Growing up, one of the few cookbooks in our house was Joy of Cooking, and the only recipe I cared about was Brownies Cockaigne. I had no idea what "cockaigne" even meant, but I remembered the name because it sounded mysterious and important. Fast forward several decades, and I recently picked up the 1997 edition edited by Maria Guarnaschelli which also includes Chocolate Chip Cookies Cockaigne. Guess what I made on Memorial Day?
Chocolate Chip Cookies Cockaigne
This recipe reminds me of the famous "Urban Legend" or "Neiman Marcus" cookies because both use ground oats and grated milk chocolate. I have no idea whether there's an actual connection, but the similarities make me wonder if those legendary cookies were inspired by older gourmet-style recipes like the Cockaigne cookies from Joy of Cooking.
These also remind me of The Minnesota State Fair cookies, though there are some pretty major differences. The fair cookies use more egg and rely on browned butter, and while those may sound like small changes, they actually have a huge impact on texture and flavor. That's one of the things I love about baking: tiny adjustments can completely change the personality of a cookie.
And with that, I offer you mine...
Baking Notes and Tips
The Joy of Cooking Chocolate Chip Cookies Cockaigne are excellent. I followed the recipe pretty closely, but I did make adjustments listed below.
Salt -- The original recipe calls for only ¼ teaspoon salt, which is probably because the editor knew people would use salted butter anyway. That, plus there's baking powder which can add a little salty flavor. For my cookies, I increased the salt to ¾ teaspoon.
Butter -- These cookies are excellent with Plugra. If you use salted Plugra, then maybe keep the butter at ¼ teaspoon.
Ground Oats -- You know what's better than ground oats? Toasted ground oats! I toasted them at 350F for about 10 minutes, then ground in the Vitamix. 1 ⅓ cups of oats ground down to around 1 cup and weighs 112 grams.
All-Purpose Flour -- I tested with King Arthur (higher protein) and a German flour might husband brought home from Berlin (softer and lower protein). The German flour cookies spread a little more, but that's about it.
Brown Sugar -- I rarely post on Instagram, but it was an exciting day when my shopper brought home this very pale brown sugar. It seems so much lighter than before. If your light brown sugar is this light, I recommend mixing it with dark. Or use organic light brown sugar, which I've switched to since that day.
Grated Milk Chocolate -- The grated milk chocolate makes a statement, but I don't love the mottled look and prefer using a mix of milk and semisweet chips. I just tried Target's Good & Gather brand this weekend and they were excellent. But here's a photo of one with the grated chocolate and another with just chips. These two were "double size" at about 2.8 oz each.
Go Bake These Cookies
With so many other recipes for chocolate chip cookies, these have some competition. However, they are worth baking. Also, if you haven't checked out The Joy of Cooking since the early seventies, take a look. It's a cookbook that's really kept with the times, which is obvious by how many editions there are. Now I have to take a deep dive into that old brownie recipe as well.
Recipe
Joy of Cooking Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ⅔ cups unbleached all-purpose flour (210 grams)
- 1 ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt or up to ¾
- 8 oz salted or unsalted butter (228 grams)
- ⅔ cup brown sugar, tightly packed (150 grams)
- ¾ cup granulated sugar (150 grams)
- 2 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 ⅓ cups oats, ground to make about 1 cup oat flour (110 grams)
- 1 ½ tablespoons milk
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- ½ cup milk chocolate chips or 3 oz grated milk chocolate
- ¾ cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Instructions
- Carefully measure or weigh your flour, then whisk it together with the baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- With an electric mixer, beat the butter and both sugars until light and creamy, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the egg and vanilla and beat on low, increasing to medium high, and beat just until creamy.
- Add the flour mixture and stir until blended, then stir in the ground oats and milk to make a soft dough. Stir in the chocolate chips or grated milk chocolate (if using) and nuts (if using).
- Shape dough into 1 ½ inch size balls or use a tightly packed medium size cookie scoop. You can bake them right away or chill the dough and bake later.
- Preheat the oven to 375F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. If using a convection oven, preheat to 350F.
- Set the dough balls 2 ½ inches apart on sheets. Bake 1 sheet at a time at 375F rotating the sheet halfway through for even browning, for 8 to 12 minutes or just until the edges of the cookies start to brown. If using convection, check at 10 minutes.
- Slide the parchment paper with the cookies off the hot tray as soon as possible and let the cookies cool on parchment for about 5 minutes. Transfer to a rack to finish cooling.
Sue K says
Despite my best efforts to screw these up they turned out great! I didn’t have any spreading issues even with un-chilled dough.
I would definitely make them again. I prefer the 12 min baking time and I do think they were better after the dough had chilled for 24 hours.
Anna says
Cyndi, thanks for trying them! Chilling the dough will fix that. Using King Arthur flour might also curb any spreading since it has more protein.
Sue, thanks for letting me know about the brownies. Guess I'll be making them soon.
Cyndi B says
These cookies are delicious! I think I would chill the dough next time though. I did use Plugra butter, weighed ingredients, but they spread quite a bit. no worries though, because I will use those to make ice cream sandwiches for my granddaughter.
Sue K says
My version of the Joy of Cooking is the 75th Anniversary edition. It does not have this recipe in it so thank you for sharing it here because they sounds like a cookie that I will like a lot.
It does have the brownie recipe in it and I have made them and made a note that they were very good so we obviously liked them!
Anna says
Sue, I'd be curious to see what the newer edition's recipe is like and your opinion on the brownies as well.
Sue K says
I look forward to making these! I have a newer edition of the Joy of Cooking so I will look and see if this recipe is in there. I sometimes feel guilty for not using that book more often.