Alton Brown’s “The Puffy”
As you all know, I love Alton Brown. I’ve made a few of his recipes recently including his overnight cinnamon rolls and his famous chewy chocolate chip cookie. He did a great episode of Good Eats where he created three very different versions of chocolate chip cookie by making slight variations of the Nestle Tollhouse recipe.
To say I really enjoyed “The Chewy” is an understatement. It is delicious. I can’t rave about it enough. I decided to try out another recipe from the episode “The Puffy”.
I didn’t have any butter flavored shortening, so I ended up using 1/2 butter and 1/2 shortening. Other than that, I followed the recipe exactly. These cookies were very puffy when they came out of the oven, but they deflated quite a bit as they cooled. The cake flour gives these cookies a great texture and this is another great chocolate chip cookie recipe, but I much prefer The Chewy. I just like chewy cookies.
The Puffy – from Alton Brown – I got 4 dozen cookies using my cookie scoop1 cup butter-flavored shortening – I used 1/2 cup shortening + 1/2 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Combine the shortening (and butter), sugar, and brown sugar in a bowl, and cream until light and fluffy. Sift together the cake flour, salt, and baking powder; set aside.
Add the eggs 1 at a time to the creamed mixture. Add vanilla. Increase the speed until thoroughly incorporated.
With the mixer set to low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and combine well. Stir in the chocolate chips. Chill the dough (I chilled the dough overnight). Scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets, 6 per sheet (I used a my regular sized cookie scoop to get smaller cookies). Bake for 13 minutes (mine baked for about 9 minutes) or until golden brown and puffy, checking the cookies after 5 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet for even browning. Cool and store in an airtight-container.






I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 






What a gorgeous chocolate!! I adore deep chocolate ice creams.
beantownbaker — May 31st, 2013 @ 10:07 am
You would definitely love this then. It’s so rich and chocolatey!
I just got an ice cream maker and cannot wait to start trying it out… this looks a bit above my skill level, but a good thing to work towards!
beantownbaker — May 31st, 2013 @ 10:08 am
I completely understand wanting to start out with an easier recipe. Sorbets are really easy. No cooking necessary for most sorbet recipes. But def keep this one in the back of your mind for when you feel more confident!
I made this dark chocolate ice cream last year, and it is definitely the best chocolate ice cream I’ve ever had. The 5-day wait time is pure torture, but it’s completely worth it. So glad you enjoyed this as much as I did!
beantownbaker — May 31st, 2013 @ 10:07 am
I agree, it was complete torture, especially after taking a taste after it had processed in the machine…
A rich, deep chocolate ice cream is worth the wait! It’s so hard to find a recipe for the decadent chocolate ice I desire, this recipe has moved to the top of my to-do list!
You can tell just by looking at this how rich and awesome it is!!
beantownbaker — June 7th, 2013 @ 8:52 am
It’s seriously difficult to scoop it’s so thick!
wowza, this certainly tell how rich and decadent it is!! i’m appreciating more and more those things that I only need a spoonful of to satisfy 😉
beantownbaker — June 7th, 2013 @ 8:53 am
This is definitely one of those things. I love chocolate but could only handle one small scoop at a time.
Who isn’t a fan of chocolate?! This looks amazing 🙂
I would love to try this recipe. I am wondering why you used coconut milk, and I’m assuming full fat coconut milk?
beantownbaker — June 16th, 2013 @ 7:47 pm
i use coconut milk because I’m lactose intolerant so I can’t use cow’s milk or heavy cream. If you want to use those dairy products, follow the instructions in the original recipe. And yes, I use full fat coconut milk.