Food is Love: I like to say it with cookies.

I had a friend who entertained me with stories about the Italian Mamma that would feed her while she nannied in New York City. "Food is Love," she would quote in her best Brooklyn accent, "I cook for you because I love you." For some reason it made me laugh, but as I have learned more about cooking, I often find myself returning to that mantra. Sharing good food with my friends and family is definitely a method of mine in expressing how much I love them. Food brings people together. It gives us a reason to gather, and something to share that we all enjoy. Over the years, one of the food traditions that we have enjoyed most is inviting friends over to have chocolate chip cookies hot out of the oven with ice cream.

I have a distinct memory from my younger years of a woman who came to visit my mom and brought the most perfect batch of cookies to share with us. I don't even know who she was, but I remember asking her very sincerely how she made such amazing cookies. I think she said she just followed the recipe on the bag of chips, but try as I might, mine never turned out like hers. As a young married, I was determined to find the big secret. Thanks to a jump start from scientific cooking guru Alton Brown, and through extensive trial and error of my own, I feel like I can confidently say, I did it! It's so good, in fact, that my husband never asks for anything else for dessert. If I want to bake something else, I do it at the risk that he will be disappointed, no matter how delicious or fancy it is. That's why these cookies have been dubbed "Dallyn's Favorite Cookies" or "DFC's" by some of our friends. 

There are actually about a dozen secrets to baking the perfect chocolate chip cookie. All points are calculated to increase the moistness, chewiness and flavor. As I've shared this recipe, a frequent response I've gotten is, "Wow, that sounds like a lot of work. I don't know if I can do all that." Personally, I don't feel like it takes any more effort than the recipe you find on the back of the Nestle chips bag. Most of the secrets are just better ingredients, but there are some method secrets. Anyway, my point is, if you want the perfect cookie, you have to be willing to put in the effort. Every pointer is for a reason. So here's the recipe, along with footnotes that explain some of the why's behind it:

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies (DFC's)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) good quality margarine (Land O'Lakes is my favorite)¹

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

1 cup brown sugar²

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 1/2 cup bread flour³

1 teaspoon kosher salt⁴

1 teaspoon baking soda OR, if planning to freeze, 3/4 teaspoon each baking soda and baking powder (see note below)

1 egg

1 egg yolk⁵

2 tablespoons milk⁶

1/2 tablespoon Mexican vanilla (my favorite is Blue Cattle Truck Mexican Vanilla)⁷

1 bag (about 2 cups) Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips⁸

Picky about ingredients: I never compromise on the vanilla or the chocolate. These are my 2 faves.

Melt the margarine and butter in a small pot.⁹ Meanwhile, add both sugars to your mixing bowl, sift dry ingredients into a medium bowl, and measure milk, vanilla, egg and egg yolk into a small bowl. Pour melted butter into your mixing bowl with the sugars and beat until sugar dissolves. Add milk mixture and beat well. With beater running, gradually spoon in sifted dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Add chocolate chips and stir until evenly distributed. Cover with plastic wrap and chill 30 minutes to 1 hour.¹⁰ 

Preheat the oven to 350° and move the rack fairly close to the upper element (not the closest, but probably the next down from that).¹¹ Use a large cookie scoop (mine holds 1/4 cup) or shape dough by hand into balls about the size of a golf ball and place a couple inches apart on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake for 6 minutes and rotate the pan, then bake for 6 minutes more. Cookies should be just barely golden on the outside edges, and should not appear wet on top. Remove the pan, set it down and carefully move the whole sheet of parchment with the cookies onto a counter top or cooling rack.¹² Allow to cool a few minutes then serve in a bowl with ice cream (Dallyn's favorite is Tillamook's Oregon Hazelnut & Salted Caramel), Hershey's syrup, butterscotch, or whatever you like best. Any leftover cookies (which are highly rare) can be cooled and put in an airtight container to be fought over for snack the next day. They will stay tremendously moist and chewy for a few days if they last that long.

Makes about 4 batches of 9-12 cookies.

*A note about Freezing: These are so great hot out of the oven that I rarely bake an entire batch at once. I've found that frozen dough does better with a little baking powder in the mix, so I always double the batch, and use 1/2 Tablespoon each baking powder and soda, as noted in the ingredients. After baking the cookies we're eating, I scoop all the remaining dough into balls, place close together on a cookie sheet and freeze for about a, then transfer to airtight freezer bags. That way I almost always have ready to use cookie dough on hand. You can thaw in the fridge or bake straight out of the freezer, but you'll want to lower the temp to 325º and bake a couple minutes longer.

Again, it sounds complicated, but believe me, every detail is so worth it and makes for one awesome cookie! Bon appetite!

Footnotes:

1. Butter is always better in my book, but there are times margarine is called for. This is one of them. Butter melts more quickly, and crisps up instead of staying soft, so all-butter cookies will flatten and be crispy rather than chewy. Using a stick of each is a happy compromise. Just opt for a good quality margarine which will have creamier flavor and less water content.↩

2. Brown sugar is more moist than white. Most cookie recipes call for an even amount of each. Increasing the brown sugar results in a moister cookie.↩

3. Bread flour is higher in gluten, which is what makes bread chewy. This was one of Alton Brown's recommendations.↩

4. Why Kosher? Not sure. I do know it is recommended for bread making because of the extra texture that helps in kneading the ingredients.↩

5. The yolk is the moist part of the egg. The whites tend to be drier when cooked. So again, adding a yolk increases moisture.↩

6. Adding milk, once again, adds moisture.↩

7. This is perhaps my biggest ingredient secret. Do not skimp of the quality of your vanilla! It makes all the difference. This brand is available in select stores in Utah, online, and if you live near me, I buy it wholesale, so I can set you up.↩

8. Good chocolate is just about as important as the vanilla. This is my favorite brand, and the chips are bigger, which we also like. You can of course substitute semi-sweet, or try other brands, but this is the one we love the most. Cheaper chocolates are higher in wax and other nasty fillers, so not nearly as tasty.↩

9. You don't need to soften the butter! Hooray! Melting the butter & margarine will make your freshly made dough runnier, which is why you will need to chill it before baking, but it helps the sugars to dissolve and incorporate better.↩

10. I guarantee it will be better if you wait several hours or prepare the dough a day ahead. If the dough is thoroughly frozen, you will need to thaw it on the counter about 15-30 minutes before you bake.↩

11. This was actually the crowning discovery in my quest for cookie perfection. It happened by chance on a night I had broiled something for dinner, and when I went to bake the cookies I didn't bother moving the rack down. The result was that the cookies browned more beautifully without overcooking the dough, which meant they kept their domed shape better when removed from the oven.↩

12. Moving the cookies to the counter top prevents the bottoms from continuing to bake from the heat of the cookie sheet. This is why parchment is essential. My cookie sheets have a 1 inch lip, so sliding them over the lip rattled the soft-set cookies too much and caused them to deflate. I found that carefully using my fingernails to grab the corners (which tend to curl up from the pan anyway) and gently lifting the whole thing up and over had much better results. Of course, if your cookie sheets are flat with no lip, you can slide them off. Just do so gently.↩

Food Review: Cheesecake!

The "Original"

This post first appeared on March 11, 2014. I continue to update with new reviews from time to time. The italicized part of this introduction is the same, so you can skip ahead if you've read before. New reviews are marked as such, and I've added a star rating and "richness meter" to help you out (see below). Enjoy!

In 2002, when Dallyn was new to the touring cast of Les Miserablés, we had a 4 week stop in San Francisco while they prepared to take the show across the Pacific Ocean for their big Chinese debut. This was my first exposure to the phenomenon that is The Cheesecake Factory, the distinctively decorated, almost always overcrowded restaurant and bakery with a menu so extensive they ought to bring it to your table using a forklift (it's spiral bound and has page numbers. Need I say more?). We spent the month in a little studio apartment just up the street from a CF, and I must admit, we ate there far too often. Dallyn was making bank. Every visiting family member or friend was another excuse to go, and even when it was just us, sometimes I didn't feel like cooking in my tiny, under-equipped kitchen and we would make an escape to the cheesecake haven in the sky (literally; it was on the top floor of the downtown Macy's). It certainly wasn't the extensive, convoluted menu that was the attraction. It was, of course, the cheesecake, dozens of them, more than we could sample. Well, more than we could sample in a month. Dallyn, bless his heart, humored me, since cheesecake is really not his thing, but he was still my perfect sounding board as we discussed the intricacies of flavor, texture, and presentation of each delectable slice. Our obsession followed us as we toured the country, and even in the subsequent years. We were thrilled when they brought the chain to Utah, even though we never lived closer than 40 minutes away from the nearest one.

Now that we live only 5 minutes from a Cheesecake Factory, and I've been needing lots of cheesecake (yes, there are times in life when it qualifies as a need) I thought I might as well put all that sampling to some use and provide reviews of all the varieties we've tried. When it comes to picking cheesecake, we often spend lots of time standing in front of the display case deliberating over just what we're in the mood for, so maybe we can spare you the trouble.  I'll start with my top 3 picks today and continue to add more as time allows. So if you want to have this list handy, bookmark it and check it out the next time you find yourself in the happy predicament of having so many cheesecakes to choose from and so little time.

Ratings: Out of 4 stars (*)
Richness Meter: 1-light & mousse like (there's always room for it);  2-about as rich as your average cheesecake; or 3-richer than a regular cheesecake (you'll want a glass of milk to wash it down. Do not attempt to finish by yourself after a full meal!)

Top 3 Picks:

These are our "go-to" flavors that we get when we just want an old favorite that we know we're going to love.

Chocolate Tuxedo Cream **** 1

This is a lighter more mousse-like cheesecake, perfect for when you don't have room for one of the knock-you-out rich plates, but hey, you're at the Cheesecake Factory, and how can you leave without dessert? Layers of cream and chocolate mousse topped with a super thin ganache.

Chocolate Raspberry Truffle **** 3

Ready for some rich chocolate paired with the perfect complement of tart raspberry? In my opinion, chocolate and raspberries were meant to go together, and this dessert is the perfect marriage. On the richer side, with just the right amount of fruity tartness. Make sure you scoop some of the whip cream to lighten it up.

Godiva Chocolate **** 3

Yes, you can get them mail order,
complete with fun dry ice to play with.
This was my birthday cake in 2008.

Dallyn and I are huge fans of Godiva chocolate. In our less lean years (I mean financially, but I guess I could mean the other thing...), no special occasion was complete without a small box of Godiva, and we would stretch the joy out as long as possible by sharing one piece only per day.  We would tease our children that Hersheys is for kids, Godiva is for grownups and is wasted on the young, and would point them to the stash of kisses in the pantry. (They did challenge us once to a taste test to prove their palates were sophisticated enough to tell the difference, and they sort of passed, so sometimes we are gracious and will share, but mostly we hide it.) Yes, we're obsessed. So it is no surprise that this cheesecake makes our top 3 list. It is rich. It is basic, but basically beautiful in its chocolate perfection. No fancy layers or trappings, it's just the most exquisite pure silky chocolate experience available. Definitely utilize the whip cream.

Everything Else:

(New Review!) Toasted Marshmallow S'mores Galore **** 3

Oh, wow. This was a surprise. We tried this one on a recommendation from a friend. Having seen it in the case, it looked like just another chocolatey one, and I wasn't really in the mood for that, but when I saw a picture the way it would be served with a perfectly toasted marshmallow melting all over the top, I knew I had to partake. Toasted marshmallows are my very favorite treat. Ever. We knew we had to have it on a plate at a table rather than the to-go boxes we typically grab (since presentation seemed pretty important), so it was a little while before we actually got to try it, but it was well worth the wait! The marshmallow turned out to be marshmallow creme rather than an actual marshmallow (the photo was a little deceptive), but it was still nicely toasted and tasty. The chocolate cheesecake was delicious and creamy, with little chunks of harder chocolate hidden near the base that added a scrumptious texture. Crunchy bits of graham were scattered over the lot, with a full square of graham cracker balanced attractively on top. The traditional graham crust was a perfect fit. This one is rather rich, so definitely grab a cheesecake buddy to share. I can't recommend saving the leftovers unless you first eat all the graham cracker parts, as those will get soggy in the fridge (as we sadly discovered).

(New Review!) Original ** 2

Several people said I had to try this one. I was skeptical. I'm picky about the consistency of my "plain" cheesecake. It has to be perfectly creamy and moist throughout, no dry cakeyness, and I especially love a sour cream topping. I usually like cherry pie filling on top, but in order to get the pure experience, I had it plain. It was good. Pretty basic. It was creamy enough, but not the to-die-for creamiest I've ever had. The best plain cheesecake I've had was at Junior's in NYC. There are so many other awesome options for cheesecake at The Factory that I'm not likely to have this one again, but if you really want one, go for it.

(New Review!) 30th Anniversary Chocolate Cake Cheesecake *** 2

This was my desert of choice for my recent birthday. It seemed a nice compromise between cake (for my husband) and cheesecake (for me), and truly it was delightful! The cake was moist and flavorful, the cheesecake creamy, and the moussey layers in between were luscious. The big ganache swirl on top was a bit much to get through, but a little bit with each bite was a nice addition.

Reviews to come:

Dulce de Leche

Key Lime

Wild Blueberry White Chocolate

White Chocolate Caramel Macadamia Nut

Mango Key Lime

Pumpkin Pecan (seasonal)

Reese's Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake

Oreo Dream Extreme