Peter's Einkorn Chocolate Chip Cookies

Initially this was a friend's chocolate chip cookie recipe. Then, I was on a bread panel once with City Bakery founder Maury Rubin. I was always obsessed with their chocolate chip cookies. I said to him, "I know you're not going to tell me this, but what makes your cookies so special?" He said, "The only hint I'll give you is, it's about the sugar." So I played with that, added salt to balance the sugar, and adjusted a few things to keep that caramely center with the crispy edges. Then when we adapted the recipe for Runner & Stone, we started making it with rye flour, to work in whole grain flours. And we found it worked great with einkorn too.

The einkorn makes this cookie a bit flatter. Any whole grain will thin out more. You can  bake them right from the freezer. That gives them more height. If you cook something frozen at a low temperature for a longer time you'll get a cake-ier cookie. If you bake from a warm batter, at a high temperature for a short time, they'll be thinner, a little soft, with a nice crispiness around the edge.  

-- Peter Endriss, Founder of Runner & Stone restaurant and bakery, Gowanus, Brooklyn

Yield: 40 large cookies

Time: Active time, 25 minutes. Minimum 4 hours total, including chilling.

INGREDIENTS

  • 690g einkorn flour
  • 11g salt
  • 11g baking soda
  • 450g butter, soft
  • 450g dark brown sugar
  • 340g sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 1T vanilla extract
  • 325g milk chocolate chunks
  • 325g dark chocolate chunks

DIRECTIONS

Note : If using an electric mixer, only use on speed 1 throughout recipe.

  • Mix flour, salt and baking soda and set aside.
  • Lightly mix in butter and sugars.
  • Add eggs and vanilla extract, lightly mix.
  • Slowly add the dry ingredients.
  • When combined, mix in the chocolate chunks.
  • Divide into two or more, put each portion on parchment width-wise, and shape into a log. Pro-tip: Dough will be wet and sticky. You can touch only the parchment paper while shaping. If handling dough directly, wet fingers slightly first and voila! No stickiness. The logs will be easier to shape once they are chilled.
  • Wrap each log into the parchment paper and put in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours, or up to 3 days. (Freeze whatever you don’t use!)
  • Pre-heat oven to 325°F. Place chilled log(s) on cutting board and cut into discs with a very sharp knife. Place discs on cookie sheet with ample space between cookies -- 1 to 2 inches.
  • Bake for 9-11 minutes, or until pale golden brown but still a little soft in the middle. They will firm up as they cool, but they’ll remain chewy.
  • Let cool, and enjoy!