Real Genius

Last week I had read my friend Lizi's blog. She had a great cookie post. I read the article she had linked to. It was fascinating. Maybe I am easily entertained or maybe it was complete genius. Either way I decided to take the recipe and experiment. I made the dough as described. It was lovely tasting dough and I thought well....I am not sure this dough will last the full 36 hours until this experiment is complete because it was absolutely wonderful cookie dough. I put on my mental block and erased all memory of the heavenly tasting cookie dough and put it in my fridge. After 12 hours my memory came back and I baked one pan of cookies. David and I ate one right away. It was wonderful. David tried to encourage me to bake the rest but without the sea salt on top. I resisted.

These are the first cookies at 12 hours.

I went to bed once again thankful for my selective memory which allowed the cookie dough to remain untouched for another 12 hours. At 11 am I baked another pan of cookies.

This cookie was more flavorful and richer. I still used the sea salt because the recipe said to and because I kind of liked it. David still did not like the sea salt but thought the cookie was wonderful.

I then experienced all the things in the previous post thankful I was not home to pick at that tempting but now drier dough. Sitting for 24 hours had made the dough drier than I am used to but still wonderful. In my brain I was imagining the egg molecules soaking up the flour particles and merging in blissful coexistence, creating the perfect dough and cookie

After 34 hours I was tired. It was 9 pm and I was ready for bed. I am old and had a big day without a nap! It was a miracle I was still awake. So I cheated and baked the rest of the dough 2 hours early. I am ashamed I am not the experimental genius I know I could be. I veered from the plan and made too many variables so the results are now tainted. I guess I will have to eat the results and try the experiment again.

Ha! While I did fail to wait the full 36 hours I feel that the result after 34 were satisfactory. The dough was dry yet still formed a ball very well. They baked up lovely. The dough part of the cookie was impressively toffee like. It was soft and chewy in texture but the flavor of the butter and sugar had melded together to make a lovely buttery toffee flavor. The cookie was wonderful. The chocolate complimented the cookie. I used 60% cacao chips vs the regular 43% in semi sweet chips. They were divine. The occasional salt crystal offset the chocolate and made it a wonderful cookie. I would recommend and even duplicate the 36 hour waiting period. It is definitely worth the wait.

Overall the experiment was great fun for me. I know it was not completely scientific.

I also know that while I talked about the cookie scoops I saw at Bed Bath & Beyond and I regretted not having the scoop to make completely uniform balls for complete scientific excellence, it was not until the 34 hour mark that David pulled out his scoop for me to use. He had been holding out the entire weekend! Ha ha ha! What a great scientist I am!