Welcome back to Saturday Snacks! I hope that your week was a good one.
Who doesn’t love chocolate chip cookies? Personally, I think that chocolate chip cookies straight out of the oven are some of life’s greatest joys. And just knowing that a batch can be whipped up at any moment – a bad day, a good day, a Tuesday – is a comforting thing.
My go-to recipe for chocolate chip cookies is found on the back of the Nestle Semi-Sweet Morsels bag. Today, I’m stepping away from the recipe on that bright yellow bag and I’m giving a recipe created by the bakery team at Walt Disney World‘s flagship resort a try.
A few years ago, Disney Parks Blog, in honor of National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day (which is May 15th; please mark it down for next year), shared the recipe that the pastry chefs at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa whip up for their guests. I happened to have all of the required ingredients on hand, so I had a good feeling about this recipe right from the start.
The Grand’s recipe deviates from the Toll House recipe that I’m so used to. For example, instead of granulated sugar, the pastry chefs ask us to use powdered sugar, and, in today’s recipe, two teaspoons of vanilla are used as opposed to Toll House’s one teaspoon.
This is the first cookie recipe that I’ve ever baked that calls for powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar. Powdered sugar is granulated sugar that’s been ground to, well, powder. Cornstarch is also added to the sugar to prevent clumping. From what I’ve read, the use of powdered sugar could allow the cookies to be softer for longer, and will change the composition of the cookie. Hmmm…we’re learning new things here, friends.
First things first. Preheat your oven to 330 degrees. This is a much lower temp than I’m used to using for baking cookies, so again, we’re leaning new things. 
Sift the flour, salt, and baking soda together. My sifter gave up the ghost, so I’m resorting to whisking the ingredients to ensure that everything’s incorporated and that all clumps are broken up. A whisk does the trick in a pinch.
Next, toss the softened butter, powdered sugar, and brown sugar in a large bowl and cream it until it develops a lighter color. The consistency of the batter at this point took on a grainier appearance than cookie doughs that I’m used to, so I’m thinking that that had something to do with the powdered sugar.
The recipe calls for you to now drop in one egg at a time with the mixer running, and then to add in the 2 teaspoons of vanilla.
It’s time to add in the flour mixture to your wet ingredients. Please add just a bit of the dry ingredients at a time. If you don’t, as soon as you turn your mixer on, you’ll have snowy flour floating everywhere.
Scrape the sides down, and stir in the chocolate chips. And pop at least one in your mouth.
I used a cookie scooper to portion the dough out on the baking sheets, and then placed them in the oven. The recipe says that medium cookies should be done in 10 to 12 minutes, and that larger cookies should take 12 to 14 minutes to bake. I checked my cookies at 10 minutes, and then again at 12 minutes since the weren’t close to being done. The cookies still weren’t done at 12 minutes, but they were finally a light golden color after 14 minutes.
The cookies were thicker and puffier than a normal Toll House cookie. I was worried that the vanilla flavor would overpower the cookie, but it didn’t. The result was a delicious, thick cookie. The ratio of cookie to chocolate was, in my opinion, perfect.
This cookie is not chewy, so if a chewier cookie is more your thing, the Grand Floridian’s recipe might not be for you.
Now all you and I need to do is brew a pot of tea (Twinings’ Irish Breakfast for me, please), put on our fancy clothes, put a cookie or two (or four) on our nicest plate, and enjoy a bit of Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort at home.
Please let me know if you try this recipe. And please let me know in the comments section below what you’re baking up these days. Have a great weekend!
Ready to give it a whirl? The recipe is below:
Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes about 3 dozen medium, or 18 large cookies
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks butter), softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup powdered sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
12-ounce bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Preheat oven to 330°F.
- Sift flour, baking soda and salt into a large bowl and set aside.
- Combine butter, brown sugar and powdered sugar in a separate bowl and cream with electric mixer until fluffy.
- With mixer running, add eggs, one at a time, then add vanilla. Mix until combined, scraping sides of bowl.
- Slowly add flour mixture, scraping sides of bowl. Stir in chocolate chips.
- Scoop 1 tablespoon dough for medium cookies and 2 tablespoons for large onto ungreased baking sheet.
- Bake until light golden, 10 to 12 minutes for medium cookies, 12 to 14 minutes for large.
Source: Disney Parks Blog