Chewy Chocolate Chip or Coconut Cookies or Bars

The Best Recipe includes recipes for both traditional chocolate chip cookies and big, chewy cookies like the ones you get at cookie stores. And they tell you how they came to the ideal recipes. The latter recipe uses melted butter. Following are tweaks and variations on that recipe. The bars are seriously chewy.

You can divide the dough to make more than one kind at the same time. You might want to prepare some cookies to eat while warm and bars to cool for later. Or make part nut or coconut and part chocolate-only cookies. If preparing part of the batch with nuts, prepare them after the no-nut cookies to prevent problems for anyone allergic to nuts.

If you don't have two big cookie sheets (around 11 x 17 inches) or if you want to make smaller cookies, you may not be able to get all the cookies in the oven at the same time. But you could make one sheet of cookies and one pan of bars at the same time - say a 9 x 13 inch pan of coconut bars and 6 chocolate chip cookies (slightly smaller than in the directions) to eat while warm. They would fit on a smaller cookie sheet. Or make a big sheet of big cookies and a 9 x 9 inch pan of bars. I would put the sheet of cookies on the top oven rack if I chose this option. Cookies will be done before the bars. You could move the bars to the top rack when you take the cookies out if you like.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, melted and cooled to warm. (1 1/2 sticks, 12 Tablespoons)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar

1 large egg
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups plus 2 Tablespoons flour (stir, spoon into cup, level without shaking)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup to 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips or dark chocolate chunks
I prefer not to use the full amount of chocolate chips in most chocolate chip cookie recipes. Half a cup for the entire recipe below is fine for me. Choose your personal chocolate level.

Directions

Set oven racks at medium-high and medium-low levels. Set oven temperature to 325 degrees. This is a lower temperature than most cookie recipes. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter and the sugars well. Beat in the egg and egg yolk, then the vanilla until well-combined.

Sift baking soda into some of the flour, whisk together with the rest of the flour and the salt. Beat flour mixture into butter/sugar mixture just until combined. Do not over-mix. Stir chocolate pieces or other additions (below) into dough.

Big Cookies

If dough seems too soft to handle, refrigerate for a few minutes while preparing cookie sheets. Line 2 large cookie sheets with baking parchment. Roll scant 1/4 cup portions of dough into balls. For a "bumpy" look, pull apart and jam together again with jagged sides facing up. Space on cookie sheets. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, reversing sheets top to bottom and back to front halfway through baking. For smaller cookies, reduce baking time. When cookies are golden brown and have started to harden at the edges but are still soft and puffy in the center, remove from oven. Cool on cookie sheets on rack. Serve warm (not hot) or allow to cool completely then peel from parchment. Makes about 18 big cookies.

Bar Cookies

If you are worried about the bars sticking to the pan, oil the pan or spray with non-stick spray and line the bottom and two sides (leave enough at the two sides for "handles" to remove cooled cookies for cutting) with parchment or waxed paper, folded under to fit the bottom flat, while missing the corners. Oil waxed paper again to plaster it flat to the pan. This is a good idea if you are baking the bars in a metal pan which you could mar while cutting the bars.

Press dough in a 10 x 15 x 1 (at least) inch baking pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 23 minutes or more, until golden and starting to harden at the edges but still soft and puffy in the center. You may also bake half the dough (with chips, etc.) in a 9 x 9 inch pan or 3/4 of the dough in a 9 x 13 inch pan for 20 minutes or more. Prepare the remaining dough as cookies. See above.

Cool bars in pan on a wire rack. If you lined the pan with waxed paper or parchment, loosen the sides of the cooled "cookie" and lift out of the pan with the paper "handles" to a cutting board. Peel paper off the bottom, place right-side up and cut into bars with a serrated knife. Cover when fully cooled. You may put cut bars back in the baking pan if you don't want to dirty more dishes.

Chocolate Chip/Nut Cookies or bars

Add 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans with chocolate chips. You may substitute white baking chips for half the chocolate chips. Save a few nuts to garnish the top if making bars.

Coconut/Nut Cookies or Bars

Toast 1 cup sliced almonds or whole almonds or pecans and cool, or use raw almonds or pecans. Chop nuts if not using sliced almonds.

Lightly mix nuts and 1 1/2 cups sweetened dried coconut into the prepared dough. You may also add chocolate chips as above. You may reserve up to half the nuts to garnish the top if making bar cookies (try to pick the large pieces if using chopped nuts). Press into the dough lightly before baking.

Bake as for chocolate chip cookies or bars (see above).

Milk Chocolate-topped Coconut/Nut bars

Omit chocolate chips. Press dough containing coconut and half or more of the nuts (in the variation above) into baking pan. See directions under "bar cookies" above. Sprinkle remaining nuts over the dough and press into dough lightly. Bake as for bars above. Remove from oven and cool for three minutes in the pan, or until center feels "set". Sprinkle with Guittard Milk Chocolate baking chips (or other favorite chocolate). Leave some of the bars "bare" if you like. Allow chocolate to melt and swirl over the top of the bars. Chocolate may not harden for several hours after cookies are cooled. You may wish to refrigerate cooled cookies for a while if you want the chocolate hardened sooner.

To cover about half of a 9-inch square pan use 1/2 cup chocolate chips. For the entire pan, use 1 cup.

For a 9 x 13 inch pan use 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips. Use 3/4 cup to cover half the pan. If you cover half the bars lengthwise with chocolate, you can make 5 rows of bars (the long way) with the middle row half plain and half chocolate.

For a 10 x 15 inch pan use 2 cups milk chocolate chips (1 package) for the entire pan of bars, 1 cup to cover half the pan.