The Trick To Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies are an old favorite of...well, just about everyone. They have been around since the 1930's, and there are many recipes. They all include chocolate chips, of course, and most have flour and butter and the usual ingredients, but they don't always have the secret ingredient: Time.

No, not thyme, time.

You may call it 'aging' the dough, or 'resting' it, or 'chilling' it, but you will also call it 'delicious.'

It gained popularity in a New York Times article which said that aging the dough means "allowing the dough and other ingredients to fully soak up the liquid - in this case, the eggs - in order to get a drier and firmer dough, which bakes to a better consistency." It also concentrates flavor in the dough. The result is that the dough gets darker and gains a toffee-noted, complex flavor. It also changes texture.

That article promotes 36 hours of aging.

Yes, 36 hours. You make the dough Monday at 10pm, you bake it Wednesday at 10am.

Lucky for us, there is a compromise, to get most of the benefit with a lot less time. I mean, who can wait 36 hours with cookie dough in the fridge? I bet it would all get eaten as dough.

'Research' has shown that as little as 30 minutes of resting the dough can help improve the cookies, but the easiest way to maximize the technique is to make the cookie dough in the evening, and leave it overnight. Rest it as long as you can, but don't feel the need to get to the full 36 hours unless you're a die-hard cookie fan.

What do you think? Would you try it? Could you make the dough last for long enough?