White House Chocolate Chip Cookies

According to Roland Mesnier, The White House Pastry Chef, these cookies are the ones he baked on an almost daily basis at the White House. So, the President has been eating Chocolate Chip Cookies.  He uses Molasses to make these chocolate chip cookies chewy and it will remain so for more than a day.  It also gives them a more intense brown sugar flavor than Toll House-type cookies. He suggests to bake at 400f and it is for a reason - high heat browns the outside while keeping the inside moist and almost gooey.  Do not overbake or they will overbrown on the outside and dry out on the inside.

Ingredients:

3 cups plus 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup(2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 cup molasses
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups(one 12 ozs bag) chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts

Method:

Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium mixing bowl.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until thoroughly combined.  Beat in the eggs, molasses, and vanilla, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice as necessary.  Stir in the flour mixture until just incorporated.  Then stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts.  Place the bowl in the refrigerator and allow the dough to chill for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 400f.  Line several baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat pads.

Drop heaping tablespoons or #40 ice cream scoops of the dough 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets, flattening them slightly by hand.  (Balls of dough may be placed next to each other on parchment lined baking sheets, frozen, transferred to zipper-lock plastic freezer bags, and stored in the freezer for up to 1 month.  Place frozen cookies on prepared sheets as above, and defrost on the counter for 30 minutes before baking.)

Bake until just light golden, 8 - 10 muinutes.  Cool the cookies for 5 minutes on the baking sheets before using a metal spatula to transfer them to a wire ract to cool completely.  Chocolate Chip Cookies will keep in an airthight container for 2 - 3 days.




Serves