To Rest or Not to Rest (Your Cookie Dough), That is the Question!

I have been making chocolate chip cookies since I was in 5th grade.  In those early years, I used to follow the Toll House recipe word for word on the back of that yellow bag, but nowadays most all of us have our own chocolate chip cookie recipe that we pride ourselves on.  I worked on perfecting my chocolate chip cookies many years ago, and even now, I think I have a pretty perfect cookie.  However, in the last few years, many pastry chefs and home bakers have decided that resting your dough overnight in the refrigerator or freezer, makes a better cookie.  So, I tried a recipe on NYT cooking from Ravneet Gill, who claims she has the perfect chocolate chip cookie and the big question is, does she??

There are a few differences in our ingredients, like she uses fewer tablespoons of butter, dark brown sugar instead of light, only one egg and not an additional yolk, baking powder (which I don’t use) and superfine sugar (which I use regular granulated).  That being said, her mixing technique is the same as mine, which is, don’t mix until light and fluffy, just mix until the color changes in the butter-sugar mixture because it can cause the cookie to deflate.  She prefers bittersweet chunks, while I prefer semi-sweet chunks or chips in my recipe.

The big difference in this recipe is resting the dough in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours, up to overnight.  I have in fact seen other recipes from pastry chefs, requiring resting cookie dough for up to 72 hours.  Now that’s a big wait time for some cookies in my book!  However, after resting and baking these cookies, I did find that they were pretty wonderful, but is it worth the difference in time and effort?  Yes, if you have the time, but I think my recipe with no wait time is pretty tremendous too.  I also took notes on how the cookies aged after day 1, 2 and 3.  They pretty much had the same shelf life as mine, and most needed to be eaten within a couple of days, but do cookies ever last three days in your household??  Happy baking.

Ingredients

10 tablespoons butter, softened

Scant (not packed) 3/4 cup dark brown sugar

2/3 cup superfine sugar (you can process granulated sugar in a food processor)

1 large egg

1 3/4 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon Maldon salt or kosher salt

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

(Makes 13 Cookies)

To Prepare:

1. In a stand mixer or large bowl, add butter and both sugars.  Cream together for 1-2 minutes, until pale, but not until fluffy.  Add egg and beat until combined.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Fold into creamed mixture by hand, until combined.
3. Add chocolate and fold until evenly distributed.  Scoop dough out into 1/4-cup portions and roll into balls, about 60 grams.  Place on lined baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap.  Refrigerate at least 12 hours, up to overnight.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Bake cookies on two baking sheets until lightly golden on edges, about 13 minute, or 15 minutes if frozen.
5. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet, they will continue to firm as they cool.  Cookies will keep in airtight container up to 3 days, or balls of dough will keep for up to 2 days in refrigerator, or 2 weeks in freezer.  Enjoy!