drive-by bar mitzvah cookies

I have a friend in Long Beach whom I know from the Women's Weekends I attend every two years. She is incredible... she teaches science at the middle school I attended, Hughes, and she rescues animals, and she delivers meals to people who can't get out easily, and she is a mom and a wife and a daughter and a friend and on and on! This past holiday season, she realized that some of her students were struggling financially, and she began an effort to raise some money for holiday gifts and donations for their families. What started as a small move to help 6 or 7 kids turned into a giant effort, completely spearheaded by Danielle, that supported several dozen students and their families and provided an amazing, fulfilling holiday for those families. Her generosity is unmatched. (She's also a hoot and super fun to talk to!)

Danielle's younger son recently celebrated his bar mitzvah. As with so many of the events for the past year, they scrapped all prior plans and ended up holding it at home with just immediate family attending in person. They decided to host a drive-by car parade for all the local guests, and Danielle thought it would be fun to have a treat to hand out to the well-wishers. I was super excited to do something special for Danielle since she always does for others. We agreed I would bake chocolate chip cookies - Ivan's favorites - and bag them up in cellophane packets of four cookies each. In order to make enough for all of their friends and family, I baked 320 cookies! It was pretty insane in my kitchen that week. Because I am a nerd, I weighed out each cookie to make sure they were all the same size (32g each). Danielle and her husband and sons drove to LA to pick them up, and I can only imagine how hard it was to drive home in a car with that many cookies and resist temptation! (I did make them some extras just in case.) They looked really festive, and my friends who attended said they tasted great!

Here's the recipe I've been loving. It's from Spend with Pennies, and it's just a slight twist on the standard ingredients... it uses melted and cooled butter, and egg and an egg yolk, and adds a bit of cornstarch to the flour. I can't tell you why, but this combo of methods and tweaks makes for a really tasty cooky that is chewy, a bit crisp on the edges, and retains its shape and height well. I'll give you one tip I've been using: scoop the dough into balls, then turn them on their sides as you place them on the cookie sheet. It gives just a bit more height.

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup (226g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled at least 10 minutes

1 1/4 cups (250g) brown sugar, tightly packed

1/2 cup (100g) sugar

1 large egg + 1 yolk (room temperature preferred)

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 3/4 cups (350g) flour

2 teaspoons (6g) cornstarch

1 teaspoon (5g) baking soda

3/4 teaspoon (3g) salt

1 3/4 cups chocolate chips (300g plus additional, to press into the tops of cookies, if desired) 

Combine melted butter, brown sugar, and sugar in a large bowl. Stir very well. This can be done by hand without a mixer. Add egg and egg yolk, and stir well. Stir in vanilla extract. 

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. (You can also be lazy and just add these straight to the wet mixture above.) Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and stir well so all the flour is absorbed. Stir in chocolate chips. Chill dough for at least 30-60 minutes. 

Preheat oven to 350F and line cookie sheets with parchment or baking mats. Scoop dough onto prepared cookie sheets, placing at least two inches apart. Bake 10-12 minutes. Cookies may seem slightly soft in the centers; that's ok. If you let them get too dark, they will become very hard in the center. I baked mine about 10 minutes, checked them, and gave them another 2 minutes. Remove from oven and, if desired, press additional chocolate chips into the tops of the warm cookies. (I have never done this but I'm not sure why it would be bad.) Cool completely. These freeze very well!

Note: I usually give measurements in ounces, but the measurements in grams came straight from the original recipe, and I have used those every time with success. Many kitchen scales have measurements in grams as well as ounces. I have not double checked the gram measurements against the ounce conversions, so just stick with the grams!