Saturday, January 12, 2013

whole-wheat salted chocolate chip cookies



     Urgency. Isn't that a feeling every high school student can relate to? Deadlines, requirements, forms. I didn't think I would have to deal with them until later, much later. I'm only a sophomore, after all. Yet...when I was younger, didn't I think that being in high school is the ultimate in maturity? But now I'm here, finally in high school, and I feel more of a child than ever.
     The real world tells me otherwise. All of my fellow classmates are in driver's ed or have already gotten their licenses. I can get a job or become an intern or do research in a lab. We can donate blood. It's overwhelming.
     But maybe it's just me. I've always pushed myself, held myself to a higher standard. If I don't do well at something, it's only my own fault. In a country like America, land of boundless opportunity, I only have myself to blame if I don't reach out and grab the opportunities within reach. Even when my classmates are still happy and generally carefree, I can't be like them. As I said when I was younger, "great minds don't think alike - that's what make them so great".


     So I spent winter break filling out applications for various programs. Volunteering at the Pacific Science Center; a summer program at Brown University. I'm only a sophomore, but nobody excelled by only doing what was required of them. More importantly, though, I'm applying to a program at the University of Washington, in which I would drop out of high school at the end of this year and enroll at UW as a freshman. Sounds impressive, doesn't it? But I'm still not sure if I want to do it. On one hand, I can escape the high-schooler immaturity and boring coursework I endure right now. I could learn about the things I love (science! art! literature! extremely niche topics!), digging into subject material as opposed to scraping the surface. On the other hand, though, do I really want to get an undergraduate degree at the university that's half an hour away? Don't I want to go somewhere, not spend four years (as opposed to the two that I would spend if I stayed in high school) where I've been almost my entire life? My dream school (oh, the foolhardiness of having a "dream school"! The dream is fragile, crushed on the whim of an admissions officer.) is MIT, not the school two of my cousins went/are attending and the school both of my parents have worked at at one time or another (the only reason we live in the US is because my dad was offered a job at UW). I've never even been to California, or the East Coast, or a foreign country (Canada, China, and the one time we had a layover in Tokyo don't count). Two more years in high school is so insignificant, compared to the vast timeline of our lives. Couldn't I endure it?
     I am still so, so, so on the fence. So I'm "just applying". Procrastinating, really - waiting as long as possible until I'm forced to make a decision. But if I'm rejected, there's my decision made for me! Ha. Which is why I've left my options open by applying to a number of programs.


    These cookies were made for two of the teachers who have written me recommendations for various things. I was drawn in by the promise of "whole-wheat". Not for the health factor, but for the complex, nutty, hearty flavor whole-wheat flour brings to food. Of course, some salt had to go on there, too. Salt and sugar are practically ubiquitous now; salted caramel has transformed from being a daring new flavor to being a mainstay in food circles. I made the dough in the morning and let it sit in the fridge as I rode my bike to go volunteer at the library, and then when I came back, scooped the dough and sprinkled some sea salt on top of each shaggy sphere. I baked them in two batches, as the recipe made much more than just 20 cookies for me. I waited more than 10 seconds for the cookies to cool, for once, letting them cool for several minutes on the sheet. I was rewarded with a gooey, rich mouthful of cookie, subtly enhanced by the small grains of salt. The whole-wheat wasn't as prominent as I expected - you could have fooled me into thinking they were made with all-purpose flour. Of course, none of that matters in the face of a soft, warm, chewy confection. There is literally no way to mess up a freshly-baked chocolate chip cookie. Try it and you'll see!

Whole-Wheat Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Good to the Grain, by Kim Boyce, via Orangette
Makes about 20 large cookies (I got almost twice as many using a smallish cookie scoop)

Ingredients
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. kosher salt, plus more for sprinkling
2 sticks (8 oz.) unsalted butter, softened (I used salted, as that's what we currently have)

1 cup lightly packed dark brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped into ¼- and ½-inch pieces, or bittersweet chips
(I used 2/3 cup of 51% cacao chocolate chips and 4 oz of chopped semisweet chocolate)


Directions
  1. Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven, and preheat to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment. (If you have no parchment, you can butter the sheets.) 
  2. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl, and whisk to blend.
  3. Put the butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. With the mixer on low speed, mix just until the butter and sugars are blended, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture to the bowl, and blend on low speed until the flour is just incorporated. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the chocolate, and mix on low speed until evenly combined. (If you have no stand mixer, you can do all of this with handheld electric beaters and/or a large, sturdy spoon.) Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, and then use your hands to turn and gently massage the dough, making sure all the flour is absorbed. (At this point, it is advised to refrigerate the dough to let the butter firm up, resulting in a thicker and chewier cookie, and for the ingredients to meld.) 
  4. Scoop mounds of dough about 3 tablespoons in size (I used a cookie scoop) onto the baking sheets, leaving about 3 inches between each cookie.  
  5. Bake the cookies for 16 to 20 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through, until the cookies are evenly browned. Transfer the cookies, still on parchment, to a rack to cool. Repeat with remaining dough.

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