Thursday, February 24, 2011

Lemon White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

This is another cookie from Ruby et Violette Bakery. The original recipe I found was for their chocolate chunk cookies which had been posted in The New York Times in 2002. Wendy Gaynor ( the original owner of the bakery) gave a variation of this chocolate chunk cookie by swapping out the dark chocolate for white chocolate, adding some lemon oil or extract (which is what I used), and changing the flour amount.

She calls them "utterly devine"...and they are! I love the white chocolate chunks in them and the lemony flavor is wonderful. I didn't have any chips but I did have a bar of white chocolate that I chopped up and that worked great because I really got nice chunks of chocolate.
Cream the butter for about 2 minutes.

Then start adding in the sugars.
Add in the eggs, one at a time, then the lemon oil or extract and combine well.


Mix in the dry ingredients on low speed til all combined.


Then, chop up the white chocolate, if using chunks, and add it in to the dough, stirring just til combined.

You get a nice chunky dough.

Scoop heaping teaspoonfuls onto parchment lined baking sheets, spacing 2" apart.
Bake about 12 minutes, checking after 10 minutes. They should be lightly browned on the edges.
Lemon White Chocolate Chunk Cookies(from Ruby et Violette)


Makes about 3 - 4 dozen, depending on the size.
2 sticks(1 cup) unsalted butter, room temp.
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 1/4 cups AP flour
1 (scant) tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. lemon oil (I used 1 1/2 tsp. lemon extract and it was enough)
4 cups white chocolate chunks or chips ( I thought this amount was excessive and used about 3 cups)
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Preheat oven to 350. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
1. Cream butter for about 2 minutes, or til light and fluffy.
2. Add in the sugars, beating well to combine and scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl.
3. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then add the lemon oil or extract, scraping the bowl again.
4. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt and add to the creamed mixture on low speed. Don't overmix.
5. Stir in the chocolate chunks.
6. Scoop heaping teaspoonful amounts onto the baking sheet, placing 2" apart.
7. Bake for approx. 12 minutes, checking after 10 minutes. The cookies should be lightly golden brown on the edges.





4 comments:

  1. Wow, 4 cups of white chocolate is excessive :) (though delicious -- suggestion: use 3 cups, eat 1 cup :)). You mentioned you changed the flour amount. I'm curious as to what method you use to measure your flour. I bake by weight with a 130g per cup standard, and cookies are one of the only baked goods where the difference between 120g and 140g will matter. So I know my results can vary quite a bit depending on the recipe and who built it.

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  2. Adam,
    Even 3 cups is really excessive.
    You can read more about it here:
    http://www.shelterrific.com/2007/09/03/real-life-test-kitchen-chocolate-chip-perfection/

    Although I'd like to have been the one to change the flour amount, Wendy Gaynor was actually the one who gave the revised variation on her chocolate chip cookie.

    As for the flour, I now weigh my flour. I use between 4.5 and 4.8 oz. per cup of AP flour. I seem to be in a constant state of confusion about the correct weight of a cup of AP flour and I even wrote a post about it a while back.
    http://thecookiescoop.blogspot.com/search?q=flour+weigh%3F
    So from your 130 g per cup thats 4.6 oz. which fits right about the same weight I use.

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  3. Ah, sorry, I obviously misread your post about the flour adjustment (it's been a long week :)). I do remember your post about flour weight, which is actually part of the reason I asked :). I've found that certain cookie recipes that I used to do with a scoop and sweep are very different now that I weigh out my flour. It's nerve wracking for me to try and figure out how another baker has measured their flour for cookies, because it can have such profound effects on them :) (but I'm a bit dramatic :)).

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  4. Adam,
    Yes, you right and not being dramatic at all! I used to do the scoop and sweep method, too but when I actually weighed that flour amount it was way too much. It was coming out to about 5 ozs. even when I lightly spooned the flour into the measuring cup so that's why now I always weigh it. Makes you wonder though what method the original recipe used. Wish all recipes were by weight, then it would be much more exact. Can't question weight...which is what baking is all about, right? An exact science! Gotta love Alton Brown. He's really into the whole "by weight" thing! Guess I'd better start taking my own advise and list the flour by weight.

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