Remember how I was planning to make the walnut chocolate chip cookies from Top Chef Just Desserts? Well, I got sidetracked by the thin & chewy walnut chocolate chip recipe in this month’s Saveur.

{Side note: Chock full of writers reminiscing about their favorite meals, this month’s Saveur is a keeper}

Saveur pulled the recipe from The Essential New York Times Cookbook, Amanda Hesser’s new follow-up to Craig Claiborne’s 1961 classic.  My mom’s copy of the original is worn with use and Ina routinely invokes it so we know it must be great.  I’d love to have both and compare what was popular then as opposed to now.

Follow the recipe as is and you’ll produce a wafer thin cookie with the perfect mix of crunch and chew.  While more complex than your average chocolate chipper, it’s not precious but deliciously sweet and salty and, because you grind the walnuts, has an overall nuttiness that’s more subtle and satisfying than biting into the occasional lumpy nut.

The low baking temperature allows the dough to spread on the pan before it hardens.  Shaving the chocolate helps it to melt, producing the ooey-gooey-ness I can’t resist.  The bittersweet chocolate is very rich and strong and so, yes, the cookies need a scant 1 tablespoon kosher salt.  I skimped on the salt and had to counteract all that thick chocolate darkness with a sprinkle of Maldon sea salt.  Which, in the end, was no mistake at all.

{Side note 2: all this recent cookie baking is on account of our having Angus’ students over every Tuesday for cookies and Glee.  If you have a cookie recipe you’d recommend, email it to us at [email protected].  We’d love to share a collection of readers’ favorites!}

xoxosl

Thin & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yield: 60 cookies

Ingredients
2 cups flour
1 scant tablespoon kosher salt
1-1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1-1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1-1/4 cup sugar
16 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
12 ounces finely shaved bittersweet chocolate
8 ounces finely ground walnuts

Directions
Whisk flour, salt and baking soda in a medium-sized bowl.

In a large mixing bowl, beat sugars and butter until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.  Beat in eggs one at a time and then vanilla.  Add the flour mixture, chocolate and nuts.  Mix until just combined.  Chill for at least an hour before baking.

Preheat the oven to 325°.  Scoop 1-tablespoon portions of dough onto a prepared baking sheet, spacing each portion about 3-in apart.  Flatten with the palm of your hand and bake until golden brown, about 14 minutes.