Recipe: Raymond Tan’s Thick Choc-Chip Cookies Are Inspired by a Famous NYC Bakery

Melbourne baker Raymond Tan has come a long way. Before he moved to Australia from Malaysia in 2006, he’d never even used an oven. “I got very interested in baking because I wanted to see if it was really that difficult,” he writes in his new cookbook, You’re Welcome! So what did he start with? Macarons. Not exactly beginner territory.

Then came the trayfuls of tarts, crusty sourdough, creative cakes for friends’ birthdays and weddings, and eventually his hit cake popsicles. “Suddenly I was making these cake pops for fashion houses and major events,” Tan writes.

His beautiful bakes, which blend Southeast Asian flavours into European and American classics, took him to Paris, New York and Seoul to teach cooking classes, and caught the attention of Vogue and Moma. “Between living in Melbourne and travelling the world … I found myself even more drawn to the sweets I grew up with,” he writes.

Southeast Asian flavours and spin-offs run through the menus at his hit Melbourne bakeries, Raya and Dua. (Think siu mai sausage rolls and a pandan-spiked spin on Scandi princess cake.) He also runs Nimbo, a late-night dessert cafe, alongside his cousin Chian Ting. Our only question: when does he sleep?

Now, after 20 years of experimentation and self-taught mastery, Tan has released his first cookbook, You’re Welcome! written with Broadsheet Melbourne food and drink editor Audrey Payne. It’s a joyful, eye-popping collection of (mostly) sweet Southeast Asian recipes, with chapters spanning cookies, puddings, layer cakes, kueh, bread and much more. Some, like his matcha limoncello-misu and black sesame chiffon cake, are playful spins on beloved classics. Others, like this double-choc-chip and walnut cookie, are an exercise in getting a classic exactly right.

“These are my take on the big, hefty cookies from Levain, the famous New York bakery,” Tan writes. He first tried them in 2019 when a friend brought a box back from the Big Apple. “They became my obsession, and I spent weeks trying to re-create them.”

Tan achieves the ultimate combo of crunch, softness and sweetness by using three kinds of sugar – and, for height, cold grated butter. “It’s a technique also used in many pie crusts, and helps keep the dough light and short... Ensure the butter stays cold – this prevents the cookies from spreading in the oven and helps them hold their height,” he writes.

For mix-ins, he favours a blend of dark and milk chocolate, and fresh walnuts over roasted. “Roasted walnuts or pecans can sometimes have a slightly grainy texture and a bitter taste, what we call xiep xiep in Teochew,” he notes. Once you’ve got the base down, he adds, the flavour variations are yours to explore.

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New York-style double choc-chip and walnut cookies

Serves 12
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

130g caster sugar
65g raw sugar
65g light brown sugar
230g self-raising flour
270g plain flour
1.5g bicarbonate of soda
15g baking powder
1.5g fine salt
230g unsalted butter, chilled
175g milk chocolate chips
175g dark chocolate chips
150g walnuts
5g vanilla extract
2 eggs
Pinch of salt flakes

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C and line two baking trays with baking paper.

Add the sugars, flours, bicarb, baking powder and salt to a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low to combine.

With the grating attachment, grate the cold butter with a food processor; it should resemble shredded cheese. (If you don’t have a food processor, you can shred the butter with a cheese grater – hold the butter with the paper it comes in to keep your hands grease-free.) It’s important the butter stays cold, so place it in the fridge to chill for a few minutes before moving to the next step if needed.

Add the grated butter to the mixer and beat on medium–low speed until a coarse, sandy texture, about a minute (it’s okay if the butter isn’t completely incorporated).

Mix in the chocolate chips and the nuts with a spatula or wooden spoon. With the mixer on low, add the vanilla, followed by the eggs, one at a time, beating until a dough forms, about a minute. It doesn’t matter if there are a few lumps – it’s much better for the dough to be a bit lumpy than to be overworked. (Sometimes the egg doesn’t completely mix through, so at this point I like to remove the bowl from the stand mixer and quickly use my hands to make sure there are no dry spots and everything has been fully incorporated.)

With your hands, shape the dough into balls slightly smaller than a tennis ball, about 120g each. Place them on the trays, leaving 6cm between them, then sprinkle a few flakes of sea salt on top of each cookie. If the dough has come to room temperature, put the shaped cookies in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes to chill before baking (this will help prevent them from spreading).

Bake, turning the trays halfway through, for 12–15 minutes total until the cookies are just starting to brown but are still quite blonde on top. Remove from the oven and leave on the baking trays to cool. These will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.

Images and text from You’re Welcome! by Raymond Tan with Audrey Payne, photography by Louise Hagger. Murdoch Books RRP $49.99.

Additional reporting by Audrey Payne.