“Me want cookie!”, “Me eat cookie!” is the first thought that pops into my head when I think about delicious, scrumptious, always-in-season, I’m-going-to-eat-a-dozen-aren’t-I cookies. I love cookies. Some of my earliest memories are of baking cookies. Some of my most recent memories are of baking cookies. Ok, I’m going to be honest. About ninety percent of my memories involve a cookie in some shape or form.

My favorite and the cookie represented most in these memories has always been–and will most likely always be–the modern chocolate chip cookie. Growing up I preferred my chocolate chip cookies with sweet milk chocolate chunks and without the classic addition of walnuts. Today I like things a little different. I am a man now obsessed with so many flavors I once shunned as a kid–olives, oysters, eel, marrow, martinis and dark chocolate. Today I like my chocolate chip cookies loaded with good dark chocolate, pecans and walnuts–sometimes almonds, pistachios or other nuts–and layers of subtle additions that keep this classic new and interesting.

I typically bake a few dozen cookies every week–practicing to be the perfect househusband I suppose–and while sometimes I deviate greatly from my classic favorite I most often have a jar in my kitchen filled with some variation of a chocolate chip cookie. This week to change it up I first threw in some nuts–walnuts and pecans. I knew I couldn’t stop there though. I wanted a cookie with a unique twist but rooted in familiar delicious flavors.  I sometimes throw in cinnamon to add that “what’s in this?” and so I decided to do that again. But it still needed something more. What plays well with cinnamon and chocolate? Orange! Orange, chocolate and cinnamon is a pairing made in seductive heaven. If a cookie can be called sophisticated, this combination would be the reason.  One bite and you’ll know this isn’t the classic chocolate chip cookie of yesteryear. One bite and you may just become addicted like I have.

Making chocolate chip cookies is one of the easiest things to construct in the world of baking. If you have a stand mixer it is almost effortless. If not it is still easy but with a little more stirring and arm ache. I say if you are going to make cookies from scratch–and yes you should step away from the tubed stuff–then you should do it right. Leave the bag of chocolate chips for the kiddies. Go buy yourself a few bars of good chocolate–the darker the better, especially for this recipe. Not only do you get a better chocolate taste but you get more control over the size of chocolate chunks. That leads me to the nuts and extras. Not only should you make sure you get fresh ingredients but I suggest buying whole nuts as well. Pecans and walnuts are very soft nuts and easy to chop. Again you get more control over the size of each.

As for shaping the cookies it doesn’t really matter how you put them on the sheet. They can be cubes or spheres or shapeless blobs. You can use your hands, an ice cream scoop or spoons–the spoons method is much less messy than my typical hand method though and a bit more uniform in the end. I also suggest using baking paper though–it makes cleanup a cinch. Do I have any other tips and tricks for baking cookies? If you’ve got a convection oven I suggest using it. You’ll typically get a more even browning and it makes cooking a few sheets at a time easy. If not have no fear, I actually didn’t cook this batch in my convection oven.

If you’re looking for a gooier, softer cookie bite then subtract a minute or two from the cooking time. If you like very crispy cookies try adding a minute or two. The times I’ve provided below are for a cookie with a slightly crispy outside and soft chewy inside. Beware though, if the cookie is not cooked enough it will fall flat–of course sometimes a flat cookie that is half cookie dough half cookie is a good thing. The types of flour you use in the cookie helps determine the texture too. I suggest using a mix of cake flour and bread flour (2.25:1 parts to be exact–more on this below) to give a soft cookie with a little chew. All bread flower will give you a chewier cookie. All cake flour will give you a soft cakey cookie. Should you go run out and buy two types of flour if you don’t have them? All-purpose flour will work just fine too.

The best part of baking cookies is they are relatively easy to experiment with. So long as you keep all the ingredient amounts the same (with respect to the butter, sugars, egg, flours, salt & baking soda) you can vary the types of sugars and flours and you can add whatever extras you feel like.  If you aren’t in the experimenting mood I definitely suggest trying this recipe as it is below. It is scrumptious, one of my favorite cookie varieties in a long time. As always I suggest  measuring ingredients based on weight and not volume when baking as it is far more exact. Scales are cheap. Don’t worry though I’ve included volumetric measurements as well.

Chocolate Chip Cookies with an Orange Twist Recipe

Ingredients
 8 ounces unsalted butter at room temperature (2 sticks)
 6 ounces granulated sugar (about 1 cup)
 6 ounces brown sugar (about 3/4 cup packed)
 2 eggs
 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed juice from an orange
 9 ounces cake flour (about 2 cups)
 4 ounces bread flour (about 3/4 cup)
 1 teaspoon salt
 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
 2 ounces 100% cocoa bar, chopped fine
 4 ounces 70% cocoa bar, roughly chopped
 4 ounces 60% cocoa bar, roughly chopped
 4 ounces Pecans (1 heaping cup whole), roughly chopped
 4 ounces Walnuts (1 really heaping cup whole), roughly chopped
 1 1/2 teaspoons zest from an orange

Instructions
 1. Preheat a conventional oven to 375F or a convection to 350F.
 2. Cream the room-temp butter and sugars together in a bowl.  The
     mixture should be light and fluffy.
 3. Add each egg one at a time, mixing well after adding.
 4. Add the vanilla and juice from an orange. Mix well.
 5. Add the flours, salt, baking soda and cinnamon to the
    bowl and mix until the batter comes together.
 6. Before adding the extras, mix the nuts, chocolate and zest well
    in a bowl. This ensures the orange zest is even distributed.
 7. Add the extras (nuts, chocolate, zest) to the batter and mix
    in until it is evenly distributed.  
 8. Place tablespoon sized blobs of cookie dough on to a baking
    sheet lined with baking paper.
 9. Bake for 10 to 11 minutes until the cookie is golden.

This recipe will yield 4 dozen cookies. Since I feed on average 7 mouths–five of whom are bottomless pits of hunger that is the straight male–I need a good amount to last more than a day. If this is too much for you consider giving a dozen to a friend or neighbor or maybe take a couple dozen to work. People will fall in love with you instantly. If you must though, feel free to cut the recipe in half.

Do you have a variation on the classic chocolate chip cookie? Feel free to share it below!

Enjoy!