Multinational Chocolate Chip Cookies

When I finish posting this blog (or am I blogging a post?)  about chocolate chip cookies, I will henceforth go and make them.   This is my first attempt at making anything in my repertoire of recipes from my life in the US.  It gives me a great sense of comfort to bring yet another thing from "home" into my life here.

It was not an easy task culling the ingredients together.  Cookies and cakes as Americans are used to are not readily found here.  I have yet to see a fresh baked cookie, save for some bakeries that proclaim their cookies to be "American chocolate chip." They are indeed chocolate chip, but nothing an American would recognize. And the cakes here are normally store-bought, not freshly baked. Cake in Holland is available in two extremes. The first is an  incredibly decadent affair draped in highly artistic marzipan or ganache--similar to something you'd see an a patisserie in Paris. The second extreme, the more common presentation often served at birthdays, also store-bought, are these goopy concoctions of white aerated layer caked sandwiching some sort of jam and topped with whipped cream and chunks of raw fruit indifferently tossed on top.

I don't mean to be culturally biased here, but the dutch also get cheesecake totally wrong.  I think, not surprisingly, every cheesecake I have ever tasted (and I've tried a few in search of the real thing), is also aerated and almost certainly drafted from some sort of powdery mix.  Cream cheese is available here. They call it, charmingly, "Philadelphia cheese."  Graham crackers are not so easy to find but it is possible.  I wonder how a cheesecake made of drained marscapone would turn out...must try that some day.

The point of the cookie in the Netherlands is not the cookie itself, but the coffee it accompanies. In fact, the word comes from Dutch. "Koek" (pronounced kook, rhymes with "spook") is the word for "cake," and "koekje,"  (rhymes roughly with "spook ya") is the diminutive, meaning "little cake" or "cookie."  This is not to be confused with the word "taart" or "taartje" the meaning of which does, of course refer, to "tart" but can also mean cake or apple pie....it's a bit more all-encompasing and generally means "dessert" like the British would use the word "pudding" to mean the same thing.

Dutch cookies are plentiful. The vast, vast majority of them are bought in packages. The "speculaas" which most Americans are familiar with, is the staple of the dutch cookie diet. These are the ginger and cinnamon cookies in the shape of windmills, frequently containing slivered almonds. Dutch cookies are tiny and crunchy. You get one cookie and only one cookie with each cup of coffee.  I find the most delightful of all Dutch cookies to be the "stroopwafel." These are very thin wafer-like little slightly crispy waffles that sandwich a layer of caramel. Absolutely deadly and there are baskets of them on every floor where I work. The stroopwafel is probably single handedly responsible for the fact I have half a closet filled with clothes that I can't currently squeeze into.

My aunt carol's chocolate chip cookie recipe is the best I have ever had. It is therefore also my chocolate chip cookie recipe.  These cookies are very soft on the inside and slightly crispy on the outside. They are dense and buttery.  They are not easy to make. They require a certain finesse with the baking time to get them exactly right. Even the shape of the cookie is essential to the outcome.  

Like many cookie recipes, these cookies require baking soda and shortening.  Baking soda and shortening cannot be found in Dutch grocery stores. In fact, regular flour cannot be found in most dutch grocery stores, nor genuine vanilla extract, nor any variety of sugar except for basic granulated.  Everything comes in a mix.  Chocolate chips are also not available. 

It has taken months to get all the ingredients together for these cookies. There is a secret ingredient in these cookies that is readily available in every American grocery store. I had my mother bring this ingredient from the States. There are two British grocery stores that sell Crisco. I went to the more expensive one yesterday. I bought three 12 ounce packages of Ghiradelli chocolate chips and two small canisters of Crisco and my bill was 38 euros. That is 50 dollars for three bags of chocolate chips and two small canisters of crisco. This store also sells boxes of Arm & Hammer baking soda, but at 10 euros a box (that's $14). The baking soda in the British/American store is printed in Chinese. I discovered on the box the listing for a website called americanfoods.nl which is a distribution company from Asia.  This baking soda must make a trip to Asia before coming to the Netherlands. Therefore,  I go somewhat out of my way to the Asian supermarket in Chinatown and buy it from there.  It is much cheaper and the printing on the box is in English. Go figure.

On a business trip in Reading, England, I stopped by a grocery store and picked up cream of tartar and baking powder. Neither is required for this recipe, but good luck finding baking powder and cream of tartar in Holland. I also went to a Marks & Spencer and got a lovely bottle of true vanilla extract from real Madagascar vanilla beans.  I know one or two places where true vanilla extract can be found in Amsterdam, but it's insanely expensive.

Finally, the organic markets in Holland all sell plain flour. But surprisingly, the one instance where something so basic is so hard to find comes in a baffling variety that I don't understand. There are percentages listed on the small bags. The percentages of what, I am not sure. I choose in the past a bag that was 70% of whatever it is 70% of, and it seems to be within a close proximity to your standard all purpose Gold's flour in the U.S.  

Butter here does not come in sticks so I will have to measure it out. Also, the moisture content is far less than your typical US butter. This will affect the outcome of my cookies.

In order to make my chocolate chip cookies, I needed to gather ingredients from three countries, two continents, and no less than, five different stores. If the secret ingredient was not required, I could have cut it down to one continent and two countries.  It will be worth it though. To fill my house with the maddeningly craven wonderful sent of fresh baked chocolate chip cookies. I will give most of them away. I am curious if my Dutch friends will find these cookies too rich and sweet and ultimately distasteful.  How are you supposed to have coffee with such a soft and large cookie??   Silly Americans and their silly cookies.