Slice and bake chocolate chip cookies

Since I’ve been hooked in slice and bake cookies – who can blame me, right? –, I thought “why not make the most iconic cookies in that same way?”

I found a recipe for slice and bake chocolate chip cookies in Fanny Zanotti’s cookbook and it looked wonderful, but I added a bit of whole wheat flour for the nutty flavor, decreased the amount of sugar and replaced the milk chocolate for dark chocolate: the cookies turned out delicious!

They are not super easy to slice because of the chocolate chunks, but I did not find that to be a problem: a bit of fixing with the tip of the fingers before baking and the cookies came out of the oven perfect.

I am sure that the idea of having a batch of chocolate chip cookies minutes away will make everyone reading me now quite happy, probably as happy as I am with the return of Mad Men, even though it is the last season.

Slice and bake chocolate chip cookies
slightly adapted from Paris Pastry Club: A Collection of Cakes, Tarts, Pastries and Other Indulgent Recipes

160g all purpose flour
40g whole wheat flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon table salt
90g unsalted butter, softened
110g light brown sugar
40g granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
75g dark chocolate, chopped into small chunks – I used one with 70% cocoa solids

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugars until creamy and light. Beat in the vanilla, then the egg. Scrape the sides of the bowl. On low speed, mix in the dry ingredients just until combined. Stir in the chocolate.

Divide the dough into two equal parts. Place each on a piece of parchment paper; shape dough into logs. Fold parchment over dough; using a ruler, roll and press into a 3.5 cm (1.4in) log – like Martha does here – if dough is too soft, refrigerate it for 10 minutes before shaping into logs. Wrap in parchment. Chill in the fridge until very firm, about 3 hours (the dough logs can be kept in the fridge for up to 3 days or stored in the freezer for up to 1 month.)

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F; line two large baking sheets with baking paper - I like Beyond Gourmet a lot.
Unwrap one log at a time (keep the other in the fridge). Cut log into 6mm (¼in) thick rounds; space 5cm (2in) apart onto prepared sheets. Bake until golden brown around the edges, about 10 minutes. Cool on the sheets for 5 minutes, then slide the paper with the cookies onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Packed airtight, the cookies will keep for about 5 days at room temperature or in the freezer for a month.

Makes about 25