I have just finished moving house. (Yay!!) This was one of the last things I cooked in my old apartment when I was preparing something to eat for those helping us move. My chosen theme was “fast-easy-food-to-make-that-friends-will-want-to-eat-so-will-come-help-us-move-…-please“. So I made chocolate chip cookies. This had the added bonus that I was able to use up the leftover village flour I had in my cupboard. I posted a recipe the other day (“katimeri” aka Cyprus crepe/pancake things) and had lots of questions asking me what “Cyprus Village Flour” is. It is durum flour which is a little yellow in colour. It’s used to make breads and is high in protein, but low in gluten. This is the flour I used to make these cookies. It is traditionally used in Cyprus to make traditional Cypriot foods, but it is actually a pretty great flour to work with for a number of unexpected recipes. You just have to understand a little bit about how it works in recipes to figure out new uses for it. This is one of them. My perfect cookie recipe has to be Jacques Torres’ cookie recipe. They come out perfect every time and are crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. I followed this recipe, but substituted the bread flour with Mitsides Village flour as I was curious to see if Village flour would work here. And it totally did. In fact, I liked using Village flour for these cookies, because they help make the cookies dense and chewy on the inside. If you can’t find Village flour, you can simply follow the Jacques Torres recipe exactly as it calls for bread flour. Also note that you have to rest the dough 24 hours in the fridge before baking these. It actually sounds a bit silly, but in fact it makes a difference as I was (obviously) super eager to eat these and just shoved a whole rack in the oven. They were still delicious, but there is a certain “softer” chewiness that comes with letting the dough rest I found. Also if you like the cookies chewy and gooey (which I do) then make sure you take them out at 11 minutes. They will still be a bit gooey, but they will firm up a bit. Also, I’ve made this recipe more than once (like 5 times) and since I am a chocolate fiend I just throw in huge pieces of Valrhona chocolate – the original recipe calls for more grams, but I found when I added 400g of chocolate or more the texture of the cookies started to change and I actually really like the way the dough tastes in these cookies. So that’s it for now. I will hopefully get to enjoy a few more frappes now that I am in Canada and the gorgeous Canadian summer foods and will be back soon with some yummy recipes. Until then. Happy Summer! … oh yeah, and I forgot to say, I combined the cookies with this homemade chocolate ice cream too (no shame here) and it was delicious!
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Level of Difficulty: 2/5
Preparation Time: about 1 day (the dough needs cooling time)
Cooking Time: about 11 minutes to 15 minutes
Makes about 40 cookies
the below is a modified Jacque Torres recipe!
ingredients
2 cups minus 2 tablespoons pastry flour
1⅔ cups Mitsides Cyprus village flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
1¼ teaspoons baking soda
1½ teaspoons coarse salt
280 grams unsalted butter, room temperature
1 & 1/4 cups & 2 tbs light brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
200 grams good quality chocolate chips (more or less depending on how chocolate you like the cookies)
recipe
1. In a medium sized bowl, combine together the pastry flour, village flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir together with a fork to combine.
2. In a large bowl, beat together butter, brown sugar and white sugar until light and fully (about 4 to 5 minutes).
3. Add one egg at a time to the butter mixture, mixing well to incorporate before adding the next.
4. Add the vanilla extract to the butter mixture and mix until incorporated. 
5. Add the flour in four parts. If using a handheld mixer, switch to a “dough” hook to incorporate the flour until just combined.
6. Add the chocolate chips and mix with a “dough” hook until mixed throughout the dough.
7. Place in the fridge for at least 24 hours before making.
8. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 175C.
9. Scoop 1 large tablespoon of dough per cookie onto a baking sheet.
10. Bake for about 11 minutes until the edges begin to slightly brown if you prefer gooey cookies, up to about 15 minutes if you prefer harder cookies.
11. Let cool slightly before enjoying.
FOR MORE RECIPES AND FOOD TALK VISIT www.afroditeskitchen.com
