Cookbook Project

Chocolate Chunk Cookies

by

So begins the Dancing Lion Chocolate
— arty — sciency — story and poetry-filled

Cookbook Project.

Will it take months? Will it take years?

Who knows? But we’re going to translate many of those wild and amazing Dancing Lion Chocolate recipes into written and online form. When it’s done, we’ll get it out there for you.

This might be tricky, since every Dancing Lion Chocolate recipe was a work in progress all the time.

First up, Chocolate Chunk Cookies.
Rich, Donna, and Terry have begun converting our basic recipe into something you can make at home, experiment on, learn from, and most important, consume with great joy.

#chocolatier #dlccookbook #chocolatechunkcookies

RICH: We usually make 12 rolls of cookies at a time–I’ve been working to scale it down to normal kitchen batches. Also, I didn’t find baking powder at the local grocery, so I’m using soda, which means the recipe needs an accompanying acid. (A touch of yogurt?)

  • I used baking soda since I was unable to find baking powder at the local grocery. I added a small amount of yogurt to provide the acid necessary to fully activate the soda.
  • I didn’t have vanilla, so I used really good Guatemalan rum.
  • Inclusions were Puerto Rico dark chocolate, Bolivia milk chocolate, and chopped pecans. We’ll need to make recommendations for chocolate, but a nice blend of 70% dark, 40ish % milk, and some sort of nuts is nice.

DONNA: Scotch and vodka 50/50 and a touch of cardamon or nutmeg (mace perhaps) to replace the fruity sweet essence of vanilla.  The Scotch will ramp up the nutty element if your pecans are not as rich as DLC, that is a plus.

TERRY: I added 1/2 tsp. cardamom, but that amount was hard to detect. I used European butter with 85% fat content. The yogurt-baking soda combination worked well. I also added 50 g of crushed pecans to the dough. Since I had vanilla, I used 1 tsp. (no rum). The chocolates I used were Valrhona Guanaja 70% and Guittard 46%. I used chopped pecans for the nuts.

One recipe made 28 cookies at 50 g per cookie. I rolled them into balls and did not flatten them at all, so I think they spread just the right amount. I first baked them for 12 minutes at 375. But I think they might have spread a little too fast. Then I baked them at 350 (15 minutes) and they didn’t spread as much, so maintained a bit chunkier profile. I’ve attached 2 photographs. The first, top view, shows the 350 cookie on the left and the 375 cookie on the right. In the second, side view, photo, you can see that the 350 cookie is a little more mounded. They both taste absolutely delicious!

DONNA: Sorry Terry,  meant to mention before in regards to baking that we baked at an adjusted temperature of 325 degrees from the recipe 350 degree. This was to to adjust for using a commercial oven.  CR may present an elevation issue with using exact recipe comparisons.  Not sure about your elevation Terry but the original recipe was baked at approximately 500 feet elevation.  Rich who knows in CR what impact differences exist, also, you mentioned you baked at 375.

Another factor that will impact the ability of the cookie to hold a more rounded cookies shape when baked is how warm the dough is when rolled and then put in the oven. It is best to roll them when still chilled keeping the butter from getting soft.  One trick is, if you think your dough is too moist or warm but are having a cookie emergency, generously dust the pan with flour before placing the dough on it to bake. Helps to control the spread.

TERRY: Thanks for all the tips, Donna! We’re in San Diego, basically at sea level. I thought about the dough temperature issue and figured the next time I would try refrigerating the dough before baking it. I normally don’t have any issues with my cookie dough spreading. When I bake the dough as as a ball, it stays a ball and I gently flatten it with a spatula as soon as it comes out of the oven. This results in very thick cookies, which like. I also generally make my cookies with olive oil or sometimes just nut butter, so it may be that the high butterfat content of the butter I used today was also a factor. Hooray for science!

RICH: I defrosted a second roll overnight, cut, and baked 13 minutes at 375F. The cross-section is perfect: domed, crisp bottom, nicely browned surface. I detected a bit more soda flavor on this bake that I didn’t get on the first bake, which means I need a little less soda or a little more yogurt.

Per Donna’s comment, we know that the dough temperature when baked has a major impact on spread–cooler dough sets faster on the outside before the center can flatten. Here in Atenas, I only left the dough out of the refrigerator a few minutes before cutting, rounding, and baking.