French Maple Syrup Chocolate Chip Cookies

Even the title's a mouthful.

If you've lived in a foreign country for any extended period of time, you may have run into the recipe rut. All of your fabulous cooking skills from back home seem to fail you suddenly. The cupcakes don't rise, your cookies are flat. Or you might have the opposite problem, and they blow up into these hard little cakes while you're cooking. It's really quite sad.

Unfortunately, I haven't taken any pictures of these baking disasters, because a) I was so ashamed and b) I went into expat homesickness overdrive mode and usually ended up crying. Surprisingly, Google searches were rather comforting. "Chocolate Chip Cookies in France" and "American in France Cookies," lead me to a lot of blog posts about expats who were having similar problems. It's also good to know you're not alone.

By the way, it's totally okay if you cry over a batch of ruined cookies that you made specifically because you were missing the States. No other expat will ever judge you.

I'm not going to pretend like I'm an excellent cook, and you definitely won't see me posting recipes on here regularly. But this one is pretty good, and hopefully can be used as a resource for some of my friends living abroad. Feel free to adapt the heck out of this recipe, and definitely let me know of any improvements you make in the comments!

This recipe has been adapted from one that David Lebovitz posted on his blog here. The original recipe calls for brown sugar instead of cane sugar and maple syrup. I don't how your luck has been finding brown sugar in France, but I haven't had much. There is one type of sugar that's really similar called Vergeoise. If you find that, you should stock up! I've only been able to find it at one grocery store here. It's a thirty minute drive and they're usually out of stock. :(  So for those of us folks who aren't lucky enough to have Vergeoise at their corner market, this cane sugar/maple syrup mix is a pretty fantastic substitute for when you're in a pinch.

Tip: Flour #65 is the closest that I've found to American flour so far. You can find it in the bio section of almost an super market. They even have it mixed in with the other flours at my little corner grocery store as well now. :)

French Maple Syrup Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes two dozen cookies

4 ounces (115g) salted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup (110g) Cane Sugar (known as cassonade in France)
2 tablespoons of Maple Syrup
1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cup (180g) flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/3 cups (200g) coarsely chopped chocolate
1 cup toasted nuts, coarsely chopped

1. Beat the butter in with the sugars and maple syrup until smooth and creamy.

2. Stir in the egg and the vanilla.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.

4. Stir the flour mixture into the beaten butter until combined, then mix in the chopped chocolate (including any chocolate dust) and the chopped nuts.

5. Cover and chill the batter until firm. (It’s preferable to let it rest overnight.)

6. To bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

7. Form the cookie dough into rounds about the size of a large unshelled walnut. Place the mounds evenly spaced apart on the baking sheets, and press down the tops to flatten them so they are no longer domed and the dough is even.

8. Bake for 8-10 minutes, being sure to rotate the cookie sheet halfway through baking to ensure they cook evenly.

Remove from oven when the tops become light golden brown and let cookies cool.