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Happy National Cookie Day!
Grab some milk, a sleeve of Oreos, and start observing kids, because today is National Cookie Day. (Eee!) Its name, according to Wikipedia, comes the Dutch word koekje or koekie meaning "little cake." From snickerdoodles and peanut butter cookies to Chips Ahoys and fortune cookies, they're all pretty much a delightful treat, perfecting for a light dessert of manic binge eating.
The world's best cookie? Glad you asked: It's the Samoa. Don't believe us? Just look at it. No, LOOK AT IT. Girl Scout heroin in cookie form, those Samoas. Too bad they come but once a year.
A respectful second place would have to be the chocolate chip cookie. And here is one of the best recipes for the classic chocolate studded cookie, care of America's Test Kitchen/Cook's Illustrated. Trust us, these are huge winners. The extra egg yolk does wonders. Try them and see for yourself:
Ingredients- 2 1/8 cups all-purpose flour (2 cups plus 2 tablespoons)
- 1/2 teaspoon table salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly (1 1/2 sticks)
- 1 cup brown sugar (light or dark)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1-2 cup chocolate chips (semi or bittersweet; peanut butter chips are good too)Directions
Heat oven to 325 degrees. Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions. Mix flour, salt, and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.Either by hand or with electric mixer, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Mix in egg, yolk, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients; mix until just combined. Stir in chips.
Form scant 1/4 cup dough into ball. Holding dough ball using fingertips of both hands, pull into two equal halves. Rotate halves ninety degrees and, with jagged surfaces exposed, join halves together at their base, again forming a single cookie, being careful not to smooth dough’s uneven surface. Place formed dough onto one of two parchment paper-lined 20-by-14-inch lipless cookie sheets, about nine dough balls per sheet. Smaller cookie sheets can be used, but fewer cookies can be baked at one time and baking time may need to be adjusted. (Dough can be refrigerated up to 2 days or frozen up to 1 month—shaped or not.).
Bake, reversing cookie sheets’ positions halfway through baking, until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft and puffy, 15 to 18 minutes (start checking at 13 minutes). (Frozen dough requires an extra 1 to 2 minutes baking time.) Cool cookies on cookie sheets. Serve or store in airtight container.
Enjoy!