♫ You make me feel
♫ So emotional
(gentle soulful music)
(woman harmonizes)
(gentle soulful beats)
♫ So emotional
- Hello, I'm Rick Jerz, and today I'm going to show you
how to make my world-famous chocolate chip cookies.
Let's get started.
The ingredients that you will need are as follows:
1/2 pound of butter, which in the U.S. is two sticks,
3/4 cup white sugar, 3/4 cup of brown sugar,
one to 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla, one egg,
2 1/4 cups unbleached flour,
one teaspoon of baking soda,
and one bag or 12 ounces of chocolate chips.
You will also need the following equipment:
An oven, a mixer, a measuring cup,
a teaspoon measure, a spoon, such as a tablespoon,
two cookie sheets, a rubber spatula,
flour sifter, oven mitt, thin metal spatula,
cooling racks, and a sink, rag, and dish detergent.
I begin by preheating my oven to 390 degrees.
Most recipes call for 375 degrees,
but I find 390 works better for me.
Sometimes you have to get to know your oven.
I like to cook two sheets of cookies at the same time,
so I will use two racks in my oven.
The first ingredient is butter.
It doesn't seem to matter to my children
whether I use salted or unsalted butter,
so I use whatever is on sale.
I like to sit my butter out overnight,
so it warms up to room temperature,
which is normally around 72 degrees.
However, I forgot to do this last night,
so I'm going to soften my butter in my microwave.
I put the butter on a plate and then use a middle setting
on my microwave, five, for about 45 seconds.
After it's done, the butter should be slightly pliable.
It should not be melted.
I put this butter into my mixing bowl
and then add 3/4 cup of white sugar
and 3/4 cup of brown sugar.
One can buy light, medium, or dark brown sugar,
but I have found that my children do not detect
any difference between these.
So once again, I use whatever is on sale.
When measuring the brown sugar,
make sure to pack it into your measuring cup.
Next add one to 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla.
The quantity will depend upon the quality of your vanilla.
I like to use good quality pure vanilla.
None of that imitation stuff for me.
I take these ingredients to my mixer and start mixing them.
After about two to three minutes,
I stop my mixer and use my rubber spatula
to move the ingredients back into the center of the mixer.
I do this about two or three times.
After about five minutes,
the butter, sugars, and vanilla are whipped nicely.
Be careful not to overwhip this mixture.
I then add one egg and continue blending this mixture
for another two to three minutes.
Some chocolate chip cookie recipes call for two eggs,
but I have found that if I use two eggs
my cookies will end up flat,
and I like cookies with a little rise to them.
Awhile ago my wife convinced me
to use these cage free brown eggs.
I guess the theory is that if the chicken runs wild
they will produce a better egg.
Well, you could use white eggs if you prefer.
I really don't think it makes any difference,
but you didn't hear me say that.
Make sure not to get any eggshell into your batter.
You will probably have to stop this mixer
at least one more time and use your spatula
to move the batter back into the center of the mixing bowl.
Remember not to overmix.
I like my batter a little bit stiff.
I take this bowl to my table
and remove all the batter from the mixing blade.
I will next add my flour and baking soda to this bowl.
I like to sift my flour and the baking soda
just to make sure that there are no lumps.
I find that hanging my sifter from the side of the bowl
is the easiest way to measure and add these ingredients.
I add 1 1/4 cups of flour,
then the one teaspoon of baking soda,
and then the remaining one cup of flour and sift this.
I use unbleached white flour.
The more common flour that you would see
at the grocery store is bleached white flour.
But a little while ago my wife convinced me
to use this unbleached flour because the bleaching process
takes out some of the nutrients.
My children don't seem to be able to detect
any difference between bleached or unbleached white flour.
My wife actually prefers me to use whole wheat flour,
but I have found that my children do not like this flour.
However, when I do make cookies just for my wife
I do use whole wheat.
It is important to use baking soda
and not baking powder for your cookies.
The way that I remember this is that powder starts with a P,
and that's what I use when I make pancakes.
Since these are not pancakes, it must be the other, soda.
I mix these ingredients by hand
until there is still just a little bit of flour unmixed.
It is at this point that I add the chocolate chips,
continue mixing, until there is still
just a little bit of dryness to this batter.
Once again, if you overmix your cookies might go flat.
Now I know that there are all kinds
of different chocolate chips available.
I tend to use semisweet chocolate chips,
and my children don't seem to mind any brand.
So, once again, I buy whatever is on sale.
This looks pretty good.
It is at this point that you can call in a consultant
for a professional opinion.
- Yum!
- If you happen to drop any batter on the floor,
don't worry, it won't be wasted.
(batter crunches)
We now need to make 24 cookies.
Some recipes will tell you 36 or 48,
but I have found that 24 is the magic number.
12 per cookie sheet.
I like using these double-lined cookie sheets.
They seem to help prevent the cookies from burning.
I like to size the cookies using a tablespoon.
When I have 24 cookies,
I go back and redistribute some of the dough
so that these cookies are approximately the same size.
I make sure that the cookies
are evenly spaced on the cookie sheets
so that they do not cook into each other.
By this time the oven should be preheated,
and you can put the cookie sheets into the oven.
If any of the cookie balls move,
make sure to reposition them
so that they do not cook into each other.
I always set a timer.
Initially I set this to 12 minutes,
I check the cookies to see that they are browned,
and if they are not, I might add one
or two minutes to the timer and then recheck the cookies.
Cooking conditions can vary,
but I have found that most cookies
will cook in 12 to 16 minutes.
It is important not to burn your cookies.
I have found that even my children
will not eat burnt chocolate chip cookies.
While my cookies are baking,
I like to clean all my equipment.
Usually my top sheet will cook faster than my bottom sheet.
I remove the top sheet and move the lower sheet
to the upper position and cook this for maybe another
minute to minute and a half.
I have found that after you remove the cookies from the oven
that they might continue to cook and go flat.
I prevent this by putting the cookies
into a cold environment.
In the winter, I put these cookie sheets outside,
and if we have snow I'll set them right on the snow.
In the summer, I will put these cookies
either into the refrigerator or the freezer.
When the cookies are cool,
I remove them from the cookie sheets with my metal spatula.
We are almost done.
We still need to clean the cookie sheets.
And I always like to clean up immediately
after I'm done cooking and not leave a mess for others.
Well, there we have it.
Great chocolate chip cookies in no time whatsoever.
Enjoy. (gentle soulful music)
♫ I'm so emotional
(gentle soulful beats)