Folk Tales

The first chocolate chip cookie recipe I baked from NY Times Cooking caught my attention with the name "The $250 Cookie Recipe". Barbara Whitaker described an urban legend about a woman getting stuck with a big bill because she asked for the recipe of a delicious cookie and she reacted by sending the recipe to all people. Written in 1997, Whitaker explained how a similar story circulated about a red velvet cake, fake news before the turn of this century. The official cookie recipe found online is different from this one, which includes a grated chocolate bar. Speaking of grated chocolate, I used dark chocolate, 88%,  and created an intense flavor that sent a couple of tasters to the refrigerator for milk. Also, at the supermarket, I bought brown sugar instead of granulated and used brown coconut sugar in the recipe to compromise. The recipe includes oats and found favor in the intense flavors with another taster who enjoyed the bounty. Although I feared the day after aging of the chocolate chip cookie, something that I discovered in the shortbread controversy,  I need not have worried; the dense texture and numerous chocolate pieces kept the consistency and flavor going for days.