To preface this recipe, a quick note on why I shared it. Obviously this is not a Bavarian recipe; however, I have received many request for the recipe so I thought I would post it on this site. Next up will be my grandmother’s cookies, the BEST cookies in the world! The recipe has been a closely-held recipe for years but I’m finally sharing it. I hope to have it up by next week. Thanks for stopping by!
My husband bought a bag of Tate’s Chocolate Chip Cookies on clearance at World Market. A bag of crispy, caramelly, buttery, chocolate goodness. My desire to duplicate these cookies started almost immediately. I tried using Alton Brown’s “The Thin” cookie recipe but it lacked the crispiness. I then tried the authentic recipe in Tate’s cookbook. Again it just wasn’t thin enough and it retained a chewy interior. So I decided to experiment. The following is the result of many, many tries. I think I’m as close as I’m going to get using readily available ingredients and a home oven. The amounts of ingredients may at times seem unusual; however, the results are worth it.
A quick note about the vanilla called for in the recipe. I use both vanilla extract, real and artificial, and vanilla sugar. You will find that I use Dr. Oetker’s Vanilla Sugar in most of my dessert recipes. I grew up with this preparation of vanilla in most of the baked goods I ate and love the flavor profile. I like to layer the vanilla flavor in this recipe and I truly believe that the 2-3 vanillas are valuable in this recipe. Vanilla sugar is available in most large supermarkets; you can also make your own. Dr. Oetker’s Vanilla Sugar is also available at most grocery stores and is available online at amazon.com and German Deli.com. If you live in the Chicago area, Edelweiss Deli in Palatine carries a full range of Dr. Oetker products.
- 2 & ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1& ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup salted butter + 3 tablespoons salted butter, all softened
- 1 cup sugar (I prefer C&H Bakers sugar)
- ½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon water
- 1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
- ½-1 teaspoon imitation vanilla(optional)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar (I prefer Dr. Oetker, see more about this ingredient below)
- ¼ teaspoon butter flavor (I prefer McCormick)
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
- 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup toasted walnuts
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or Silpat.
- In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
- In another large bowl, cream the butter in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer until it begins to get fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add both sugars and vanilla sugar. Beat until very fluffy, like the texture of whipped cream, about 5 minutes. Beat the eggs in a measuring cup. Add the water, vanilla (both if using) and the butter flavor to the eggs and mix. Drizzle the eggs slowly into the butter/sugar mixture, about 1-2 tablespoons at a time. After all the eggs are incorporated scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again to ensure the dough is well blended. Stir in the flour mixture. Fold in the chocolate chips and walnuts. Don’t over-mix the dough.
- Chill the dough. This is essential so that the cookies spread thinly, but not too thinly. Chilling also helps relax the gluten and develops the flavor.
- To drop the cookies onto the cookie sheet, I use a small scoop from Pampered Chef that holds about 1 ½ tablespoons (it’s their small scoop). Alternatively, you can use two tablespoons. Drop the cookies 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets. Bake them for 10 minutes and rotate the sheet.
- Now this is where the recipe really goes off the grid. The “original” recipe calls to bake the cookies 12 minutes. In my home oven (and likely most home ovens) this is not enough time to adequately brown and consequently crisp the cookies. I usually bake 10 minutes, rotate the sheet and bake another 6-10 minutes. Please see below for an example. The cookies must be fully baked through with no moisture remaining in the middle so that they are light and crispy. They are done when they are dark brown on the edges and medium brown throughout. Remove the ciookies from the oven and quickly transfer to a wire rack. This keeps steam from being trapped between the cookies and the sheet. Cool on the racks until completely cool. You can keep the cookies for up to a week. My preferred method of storing is in a cookie tin. Layer the cookies with parchment paper in between. They stay crisp for at least a week.