1,000 LAYER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
My original deeply marbled, dark chocolate pastry-shop style cookie. Plus: thoughts on summer's second act.
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Hi, friends.
I’m thinking of you all and wondering how you’re feeling about the official mid-point of summer (August 6). Over here, we’re packing. In less than 24 hours, we embark on our annual August getaway to Hungary.
Whenever summer is split in two like this—July in the United States and August in Hungary—I find myself leaning hard into the parts that don’t translate overseas: corn on the cob, lobster rolls, Rice Krispy treats, soft-serve ice cream, and warm chocolate chip cookies eaten with a fork straight from the oven, before they can even cool on the tray. I say yes to everything, trying to pack two months of American Summer into one.
As we inch closer to our trip, I find myself falling hard for our life here. All the flaws and imperfections I’ve been needling about all year suddenly disappear. Overnight, my children start behaving like angels—giving me extra hugs and cuddling in sunny corners of the house playing Uno and Monopoly—entertaining themselves without asking for screens. The garden bursts with squash and tomatoes, and the market is ripe with melons and peaches and just yesterday, our first dahlia bloomed. It all feels perfect—like the silver lining on the giant cloud formation over neighboring corn fields.
It’s as if my brain is trying to convince me that where I am is the best place to be. Why pack up a bag and go halfway across the world when we are in a sweet rhythm right here?
But Hungarian Summers have their own stripped-back summer magic—lunches at Nagymama’s house, Langos and rolled pancakes at Lake Balaton, horse rides, and long hikes. There won’t be any chocolate chip cookies in Hungary—one of the few things that hasn’t traveled over from the New World—at least not to the village where we’ll spend most of our time. Instead, there will be poppy-packed strudel and raspberry linzers, chocolate-dipped Islers, fagylalt (ice cream), and sorbets made of every fruiting vine or bush known to man, from szóló (purple grapes) to ribizli (red current), bodzavirág (elderflower), and my favorite—erdei gyümölcsök (forest fruits).
Before we leave, I want to leave you with one of my best classic recipes for the waning days of summer, the end, when bordem mixes with the anxious (or in some cases, welcome) return of routine. Some of your littles will start school while I am away, and you may all need a little comfort.
It’s a small kindness to return to a warm, oozy chocolate cookie in those first days away with a new teacher, to sit at home in the cool AC and eat them, warm and wrapped in mother’s hugs and love.
This cookie is from my very first book, The Newlywed Cookbook. It is the cookie that got me on the Martha Stewart Show. The cookie that went viral before viral was a thing; it was the one I baked for friends and my beloved early in our marriage. Somehow, when revisiting some of my best cookie recipes this spring, we realized I’d rarely baked this for, or better yet with, my kids. So we decided to change that.
This is the deeply chocolate-marbled, flaky-topped, crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside cookie lover’s chocolate chip cookie. In contrast to my dense, chewy, and easy-as-pie everyday Chocolate Chip Cookie for Modern Times, the 1,000-layer Cookie requires a little more work. It also has an egg-wash finish (check out that golden crackle!). But we say— it’s worth it.
Bake this in your fleeting days with kids or grandkids at home. Bake them to tuck into back-to-school bags or to treasure yourself in those first quiet moments alone.
My kids don’t start school until after Labor Day, a little gift from our local schools. Leaving in August has always been a way to prolong our summers and connect with a simpler world—to freeze time. While I’m away, I wish you weeks saturated with love. I’ll pop in here if time/energy permits, but this will be my summer hiatus, a little respite for you from long reads.
Expect me back in the last week of August with stories of travel. In the meantime, follow along with me in Vienna, Hungary, and Croatia on the ‘gram, here and here.
xx
Sarah
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THOUSAND-LAYER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Reprinted with permission from The Newlywed Cookbook by Sarah Copeland
(Chronicle Books, 2011)
1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
3/4 cup unrefined cane sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
4 large egg yolks at room temperature, plus 1 large egg, lightly beaten, for brushing
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour plus more for dusting
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon Sea salt
9 ounces bittersweet chocolate
Start The Cookie Dough: Heat the oven to 375˚F/190°C/gas 5. Line three to four baking sheets/trays with parchment paper. Cream butter and sugars with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in egg yolks, two at a time, followed by vanilla.
Add The Dry Ingredients: Whisk together the flour, baking soda/bicarbonate of soda, and salt. Stir the dry ingredients into the butter mixture at low speed until it is just mixed. Stop and scrape down the bowl to ensure all the butter is evenly incorporated, and give the dough a final mix.
Chill the Dough: Divide the dough into 3 portions. Put each portion on a large piece of plastic wrap and pat it into a 4-by-6-in/10-by-15-cm rectangle. Wrap and refrigerate on a flat shelf in the fridge until well chilled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, coarsely chop the chocolate into thin shards using a serrated knife. Set aside.
Roll Out The Dough: When the dough is chilled, lay one portion on a lightly floured countertop. Sprinkle with half of the chocolate and top with another piece of dough. Repeat with remaining chocolate and dough until you have a slab of dough with two layers of chocolate.
Dust lightly and evenly with flour and roll gently with a rolling pin into a large 9-by-6-in/23-by-15-cm rectangle about 1 1/2 in/ 4 cm thick.
Shape The Cookies: Cut out ten dough rounds using a 2-in/5-cm round cookie or biscuit cutter. Gather the scraps, pat lightly, and cut out the remaining cookies.
Divide half of the cookies between the 2 prepared baking sheets (6 cookies per sheet), leaving about 4 between cookies since they will spread quite a bit and become big flat cookies. Brush the tops of each cookie with the beaten egg, and with a light hand, sprinkle with a few grains of sea salt or leave plain.
Bake the Cookies: Bake until the cookies are set, 12 to 15 minutes, switching the sheets halfway through, top to bottom, if you’re baking two sheets at a time. Let the cookies cool slightly for about 5 minutes, then transfer them with a thin spatula to a wire rack to cool completely.
Let the baking sheets cool completely before baking the remaining half of the dough (lining with more parchment/baking paper if needed). Bake as directed, switching sheets top to bottom halfway through baking, and cool. Serve at room temperature.
PREP TIME: // BAKE TIME: 12-15 MIN
MAKES 2 DOZEN
STORE: Wrap extras in an airtight container for up to 2 days, or freeze for up to 2 weeks.
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Photos and styling by Sarah Copeland.
Happy travels Sarah! I'm already looking forward to your posts!
Is there a good substitute for the unrefined cane sugar?