How many cookies does the average person eat over the course of a lifetime? 500? 5,000? 5 MILLION?
I’m not sure but since life is short, I believe it’s important to make your cookies count. Cracking open a box of Chips Ahoy might scratch an itch much like sleeping with a prostitute probably scratches a different sort of each. Neither is a good idea but people do it. I say, if you’re going to eat a chocolate chip cookie, there’s only one cookie to eat and that’s the best chocolate chip cookie in the entire world, the chocolate chip cookie at The City Bakery in New York.
This isn’t hyperbole, this is fact. I’ve eaten cookies all across the country, all around the world. I’ve had the famous Levain Bakery flying saucer of a chocolate chip cookie several times. I’ve had chocolate chip cookies in Atlanta, Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco. I’ve had chocolate chip cookies that I’ve made myself, in many different ways.
But none comes close to the City Bakery cookie. What makes it so good? David Leite tried to find out in this now legendary New York Times article. It boils down to this: Maury Rubin (City Bakery’s owner) lets the cookie dough age for 36 hours and he makes large cookies so the cookies form three different textures.
I’ve tried this at home many times and though both techniques yield excellent cookies, nothing ever comes close to the cookie you get at City Bakery. I have theories about that, theories that some might call conspiracy theories. One: City Bakery uses a special flour that no one else can get because it’s so special. Two: Maury Rubin is a wizard.
Maybe it has something to do with his ovens. Maybe it has something to do with his cookie sheets. The cookies are crisp on the outside, moist in the middle, and taste vaguely nutty. If I could only eat one cookie for the rest of my life it would be this cookie.
Part of me is glad that I can’t make this at home because if I really knew how, I probably wouldn’t make anything else. Suffice it to say, if you’re ever in New York, a visit to City Bakery is mandatory. Make sure to buy two cookies: one for you, and one to ship to me. It’s the right thing to do.
Im kind of glad that I have never had these before…I would feel like every cookie thereafter was…less. Im going to try letting to dough sit in the fridge as suggested. Outside of that, the one thing I do with my chocolate chip cookies that makes them miles better is brown the butter. That is what I find gives it the nutty flavor and helps the cookies get that good chewiness to them. Also, a mix of milk and super dark chocolate chips.
I used to make my cookies with room temp butter, but I found that the modifications to make the most magical chocolate chip cookies are:
melted butter so that the sweetness is evenly spread from white to brown
a greater ratio of brown sugar to white sugar than in normal cookie recipes
an extra yolk
the best chocolate you can get
at least 12 hrs in the fridge (to meld the flavors and re-solidify the butter)
more vanilla extract
these changes typically yield (at least for me) a slightly nutty, butterscotch-esque flavor, which definitely makes eating only one cookie impossible.
10 minutes in a 350 degree oven should do the trick.
and the batch of cookies usually disappears in the blink of an eye!
I imagine this is the first time Chips Ahoy have been likened to a prostitute. ;)
I will make sure to try this cookie next time I’m in NYC! Thanks for the tip :)
The difference between the best chocolate chip cookie you ever had and the worst one isn’t enough to spit at.
Oh but what about the Jacques Torres CC cookie? And the fact that you can always get one warm? My boss and I refer to these as “crack cookies”. We can’t keep away. I’ve tried….I just….can’t.
I’m afraid to try it. I might die from its awesomeness. But I will try it. I will.
My husband agrees! I can’t remember though…haven’t had it in 7 years…
Pullman hotels hav the really awesome chocolate chip cookies… Try it out
Wheres the recipe please! Thanks.
I know this article came out like 9 years ago but does anyone actually have a recipe that produces a cookie that tastes like and looks like the City Bakery Chocolate Chip cookie? I think the aging of the dough and making large size cookies helps a LOT but I’ve yet to see a photo of a cookie that really looks like a City Bakery Chocolate Chip cookie. Any recipes out there? (I’m kind of bummed Maury Rubin hasn’t shared it. ).. Thanks. Chet Shannon
I agree! It was the best cookie of my life. I wonder if we can track him down?