Fitness Challenge Frustration

Some of my family and extended family have signed up for a fitness challenge. There's all kinds of rules, and when you do the right stuff, you get points. The winner (after 12 arduous weeks) will take home the big money as it cost $15 to sign up for it. Right now we're almost done with week one. Ugh. One of the rules is no processed sugar on six out of seven days. Ouch. That's a rough one. Especially when these guys were sitting on the counter.
These were not little guys either. They were a big 3 T of dough per cookie. I put the nickel down there for size comparison.

A friend of mine said she made really good chocolate chip cookies, and that she used the recipe from Cook's Illustrated called Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies. I knew I had to try them since I've been looking for the perfect chocolate chip cookie for a long time.

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies- by Cook's Illustrated

• 1 3/4cups unbleached all-purpose flour (8 3/4 ounces) yes, it's best to weigh the flour.
• 1/2teaspoon baking soda
• 14tablespoons unsalted butter, divided (1 3/4 sticks)
• 1/2cup granulated sugar (3 1/2 ounces)
• 3/4cups packed dark brown sugar (5 1/4 ounces)
• 1teaspoon table salt
• 2teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1large egg
• 1large egg yolk
• 1 1/4cups semisweet chocolate chips or chunks
• 3/4cup chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted (optional) uh...nooo! Not in MY cookies!
  
• The directions are a little out of the ordinary, but they are definitely not difficult.
• Preheat your oven to 375°F. with the rack in the center position. Place parchment paper on two large cookie sheets.
• Whisk flour (if you have a scale, weigh the flour; you'll get better results) and baking soda together in a medium bowl and set it aside.
• Over medium-high heat, melt 10 T of the butter (not ALL the butter, just 10 T) in a frying pan, preferably not a non-stick frying pan. It's harder to see when the butter is brown in a non-stick. Swirl the butter around continuously while it melts so it doesn't scorch. When it is a nice, rich brown color (this takes about 3 minutes), remove it from the heat and pour it into a heat-proof bowl. Add the rest of the unmelted butter to the melted butter and let that melt as well.
• Add the sugar, brown sugar, salt, and vanilla to the bowl with the butter and whisk until fully incorporated (I put mine in the Kitchen Aid, and blended it on the lowest speed because I'm too lazy to whisk).
• Add the egg and extra yolk and whisk (again with the whisking!) until mixture is smooth with no sugar lumps left- about 30 seconds.
• Now let that just sit still for three minutes. When three minutes are up, give it another go with the whisk (I'm still using my Kitchen Aid on low here) for another 30 seconds and another pause of three minutes. When you get to this point, do it one more time! 30 seconds of whisking, three minutes of sitting.
• Stir in the flour mixture just until combined. It says to use a spatula or wooden spoon (yes, I'm still using my mixer on speed one).
• Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts (or no nuts!) and then use a medium cookie scoop to put a big ol' ball of dough on the parchment-lined cookie sheet. If you still have your scale out, my cookies weighed in at 2 1/4 oz. each, using my medium scooper. You can check your cookie's weight, if you are so inclined. This recipe only makes 16 cookies (put 8 cookies on each sheet), and bake them one sheet at a time, for 10-14 minutes. I baked mine for 10 minutes exactly. Remove them from the oven and let them sit on the hot cookie sheet for another 10 minutes.
• I am going to have to give these another try because testing them "day-old" just wasn't fair to either the cookie or me. However, people who ate them, even day-old, said they were yummy. Karen ate them two days old and was surprised that they still tasted good enough to satisfy her, and she is pretty picky about her ccc's.
• Here's an interesting tidbit- if you want to know which chocolate chip won the C.I.'s taste test, I'll tell you. It wasn't Nestlé! For milk chocolate chips, it's Hershey's (side-note...we used to have a dog named Hershey. When we first got her, the kids kept saying him, his, he, etc. I said over and over "it's a girl, it's a she- her- she- her-she" and so she got her name), and for semi-sweet chips, it still isn't Nestlé! It's Ghirardelli, with Hershey coming in second place. Huh. I never knew. I guess I'll be switching brands!
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