Captain Underbake!

Okay.. really sorry for the cheesy title, but I was so excited to write it when it popped up in my head while baking these cookies. I will explain soon. Anyways, you know what's a good feeling? When you have a well-stocked pantry. I looove it. I love it when I can say, "Hmmm what can I bake today?" and graze through my pantry and find lots and lots of ingredients I have bought at the store ahead of time. It's such a great feeling when you can just whip up something without having to grudgingly drive to the closest supermarket for ONE missing ingredient.



So today was that kind of day, but mainly because I was supposed to bake these a while ago. Still. Great feeling. I baked triple chocolate chip cookies, because my boyfriend's got an exam today and I thought it would be nice to bake some fresh cookies while he studies for it. I found a recipe online on thestar.com(toronto's newspaper). I felt a bit hesitant to use the recipe, or any random recipe online, for that matter, but after much research, these seem to be closest to what I was looking for.



The result? Well.. a little disappointed I guess. The half cup of cocoa powder it asked for didn't really seem like enough. I'm more of a chewy-gooey cookie girl, but it turned out a bit cakey. And I'm scared it'll turn rock hard after a day. I thought two cups of chocolate sounded like a lot, but even that seemed a little scant. Hmm. Not the fudgy decadent cookie I was looking for. But nonetheless, it was still a yummy cookie. Any cookies is a yummy cookie...unless it's overbaked/burnt! Here comes my captain underbake! I think I'm going to call myself that because I am a big advocate of slight underbakeage of our cookies.



Obviously, not too the point where the cookies aren't done. But I think the secret to a delicate and chewy cookie is not to overbake them. I like to take them out of the oven when they are still cooking and let them cool and calm down on the sheet afterwards. I think the dangerously delicious cookies they sell at some stores and bakeries are soft because they underbake it. And maybe it's because I use a convection oven, but most recipes ask for baking times that are way too long, so I usually have to shorten it a few minutes. These cookies were way too overbaked when I shortened two minutes off the original recipe, so I ended up halving the bake time. And they turned out much more delicious and softer.



Do you see the difference? Same batter, just cut down a bit of time and see all the difference it makes! Heehee. And these are actually QUITE delicious the day after. I think it's one of those cookies where when the chocolate sets in a bit, it gets nice and soft and chewy. I recommend you eat them a day after....although, who in the world has the self-control not to devour cookies right out of the oven??

Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies

about 4 dozen

ingredients

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup white chocolate or milk chocolate chips (i actually used half cup of BOTH)

directions

1. Line baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In a medium bowl, sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt; set aside. In large bowl, beat butter and sugars with electric mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Beat in vanilla.
3. Add flour mixture to butter mixture in two batches, mixing thoroughly after each. Stir in chocolate chips.
4. Use measuring spoon or mini ice cream scoop to drop one heaping tablespoonful on baking sheets, two inches apart. Bake in 350F oven 12 to 15 minutes (I cut this down to 7-8 minutes), until cookies lose their gloss and firm up, rotating pans halfway through cooking time. Cool on trays.