Featured Guest Chef: Stephanie Ito

A serious believer in at least one treat a day (I'm eating chocolate covered raisins as I type this post!), I am very excited to try Chef Stephanie Ito's, The Very Greatest Chocolate Chip Cookies. Here's what she has to share:



I really do try to exert some control over my sweet tooth. I have learned that a cut-up banana on my morning bowl of (whole grain) cereal means that I don’t have to pour sugar on my cornflakes or eat Apple Jacks. I know a lot of sugar isn’t good for me. But, it is the rare evening that I don’t indulge in dessert. Usually it’s a scoop or two of ice cream or an ice cream bar. You have to have a little treat every day in order not to feel deprived.

This week I HAD to have chocolate chip cookies. There is a recipe I discovered earlier this year that I have made way too many times for my own good since then. These are seriously the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever had.

Since I didn’t want to eat all 24 of them, I took most of them to book club this week to foist on my friends. One of my friends from culinary school is in the book club, and when she e-mailed me after our meeting to tell me that the cookies were “a religious experience” I knew what the best thing I had made this month was.

Before I give you the recipe, I want to tell you the four things that I consider to be the secret to this recipe:
1. The pecans (or walnuts if you prefer) MUST be toasted and chopped up nice and fine. I put them on a cookie sheet and put them in the oven when I turn it on to preheat. They’re generally nice and toasty by the time I am ready to stir them into the batter.
2. This is a dough you don’t want to work too much. Don’t beat the butter and sugars “until light and fluffy” – just stir them together until they are combined. This goes for when you add the flour too – just beat the dough until it comes together, no more.
3. BUTTER – never shortening, never margarine.
4. Don’t over bake the cookies. The edges should be just starting to brown and the middle should still be a little soft.

So, here you go. Enjoy! (And don’t eat them all in one day – you will be tempted.)

The Very Greatest Chocolate Chip Cookies

½ cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
½ cup (120 grams) firmly packed light brown sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick/115 grams) unsalted butter, cold, cut into ½ inch pieces
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 ¼ cups (175 grams) all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
1 ½ cups (200 grams) semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup (130 grams) pecans or walnuts, toasted and chopped

Adjust the oven rack to the top third of the oven and preheat to 300˚F. Line three baking sheets with parchment paper.

Beat the sugars and butter together until smooth. Mix in the egg, vanilla, and baking soda.

Stir together the flour and salt, then mix them into the batter. Mix in the chocolate chips and nuts.

Scoop the cookie dough into 2-tablespoon balls and place 8 balls, spaced 4 inches apart on each of the baking sheets.

Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until pale golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.