A Crunchy, Slice-and-Bake, Chocolate Chip Cookie: Toll House Yo-Yos

I figure that Dan Lepard should know his yo-yo cookies, because he's Australian and the yo-yo is a traditional Australian cookie (or should I say, "biscuit"). My understanding of a yo-yo is that it's a sandwich cookie made with custard powder or cornstarch, earning its moniker form its physical resemblance to a toy yo-yo. What I don't know is what the texture of a yo-yo cookie should be. I made Helen Goh's Custard Yo Yos with Rhubarb Icing and the cookies were firm and crumbly, which was not at all what I was expecting, since adding cornstach (which is also the primary component of custard powder) usually creates a more tender, delicate texture. By contrast, the one time I made melting moments cookies (also an Australian classic made with either cornstarch or custard powder -- and honestly, I don't know what makes them different from yo-yos), they had a melt-in-your mouth texture. But what I do know is that the pretty photo of the "Toll House Yo-Yos" in Lepard's cookbook Short & Sweet made me want to try the recipe.
 
These yo-yos are slice-and-bake cookies, and the cookies in the cookbook photo are flat disks with sharp 90-degree edges -- not what I picture for a yo-yo, which I think of as drop cookie with a rounded top, typically imprinted with the tines of a fork before baking. But I'm a big fan of slice-and-bakes, since you can make the dough in advance, and this recipe is really easy. You beat softened butter with powdered sugar until light and creamy; and mix in powdered oats (I ground old-fashioned oats in the dry container of my Vitamix blender), flour, custard powder, vanilla, milk, and chocolate chips. I made these back when I was still low on couverture, so I used chopped Ghiradelli 72% Intense Dark chocolate bars. I formed the dough into a log and chilled it for a day; the recipe says you only need to chill the dough for 30 minutes, but I was busy and waiting until the next day worked better for my schedule.
The following day I sliced the dough into disks and baked them. The dough sliced easily and the cookies maintained their round shape and sharp edges during baking. I got 23 cookies from a batch, and they were done in 20 minutes (less than the 25-30 minute baking time specified in the recipe). I tasted a cookie plain after it had cooled and I thought it tasted terrific. It was very crunchy, nicely chocolatey, and had a rich, hearty quality -- maybe because of the ground oats? The cookies were substantial and plenty sweet as they were, so I decided to serve them plain as individual cookies instead of sandwiches filled with vanilla icing. (And the vanilla icing is just a mixture of powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk, so it didn't seem like anything particularly special.)
 
I still don't know what the texture of a yo-yo cookie is supposed to be, but I really enjoyed this crunchy, satisfying, chocolate chip version, even without a filling. What you call it, it was delicious.

Recipe: "Toll House Yo-Yos" from Short & Sweet by Dan Lepard. 

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