herme’s awesome world peace cookies ask for brown sugar too. Funny thing is I was considering mixing dark choc types for the cake (I had 55% and 70% in the refrigerator!) but decided to stick with convention. I might just mix ’em up the next time =)
wow they look pretty thin and crisp! i prefer my extra chunky cookies :O) but thanks for those awesome tips trissa you’re the best
Hi Trissa!
Those cookies looks yummy; pretty unconventional way of making it, I’ll give it a try next time I make a batch of cookies . Loooking forward to your new blog 🙂
I am excited too, finally I can ask the basic questions without being embarrassed! Thank you Trissa yet again! 🙂
gorgeous Trissa. Will give these a go. good luck with new blog- looking forward to seeing it!
Can’t go wrong with Thomas Keller’s recipe! I’ve been making a lot of chewy cookies lately. Time to switch to your luscious-looking cookies. Looking forward to seeing your new website ;~)
Wow, these cookies look so delicious! Yummy!
Can’t wait for the new blog! I still need to learn a lot of basics and non-basics!
Love that cookie!
Another blog! That sounds ambitious… I’ll be sure to check it out. I’ve never taken a cooking class so I have a lot to learn.
It’s awesome to know you are starting a new blog. Would love to visit.
Your cookies look very thin and delicious.I do love chocolate chips cookies crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Would love to try this. Thanks for sharing.
I look forward to reading ur new blog…..free culinary school for me! tq for dropping by and those cookies are what my kids and grandkids would die for! im bookmarking them for sure MMM-HMMMMMM :))) u have an absolutely beautiful blog n ur fotos are amazing. so glad we met.
its been forever since ive baked cookies
maybe because i was so frustrated with so many recipes.
this looks like a winner! thanks 🙂
lovely picture of the lindt chocs btw!
The cookies look brilliant, Tris! And I am waiting for the new blog 😉
Oh yum! Look at that chocolate! Good luck on the new blog – such a great idea!
great idea ..your new blog will surely be a hit..the cookies well they are just heavenly..yum
sweetlife
Excited about the new blog, Trissa, am sure it’ll be as good as we all imagine!
In the meantime we can appease ourselves with these cookies 🙂
Trissa, Cool ! Thanks for sharing the cooking basics. How do you know that I love to learn how to cook without taking any exams, haha… Love to learn cooking because of eating, not testing. Can’t wait to view your new blog. I’ll definitely subscribe it.
I am going to definitely try the recipe! I am a die-hard lover of bittersweet chocolates and chocolate chip cookies and I have been planning to make a batch for the first time.
Your photos are absolutely mouth-watering!
I am really excited about your new blog – and this cookie recipe will go into my pile of BEST chocolate chip cookie recipes. I use them twice a year with my grade 8’s. Each kitchen (and I have 6) and each class (and I have 3 in grade 8) bake one BEST chocolate chip cookie recipe… then we taste them all out of 6 and TRY to pick a favourite. It is hard. I get to try all 18 recipes… and that makes it almost impossible. But my favourites are always the flat wrinkly ones like yours are.
🙂
Just a note – Have you ever done a chocolate tasting? I used to love the70, 80 and 90% Lindt bars until I did a chocolate tasting. It was a massive eye opener. (I posted the Tasting sometime in February) but it is a great idea to invite a friend over after buying some different chocolates and try them side by side.
Cheers!
Valerie
Trissa, congratulations on you new blog! The cookies look fabulous…could take one right now 😉
Great cookies! I never could get my cookies right. It is great you are creating another blog. I can’t wait to read it.
Wooohoo!! awesome!! looking forward to the new site!! :))
I’m going to have to try your (or Keller’s) PPCCcookies! If your PP committee thought they were good, they must be. They look delicious.
I think your idea for the new blog is a great one, Trissa. Everyone needs to know the basics. You should be sure to add something that allows readers to ask questions.
Hmmm … crispy cookies goodness. Please bring back PPCCC – I’d buy those cookies from you any day.
Looking forward to reading about your second blog. You’re amazing – I have enough difficulties with maintaining just one blog 🙂
Congrats on your new blog Trissa! I am excited to see it already!
blowing peachkisses
The Peach Kitchen
peach and things
Thin chocolate chip cookies – do they mean crispy? Like how you combine 50% and 70% chocolate. Looking forward to your new blog 🙂
So so yum and no wonder it’s so rich… Made of lindt!! Wow.
Hi. I saw your photo of these delicious cookies on Foodgawker and just had to come take a closer look.
I have the same book and can’t wait to try these out!
They look perfect indeed. a new site sounds exciting, can’t wait for the launch 😉
Wow these sound and look perfect indeed! Very specific instructions too hee hee which probably means I will stuff them up haha
Congrats on the launch of The Cooking Basics!
I know what it’s like I have a favourite choc chip cookie and am reluctant to try other recipes but sometimes you just have to. It’s great when you have success and learn something new.
Hey Trissa, my Mom is sitting here with me, and she just looked at the screen to see what I was doing and said ‘Mmh, that picture looks so good’.
By the way, I really think the idea of your new blog is great. I love sites that give me info on basic things and especially techniques that are unfamiliar to me. And I’m a experienced restaurant girl, so I can only imagine how much this would help most…
Dear Trissa – That story is brilliant! As an ex-small business owner love how heartwarming and inspiring it is. And you are right – you are the veritable critic for perfect CCCookies’s!
I love how you’ve combined you own experience with Keller’s recipe. Right there you’ve got such a great head start and combined with your own knowledge…nothing short of perfection.
You have me hooked…next time I fix a batch…it will be yours!
Ciao, Devaki @ weavethousandflavors
Wow, sometimes nothing beats a freshly baked choc chip cookie! Love the idea of your cooking basics blog, can’t wait to see it!
Congratulations on your new blog idea. Sounds like it will be a success!
Hi Trissa,
One of the former directors of PPCCC got us to try your cookies yesterday – and they were divine! I love them. I actually don’t really like chocolate chip cookies – probably for exactly the same reasons you nominate this one as ‘practically perfect”. But this one is just about practically perfect.
I was keen to read the recipe and give it a go…but then sifting, freezing, defrosting made me tired just thinking about it. But then I guess they are not practically perfect for no reason!
If I get a spare hour between looking after my one-year old I’ll give them a go…otherwise if you decide to go back into business I’ll definitely be a customer!!!
Thanks Trissa, they were delicious…and thanks Milou as well 🙂
Cheers
Lisa
So glad you liked the chocolate chip cookie recipe. It’s a real winner, huh! Your pics remind me that it’s high-time I baked up another batch of these beauties. 😉
Congratulations on starting The Cooking Basics! How do you have the time?!
Those cookies look and sound yummy! Thank you for sharing the tips from Thomas Keller! I particularly like the tip on misting the dough for moister cookies.
wow a new blog!!! can’t wait til it’s up. i’ve always wanted to know the “basics” ala chef’s schools but didn’t have the time and also moolah to do it… thank you for coming up with a new blog like that… good luck and more power triss!
Awe, you guys are too cute. The cookies do look delicious I must say! Can’t wait to visit your new site. Best of luck with all the preparations!
This is another CCC recipe to try! Can’t wait to hear more abt your new blog!
Those look great! Now I’m excited for the new blog!
Congrats on the new blog Trissa. I’m sure it will a huge success. The choc chip cookies look wonderful.
Congrats on your soon to be new blog! And welcome back fully. Amazing that you set up a cookie business – the force and the courage of youth,, an inspiration. Just like these cookies………perfect with a warm glass of milk
The more I learn about you Trissa, the more I’m amazed. You ran a business while at school? I was busy daydrreaming…..probably about chocolate chip cookies 🙂 Thanks for the recipe.
As a former PPCCC Director, these cookies Trissa made were indeed very good! What I liked about the cookies is that they were not too sweet thanks for the kosher salt and the dark chocolate definitely gave it a nice sophisticated twist.
Tris, we’ll have to resurrect our old company recipe and see how it stacks up against this one. From memory, it would have been good but probably a bit on the sweet side compared to this recipe.
I really enjoyed working with my fellow directors at PPCCC. We baked so many cookies and tested what seemed like hundreds of them that it was years, yes, literally years, after we folded up the business that I could look at another chocolate chip cookie, let alone eat one!
I wonder what will happen if you continued the cookie business. I need those cookies. Mine turned out…. a little dry 😦
Ooh, can’t wait to see your new site and learn even more!
Your choc chip cookies look wonderful – it’s surprising that such a slim cookie can be chewy on the inside, but I suppose that’s what makes them perfect 🙂
They do look practically perfect Trissa 🙂 I’m looking forward to The Cooking Basics blog.
what a nifty anecdote! that must’ve been a really fun and edifying experience for ya’ll, and to think of all the cookies you got to eat! these look quite lovely, and i appreciate the tips you listed!
Wow Trissa, how exciting! A new blog, a new endeavor.
Love the idea of the Cooking Basics. You are so right that the basics are what any cook is eager to know more about.
Looking forward to it.
As for the cookies, well, is there anyone out there who is not a sucker for choc cookies?
Magda
Hi Trish, hmmm I hope you enjoyed every bit of your vacation :)) …and every bit of the delicious meals you had hehehe. Stay well & take care… have a great week ahead. Best regards, dingdevilla
Oh Trissa, a new blog – I applaud your energy. I don’t think I will ever be able to manage but I am excited to see your new blog – it would be like attending cooking classes on line! Wow, and I didn’t know you were already an entrepeneur in your younger days. Perhaps you can re-open their venture again…:)
These look so good. I love how they are wafer thin. I can imagine how good they are! My favourite is crispy on the outside, chewy in the middle. If i give you my address will you send me a batch? Ha ha!
I haven’t made or eaten too many chocolate chip cookies, and am not an expert, but am still looking for the perfect choco-chip cookie. Is the one, perhaps? 🙂
Congrats on your new site in the making.
Looking forward to reading your new blog!
Love the chocolate chip cookies. Too bad we don’t know each other yet before so I couldn’t buy from you but thanks for your expertise and for sharing this recipe. And I’m looking forward to your new blog. I think you need to change your about me page that says that you’re a frustrated cook rest of the time, unless if has other meaning. To me, you’re definitely a great cook. Aside from it runs in the family, you have your own pure talent and genius
I am so excited about The Cooking Basics. I think it will be an awesome site which will help a lot of people out. These cookies look yummy. So can I request some for when we meet up?? 🙂 ehehehe.
Great looking cookies. I love the idea of your new blog. I think everybody trying to learn to cook need a helping hand with the things that more seasoned cooks find second nature. I hate to think how useless I was when I started. Great work 🙂
These must be GOOD! Well…lindt…the best chocolate!
Trissa! You had a chocolate chip company!! I’m very impressed!!
Can’t wait to see your new blog. I am currently changing my Dutch one which is the reason I have been rather absent as I keep changing the design and being indecisive about the looks. Driving me insane!! Hope yours is going smoother then mine!!
Nom Nom Nom. Thats all I’ve got. Those look DELICIOUS!! Can’t wait to see your new blog… 🙂
Wow, these look sooooooooooo good. I need to try this recipe for sure!
Congrats on the formation of your new blog baby. If this one is anything to go by, I’m sure its going to be absolutely splendid and I’m sure I’ll learn alot. Till then, Im going to look at this cookie porn.
*kisses* HH