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Okay, this is going to be an abbreviated post, because I lost track of the deadline for posting (thanks for the reminder, Cheryl!) and my brain is currently mush due to the plague. The recipe I chose for this month’s challenge was—

La!!!

Meyer Lemon and Blood Orange Marmalade, courtesy of Melissa Clark’s “A Good Appetite” column in the New York Times (and whose recent book “In The Kitchen With A Good Appetite” I can heartily recommend–I got it for Christmas and read it cover to cover). It was really absurdly simple to make–I could probably even make it now, in my present addled state. And, as a marmalade-delivery device (because even I’m not so big a fan of marmalade that I’d just scarf it up with a spoon … more than once or twice), I made Oatmeal Popovers. Cute as they were, they were a bit on the tough side for popovers–maybe it was the oats, or maybe I let them cool a little too long. The marmalade more than made up for them, though.

Don’t ask me what inspired this cookie experiment–maybe it was the fact that everyone seems to be revamping the tried-and-true Tollhouse recipe lately. Maybe it was the sheer hubris of America’s Test Kitchen calling their latest version “perfect” (not that I don’t like their work, and that cookie is damn good). Whatever the reason, some time recently I started wondering, what if I took the distinctive bits of the various chocolate chip cookie recipes I really like and mashed them all together into one super-recipe? Or as my husband has dubbed it, the Voltron cookie?

Finally, on last Wednesday’s snow day, I narrowed the field down to three recipes: ATK’s “Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie” (whose chief innovation is using browned butter, instead of creaming soft butter with the sugar), the NY Times’ super-fussy, fancy-pants version, and the “Mrs. Fields” recipe (see snopes.com for the fascinating story behind this urban legend), which I got years ago from my Mom. Since the recipes were fairly dissimilar, I used the ATK’s as the base recipe, swapped half the flour for oats finely ground in the food processor and added some grated semi-sweet chocolate to the dough, because I like the hearty chewiness and extra chocolaty-ness of the “Mrs. Fields” cookie. Then I topped the dough balls with sea salt before sticking them in the oven (à la the NY Times).  I also let some of the dough sit in the fridge for a couple of days, again per the NY Times’ recipe (the fact that we made–and ate–half of the cookies immediately was purely in the name of science, you understand).

Alec Baldwin, eat your heart out!

The first batch turned out pretty well, thoroughly chocolaty (they actually looked more like a chocolate-chocolate chip cookie) and nice and chewy in the middle, with a crisp edge. The second might have been just a tad better–but probably not worth waiting around the extra couple of days (which is how I felt about the NY Times recipe–the addition of the salt is really the best part of that one). David was of the opinion that the ground oats and the grated chocolate mostly swamped the taste of the browned butter. I suppose I agree, and I’d probably use a smaller proportion of oats in the future, and less grated chocolate. Still, they went awfully fast!

Mmm--chocolaty!

Almost Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

(adapted from America’s Test Kitchen’s “Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie”)

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 3/4 cups finely-ground old-fashioned oats (about 2 to 2 1/4 cups before grinding)

1 tsp baking soda

3 1/2 sticks (28 Tbsp) unsalted butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 cups packed dark brown sugar

2 tsp salt (plus more to sprinkle on cookies)

4 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

2 large egg yolks

2 1/2 cups chocolate chips or chunks (I like bittersweet, personally)

2 to 4 oz. bar semi-sweet chocolate, finely grated

Preheat oven (with a rack in the middle position) to 375 degrees. Whisk flour, oats and baking soda together in a bowl and set aside.

Brown the butter: melt 20 Tbsp (2 1/2 sticks) of butter over medium-high heat (use a largish skillet–not non-stick, because the dark coating makes it difficult to see when the butter changes color). Continue cooking, constantly stirring or swirling, until the butter starts to turn a deep gold-brown, then pour into a large heat-proof bowl immediately. (Watch the butter carefully–it can turn from perfectly browned to black in an instant.) Whisk remaining butter into the browned butter until melted.

Mix both sugars, salt and vanilla into butter. Add eggs and yolks and whisk till smooth. Now this is one of the keys to the ATK recipe: let the batter stand for 3 minutes, then whisk again for 30 seconds. Let stand and whisk a total of three times–the mixture will look smooth and shiny. Stir in the flour, oat and soda mixture till just combined, then add chocolate chips and grated chocolate.

Make balls of about 3 Tbsp dough each (these are big cookies, and for a reason–the centers of big cookies stay chewy!), and place about 2 inches apart on a large cookie sheet (I line my cookie sheets with parchment paper, but you can use a Silpat or a non-stick sheet if you like). Sprinkle each with a bit of salt (a salt with largish crystals, like kosher or sea salt, is best). Bake cookies for 10 to 14 minutes, rotating the sheet halfway through (they’ll be puffy, and the centers should still be soft). Let cookies cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes, till they’ve set a bit, then cool completely (or as long as you can stand to) on a wire rack. Makes approximately 32 cookies (assuming you don’t sneak too much cookie dough).